It is known that one of the biggest shortfalls the Air Force is facing is the shortage of pilots. It is making sweeping changes in hopes to address the shortage, as well as the training of those sitting in the cockpit.
The Air Force has cut is training pilot program by at least five weeks. T-6 Instructor Pilot Major Kinsley Jordan said the reduction doesn't mean students are learning less, they just found a way to make the program more effective.
"The training syllabus that we have been operating on is 20-something years old," he said.
In March, he said about 80 instructors met to brainstorm on how to change the syllabus for training Air Force pilots.
"As we really tore the syllabus apart, we saw some redundancies in the classes," he said. "We had some redundancies in the tests. We also realized we could utilize our stimulation training more effectively earlier on in training."
The new syllabus is more flexible and is shorter. The old program was 54 weeks long. The new one is 49 weeks.
"People who went through the old syllabus, the attitude seems to be, 'there is no way you can have a quality pilot in fewer hours,' well I beg to differ," Jordan said.
Jordan said this new syllabus is about efficiency and its effectiveness.
"It is going deeper in the training that we are having in a shorter amount of time," he said. "The focus wasn't cutting time out of the training. The focus was, 'how do we create better pilots with the training syllabus we have, and how can we eliminate redundancies and inefficiencies?'"
Technology is also playing a major part, like a new virtual computer system at Randolph Air Force Base. Jordan said keeping up with the times is important in terms of recruitment and attracting those in high school and college.
"I think the Air Force is getting a lot of attention, because it is moving forward towards the next generation of what pilot training needs to be, but also pulling people in and letting them realize that we are not a force that is stagnant in our way," he said. "We are growing. We are innovating. We are trying."
Even though the new program hasn't been around that long, Jordan said instructors have seen positive feedback and progression from the students.