Crosstraining!

I-am-Will

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Mar 23, 2015
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Hey everybody it’s been forever since I was on here. From going to IFT and enjoying that fun for 2 months to being on casual status for 6 months, it’s definitely been a wild ride.

But I am happy to announce that I found out yesterday that I’ve been awarded the opportunity to cross flow into Undergraduate Pilot Training!

I’m pretty excited about the opportunity and looking forward to the challenges that lie ahead!
 
Congrats!
What exactly is casual status.
OS

Casual Status is the status you have if you are aren’t actively in any portion of your training. So during that time you can be given a “casual” job at the base you’re stationed while you wait.
 
Hey everybody it’s been forever since I was on here. From going to IFT and enjoying that fun for 2 months to being on casual status for 6 months, it’s definitely been a wild ride.

But I am happy to announce that I found out yesterday that I’ve been awarded the opportunity to cross flow into Undergraduate Pilot Training!

I’m pretty excited about the opportunity and looking forward to the challenges that lie ahead!
I don't get it. You've already been to IFT and now they're letting you cross train? What were you doing at IFT to begin with may I ask? Something rated other than pilot?
 
I don't get it. You've already been to IFT and now they're letting you cross train? What were you doing at IFT to begin with may I ask? Something rated other than pilot?

Yes I was in another rated career field. There’s a huge backlog with the pipeline that I’m in, and there’s a pilot shortage (slots that have opened up at UPT).
 
He was probably RPA or maybe CSO and after graduating IFT, they decided to upgrade him (if you can call it that) to pilot and UPT. As for casual duty, its the time between entering AD and actually going to UPT (assuming you are going in for pilot training) They give you a job to do where you wind up helping whoever needs help. From what i read from some older folks, casual duty was checking in the morning and the being on your own for the rest of the day. These days they expect you to be a productive citizen
 
I don't get it. You've already been to IFT and now they're letting you cross train? What were you doing at IFT to begin with may I ask? Something rated other than pilot?
To put more detail on the RPA situation the backlog is so bad that they have cancelled at least one RPA class for this year. The simulators the RPA students have been using are using new maintenance contractors and apparently they cannot fix them as well as the previous contractors. Meanwhile UPT is implementing a new syllabus (starts tomorrow) which is expected to help shorten phase 2 training and hopefully pump more pilots in the pipeline. IFT for RPA is an extended version to the one UPT students do so it is easy for AETC to grab RPA students waiting for training and put them in line to wait for UPT. Not a bad thing as the Air Force is looking for more pilots to alleviate shortages.

And congrats to you OP! Hopefully you are not coming down to the Rio for UPT.
 
To put more detail on the RPA situation the backlog is so bad that they have cancelled at least one RPA class for this year. The simulators the RPA students have been using are using new maintenance contractors and apparently they cannot fix them as well as the previous contractors. Meanwhile UPT is implementing a new syllabus (starts tomorrow) which is expected to help shorten phase 2 training and hopefully pump more pilots in the pipeline. IFT for RPA is an extended version to the one UPT students do so it is easy for AETC to grab RPA students waiting for training and put them in line to wait for UPT. Not a bad thing as the Air Force is looking for more pilots to alleviate shortages.

And congrats to you OP! Hopefully you are not coming down to the Rio for UPT.

Thanks I appreciate it! Columbus was my first choice (I’ve been to Del Rio so I know how life is down there).
 
Not a bad thing as the Air Force is looking for more pilots to alleviate shortages.
I keep hearing this but then from what I keep reading the SECAF and CSAF have been saying that they don't need "new" pilots, they just need the experienced aviators who already have 10+ years of service to stay in.
Yes I was in another rated career field. There’s a huge backlog with the pipeline that I’m in, and there’s a pilot shortage (slots that have opened up at UPT).
I see. Then perhaps you could answer another question I have. I just graduated from my tech school (non-rated), but while I was there I heard another student mention that he had been picked up for UPT and had orders for IFT. Do you know how this could be possible? It was just something I overheard him talking about so I didn't want to ask him since it was really none of my business, but I am curious. We were all students there so I don't know understand how he could "cross train" when we were not even fully trained non-rated officers yet.
 
