Air Force to allow average looking, uncool people to become fighter pilots

Low&Slow

Low&Slow

Ancora imparo
Not sure why there is a Russian pilot with a Su-24 in the article's cover photo, but, whatever...

Here's the article:

LANGLEY AIR FORCE BASE, Va. — Due to manning cuts and years of major airliners paying higher wages for sweet abs, the U.S. Air Force Air Combat Command may begin allowing normal-looking people become fighter pilots as early as 2020, sources report.

Sources say that Air Force Chief Gen. David L. Goldfein addressed a crowd of shirtless pilots at a post volleyball match early last week, informing them that due to manning cuts in previous years, some pilots were forced to finish early and leave many units flaccid.

“Air Force Policy requires that each flying squadron maintain enough pilots to publish four consecutive 12-month calendars without seeing the same half-naked pilot more than once,” Goldfein said to the glistening aviators. “We may be forced to recruit back some talent, which we know will be difficult due to their hectic modeling schedules.”

Col. Arnold Heinz, chief of plans and programming, echoed Goldfein’s comments.

“Sure they’re are plenty of applicants,” said Heinz, in front of a stack of applicant folders. “Like this guy from MIT with 3,000 hours at a regional airline. But with those pecs its hard to see if he has the aptitude to fly combat missions.”

Meanwhile, advocates for uncool people argue that average-looking people should definitely be allowed to fly.

“As long as they oil up beforehand and don’t skip leg day, they shouldn’t have any issues becoming proud and successful aviators,” said Larry Knight, a critic of the Air Force’s exclusion of uncool people like him, a policy that forced him to become a loser Army helicopter pilot instead.
 
Low_Level_Hell said:
I wish they had this policy 17 years ago.

v/r

Loser Army Helicopter Pilot
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At least you got to fly. I'm such a loser, that I couldn't even fly Army helicopters. Not for lack of trying though.
I was a current and proficient ASEL/AMEL Instrument rated Commercial pilot when I aced the AFAST. I was killing it at the board too, but then one of them noticed I was wearing glasses. Corrected vision was a no-go back then (early 90s). 20/20 uncorrected or better was the standard. My request for a waiver was denied. I was frustrated and angry, but I got over it after a few years and became an Army LRS Paratrooper instead.
By the time the military changed the vision restrictions, I was just a few months too old. They refused to let me apply for a waiver. A few years later they raised the age limit, but again, I was just a few months too old. And once again I was denied any opportunity to submit a waiver. It was still very frustrating, but it was also comical to me at that point.
While I was trying to get an age waiver, the Air Force offered me an FE slot on C-130Es, but I didn't see any value/point to that. USAF Combat Wx and CCT were also very interested in me, but I decided to stay in Army LRS. Now I'm an Army airframe mechanic, and I love it, but I would still like to fly. Oh well, que sera sera.
 
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modernicarus said:
Probably should have changed the title to USAF is now accepting Russian and Navy pilots. Haha
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USAF has always accepted Naval Aviators. Transfer is a good outlet and helps everyone. On those rare occasions a Navy driver transfers to AF, the average pilot proficiency of both organizations increases slightly. ;)
 
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