Shifting Winds:

The Air Force has too many fighter and bomber pilots. As Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Michael Moseley noted last week, this situation stems from two basic changes: fewer bomber and fighter platforms and greater need for unmanned aerial vehicle and special operations pilots. To fix the imbalance, the service has begun to implement a program it terms Transformation Aircrew Management Initiatives for the 21st Century to help redistribute the pilot force. The initiatives include opening up previously experience-restricted cockpits to new specialized undergraduate pilot training graduates and replacing several hundred rated officers in non-flying operational billets with enlisted aviators. The service expects the redistribution to enable it to increase the number of sorties it can allocate to inexperienced pilots.