USAF working with US airline industry to address pilot shortage

The US Air Force and the nation's regional airlines have discussed developing a joint "National Training Academy" to help address a pilot shortage playing out across the USA. "We have got to work together so we can help each other," says genereal Carlton Everhart, commander of the USAF Air Mobility Command. The concept would be to create a school that provides pilots with advanced simulator training, and for that training to count towards the FAA's requirement that new commercial pilots have 1,500h of flight time. Currently, simulator training does not specifically count toward the 1,500h threshold. Regional airlines for several years have criticised the 1,500h rule as limiting the pool of available pilots. To meet the threshold, many pilots must accumulate additional hours after flight training, an expensive proposition. <br/>