U.S. Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson recently told a Senate Armed Services readiness and management support subcommittee that the branch trained 1,160 new pilots in fiscal 2017, and expects to train 1,311 in fiscal 2019, before expanding further. The Air Force wants to train 1,500 new pilots each year by fiscal 2022 as part of its effort to solve its troubling shortage of aviators. Increased pilot training capacity will become even more important as the Air Force seeks to increase its number of operational squadrons from 312 to 386 by the end of 2030.
USAF Believes It’s Making Progress Training New Pilots
