{"id":21769,"date":"2018-03-01T22:41:31","date_gmt":"2018-03-01T22:41:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/uncategorized\/2018\/03\/01\/secaf-air-force-pilots-are-flying-17-hours-per-month-but-its-still-not-enough\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T20:37:12","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T20:37:12","slug":"secaf-air-force-pilots-are-flying-17-hours-per-month-but-its-still-not-enough","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/news\/your-air-force\/2018\/03\/01\/secaf-air-force-pilots-are-flying-17-hours-per-month-but-its-still-not-enough\/","title":{"rendered":"Pilots are flying 17 hours per month, but it\u2019s still not enough, Air Force secretary says"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson on Thursday refuted reports that the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.airforcetimes.com\/news\/your-air-force\/2018\/02\/13\/air-force-2019-budget-will-grow-pilot-training-pipeline-as-service-fights-severe-shortage\/\" title=\"\" class=\"\" target=\"_blank\">service\u2019s pilots<\/a> are only flying nine or 10 hours per month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In fact, Wilson said at a panel discussion at the Heritage Foundation, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.airforcetimes.com\/news\/your-air-force\/2017\/10\/23\/air-force-pilots-recalled-under-trump-order-will-serve-as-instructors-staff\/\" title=\"\" class=\"\" target=\"_blank\">pilots<\/a> overall flew about 17.6 hours per month in fiscal 2017. Fighter pilots flew roughly 16.4 hours monthly, and mobility pilots flew 17.3 hours, she said. Bomber pilots, who typically fly longer sorties, typically flew 19.7 hours per month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In a Feb. 14 Senate Armed Services readiness subcommittee hearing, Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Oklahoma, said that Air Force <a href=\"https:\/\/www.airforcetimes.com\/news\/your-air-force\/2017\/12\/06\/enlisted-combat-pilots-the-air-force-is-launching-a-test-that-could-lead-to-that\/\">pilots<\/a> are getting about nine or ten hours of flying time per month \u2015 less than the Marines\u2019 reported 14 to 16 hours monthly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Seve Wilson told Inhofe he thought the Air Force\u2019s monthly flight hours were \u201ca little bit more than that,\u201d but did not say how much. He added that the Air Force hopes to increase flying hours by about an hour per month going forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At the discussion with Secretary Wilson, John Venable, a Heritage fellow and former F-16 pilot, said pilots used to require about three weekly flights, or 15 to 20 hours of flight time a month, just to stay sharp with their current skills. Learning new skills would require four weekly flights, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/news\/your-marine-corps\/2018\/02\/14\/marines-are-flying-more-than-the-air-force\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/3919151.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Marines are flying more than the Air Force<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">Marines are averaging more flight hours per pilot than the Air Force.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Wilson said that the Air Force is looking for ways to increase flight hours even further. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">She noted that even when air crews go abroad and fly combat missions, such as those against violent extremists such as the Islamic State, they\u2019re not practicing skills that would be required for a high-end fight against an advanced adversary such as Russia. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/20170831_Sec-AF_Heather-Wilson08.jpg.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-28081\" srcset=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/20170831_Sec-AF_Heather-Wilson08.jpg.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/20170831_Sec-AF_Heather-Wilson08.jpg.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/20170831_Sec-AF_Heather-Wilson08.jpg.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/20170831_Sec-AF_Heather-Wilson08.jpg.jpg?resize=1024,683 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Heather Wilson, Secretary of the U.S. Air Force, during an editorial board in her office at the Pentagon on August 31, 2017. (Staff Photo by Alan Lessig)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Wilson said that the Air Force\u2019s aircrew crisis task force, which is trying to find ways to solve the service\u2019s pilot shortfall and exodus of experienced pilots, is looking for ways to solve that problem and allow pilots to train for more complex missions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cOne of the things we\u2019ve been trying to do is, when they\u2019re back here in the United States, try to free up the white space on their calendars, to be able to train in a more intense way,\u201d Wilson said.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Wilson said Air Force officials recently considered how to free up more time for training at their Corona meeting at the end of February.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt\u2019s one thing to say we\u2019ve got 17 hours of flying time, but if it\u2019s not really intense training, where you come back and you go, \u2018wow, I\u2019ve really ratcheted up my game today,\u2019 it\u2019s still not enough,\u201d Wilson said.<br><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson on Thursday refuted reports that the service\u2019s pilots are only flying nine or 10 hours per month.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":43009,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":67,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":{"2":{"categories":["your-military","news"],"primary_category":"your-military"}}},"categories":[101,16,26,67],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3320],"class_list":["post-21769","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-news","category-newsletters","category-your-air-force"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"PTX2OYUZHJCLDAGNUZOEPCOK2Q","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/your-air-force\/2018\/03\/01\/secaf-air-force-pilots-are-flying-17-hours-per-month-but-its-still-not-enough\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented 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