AF looking to reserves to train active-duty pilots

[gortje]

AF looking to reserves to train active-duty pilots

ORLANDO, Fla. -- The Air Force is asking Congress to let it use reserve pilots to train active duty, a move both to increase the number of available instructors and to draw on experienced pilots to train young active-duty fliers.

Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James said the Air Force needs legislative approval for the move, which stems from a recommendation from the congressionally mandated National Commission on the Struct...ure of the Air Force. The commission last year provided more than 40 recommendations to the service on how to increase the role of the Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve, including using the more experienced pilots in that component to help train active-duty pilots.

"The goal is to allow us even better integration among components," James said Friday at the Air Force Association Air Warfare Symposium here.

If the service makes its case successfully on Capitol Hill, the change could be authorized in the fiscal 2016 defense authorization bill.

The Air Force currently has 2,400 instructor pilots. About 600 of these,are assigned to the Air Force Reserve. Because of legislative restrictions, these pilots cannot train active-duty pilots as a primary duty. Instead, they are restricted to training Reserve pilots as a primary duty. This change would give them greater freedom for training, said Lt. Gen. James Jackson, commander of Air Force Reserve Command.

Many of the pilots in the Reserve and Guard came up through the active duty and have had long careers flying for the Air Force, before retiring into the reserve component. This move would let the service use this experience to train its new pilots, said Lt. Gen. Stanley Clarke, the director of the Air National Guard.

"There's a heck of a lot of experience, a ton of experience in the Guard and Reserve," Clarke said.

The move is among the first steps to adopt the recommendations of the national commission. James said the Air Force will soon be briefing Congress on its response to the commission's recommendations. The service already has said it largely agrees with the recommendations to move more capabilities into the Guard and Reserve.

Source: http://www.airforcetimes.com/story/mili ... /23352023/