Enlisted pilots?

Most times your columnist’s quest for a subject just appears out of the blue. This week it has been a struggle though I was tempted to poke a little fun at fellow writer “Mike At Night” Hendricks for his less than exciting night sleeping on the floor at DIA. Nah that wouldn’t be fair so long as “Hard Luck” Mike promises to let me know the next time he decides to travel Boutique Air so I don’t schedule on the same day! Then our Editor Bruce sent a companion piece and suggested that I write on the subject of enlisted pilots in the U.S. Air Force.

During the 25 years that I served in the Air Force enlisted pilots did not exist. All pilots and navigators since World War II have been commissioned officers. Why one might ask and the best answer I can give is “That is just the way we do things.” I did fly with enlisted folk in the roles of flight engineer and boom operator and all the gunners on B-52’s and other bombers were enlisted. In my experience enlisted aircrew performed superbly.

Enlisted pilots date back to 1912. Then in 1941, Congress passed the Air Corps Act of 1926 that enabled enlisted troops to receive qualified pilot training. They were called ”flying sergeants. Then in 1942, the passage of the Flight Officer Act meant that new enlisted recruits no longer got the chance to fly. However throughout WWII whoever was in the cockpit got grandfathered in and could remain flying. That act, Public Law 658 replaced the program’s sergeant pilot rank with warrant officer rank.

With more than 3,000 enlisted sergeant pilots throughout the service’s history, 17 would become flying aces. Sadly though more than 150 enlisted pilots would be killed in action according to information from the Air Force.

I do know that the U.S. Army today uses enlisted pilots, Warrant Officers, in all their aircraft (assuming that helicopters are actually “aircraft” [a fixed-wing pilot inside joke]) and they do it well. Fellow McCookite Dr. Warren Jones, warrant officer and one of my heroes, acquitted himself admirably during the Vietnam War flying Huey helicopters.

Why the difference? A hint to the thinking of the upper echelon in the Pentagon concerning Air Force pilots is the belief that anyone who delivers ordinance, bombs, rockets and bullets, should be a commissioned officer. Possibly a good point when considering that to be qualified for a commission one has to have attained a college degree. To me, earning a college degree demonstrates a certain diligence and a marker that the person will persist to complete the very expensive pilot training course. The last figure I remember is around $1.5 million invested in each pilot to earn their wings.

Yes at this moment in time we hear many reports that in the U.S there is a very real pilot shortage both for the airlines and in the Air Force. Congress kind of shot itself in the foot by ordaining that to be an airline pilot one must have attained some 1500 hours flying experience and an ATP, Airline Transport Rating, That training is very expensive for an individual to afford and takes a long time to pay back on starting airline pilot pay. That is changing as of late as the airline industry has raised beginning pay and some are granting tuition assistance for potential pilots.

Past experience has seen large numbers of pilots leave the military and go to the airlines who are happy to hire them as they are well trained and experienced. Of course their leaving creates more work for the pilots left in the Air Force and with the plethora of current wars around the world that means more separation from family for those deployed. Airline pilots get to go home most nights and seldom spend more than two or three days on the road. Then too the airlines have a history of better pay for pilots than does the military.

Another factor bearing on the Air Force pilot shortage is the world of RPA, Remotely Piloted Aircraft, militaryese for drones. In the civilian world, drones are called UAV for unmanned aerial vehicle. The Air Force won the fight with the Army to operate the long-range high-flying RPA world as strictly an Air Force mission. Then weapons, Hellfire missiles, were hung on the RPV’s and again a commissioned officer was required to expend ordnance. Currently, an RPA crew is a rated Air Force officer and the second person on the team is an enlisted “sensor operator”. A large number of Air Force pilots, many very reluctantly, were tapped to go to the RPA world. Another contributor to the Air Force pilot shortage.

Recently a small number of Air Force enlisted personnel have been trained as RPA pilots but my understanding is that they can only fly those RPA’s that do reconnaissance and do not deliver ordinance.

Therefore it is this old Air Force pilot’s personal opinion that though an effort will be made to again bring enlisted pilots on board it probably won’t happen. The pilot shortage will be alleviated through increased and faster training and all Air Force pilots will continue to be commissioned officers. Still, there might be changes in the RPA community and enlisted personnel will likely earn a bigger role.

That is how I saw it.

Dick Trail