LT COL JOHN ‘Clarence’ Macasek had been in post as the 49th Fighter Training Squadron Commander for two months when Combat Aircraft sat down with him at Columbus AFB, Mississippi. He’s a man with a series of major tasks ahead of him. The 49th FTS ‘Black Knights’ is all about the Introduction to Fighter Fundamentals (IFF) course it’s the final, eight-week hurdle that completes the transition of a young student aviator into a hungry fighter pilot. With this being something of a pinchpoint in the path to a specific frontline fighter, the ‘Black Knights’ boss is perfectly positioned to give an insight into the current shortage in manpower and the solutions that are in train.
Not only is Macasek faced with the potential need to increase ghter pilot production, but also the demand to train ghter pilots for the cockpits of the latest th-generation ghters, plus the impending and desperately needed transition from the ageing T-38 Talon to the new T-X.
The reasons behind the US Air Force’s much-publicized pilot shortage are multiple and its declining operational readiness has recently been added to the list of concerns. Mission-capable rates have declined over recent years with some abysmal gures reported for …