I keep hearing this but then from what I keep reading the SECAF and CSAF have been saying that they don't need "new" pilots, they just need the experienced aviators who already have 10+ years of service to stay in.
That is true but what the Air Force is doing to alleviate the shortage in staff pilots is increasing production. The rate of people leaving is way higher than what the Air Force wants. Headquarters is trying to solve QOL problems but if you were given an opportunity for a six figure flying job and no deployments/staff/queep right off your 10 year commitment many (not all) will bolt. The $25,000 a year bonus simply doesn't cut it especially when it hasn't changed in decades. In some logic by increasing pilots if they have the same percentage of people leaving they will have a higher amount of people staying if they increase production.

Also to look for the Active Duty UFT Board there's a section in Mypers you should be able to find. It's odd to see a person straight out of tech school get a UPT slot but then again everything is changing. Best to ask the person that got the slot.
 
The logic behind ramping up UPT slots is in reaction to the shortage of mid level pilots.
The quickest way to create a producing pilot is to plow them back as instructors.
The Navy calls them SERGRADs.
You get your wings and immediately train to become an instructor.
These folks fill roles that would have been filled by more experienced aviators, freeing those folks for other assignments.
This cycle repeats itself every 10-15 years.

We will probably be reading about stop-loss actions in the near future, that is if they haven't already started.
OS
 
I keep hearing this but then from what I keep reading the SECAF and CSAF have been saying that they don't need "new" pilots, they just need the experienced aviators who already have 10+ years of service to stay in.
That is true but what the Air Force is doing to alleviate the shortage in staff pilots is increasing production. The rate of people leaving is way higher than what the Air Force wants. Headquarters is trying to solve QOL problems but if you were given an opportunity for a six figure flying job and no deployments/staff/queep right off your 10 year commitment many (not all) will bolt. The $25,000 a year bonus simply doesn't cut it especially when it hasn't changed in decades. In some logic by increasing pilots if they have the same percentage of people leaving they will have a higher amount of people staying if they increase production.

Also to look for the Active Duty UFT Board there's a section in Mypers you should be able to find. It's odd to see a person straight out of tech school get a UPT slot but then again everything is changing. Best to ask the person that got the slot.
Right. From what I understood, trying to produce new pilots doesn't do anything to help solve the problem in the short term, because experienced aviators are still needed to train new pilots. At least that's how it was explained to me.

As for the guy that somehow got a UPT slot prior to even having graduated from his first tech school, I just don't know. I thought you had to at least serve for a year in a non flying job before you were even eligible to apply for flight school.
 
The justification is that the board requires an OPR which won't happen until one year after your training. I think that he had all of the qualifications to go to UPT but just didn't get it in his commissioning source. His command caught wind that UPT needs bodies and selected him.

The logic behind ramping up UPT slots is in reaction to the shortage of mid level pilots.
The quickest way to create a producing pilot is to plow them back as instructors.
The Navy calls them SERGRADs.
You get your wings and immediately train to become an instructor.
These folks fill roles that would have been filled by more experienced aviators, freeing those folks for other assignments.
This cycle repeats itself every 10-15 years.
Always heard the Navy had this (Air Force calls them FAIPS) just never knew the name. Interesting that the Navy does this in a cycle as the Air Force normally selects 1-2 FAIPs in a class. Recently it has been 3-4 FAIPs as the MWS community can't send more to become IPs.
 
Right. From what I understood, trying to produce new pilots doesn't do anything to help solve the problem in the short term, because experienced aviators are still needed to train new pilots. At least that's how it was explained to me.

But it is pretty obvious that the retention side is not working, so in order to make the numbers Big Blue is indeed pumping up the production side of things. Their stated goal is to take production from 1100 pilots per year to 1600 in the short term and eventually to 2000 per year. They are doing this with several programs in the works. Do some research on it.

As for the guy that somehow got a UPT slot prior to even having graduated from his first tech school, I just don't know. I thought you had to at least serve for a year in a non flying job before you were even eligible to apply for flight school.

It is possible that this person had a medical issue that needed a waiver for pilot training and it came through, allowing him to switch to UPT. Or, he may have been an alternate from his commissioning source and there was a spot that opened up. They are too many things that it could have been to really even speculate. If you really want to know, ask him. You are all officers and should be able to have a conversation.

Stealth_81
 
If you really want to know, ask him. You are all officers and should be able to have a conversation.
Well, too late for that now, we have all graduated and returned to our home units. Like I said, I didn't ask him about it because it was just a conversation I happened to overhear and I didn't even know the guy.
 
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