“…The Airmen that work on the flight line can turn around to the shelf, grab the part, put it in the airplane, and now it’s going to perhaps be several more days before that jet needs to be maintained again. And that all the time where it’s sitting, waiting for that part, is downtime where we can’t use the aircraft to train. So that investment is really important to backfill the shelves with parts…” Source: The US Air Force’s next Chief of Staff nominee says pilots are flying too little to maintain proficiency, citing chronic issues with spare parts, aging aircraft, and supply chain delays. Gen. Kenneth S. Wilsbach told Senators on Oct. 9 that fighter pilots currently fly about two to two and a half times per week…far short of what he sees as necessary for combat readiness.
