美国空军飞行员的严重短缺

US Air Force Has Severe Shortage of Pilots 美国空军飞行员的严重短缺

The United States Air Force is reporting a shortage of pilots of fighter airplanes. The lack is so severe that some generals say it may affect the service’s ability to carry out operations as soon as next year.

The Air Force is training about 135 more fighter pilots this year than two years ago. But it will be a long time before they are ready for action.

Pilots must train for years -- at a cost of millions of dollars -- before they are qualified¹ to fly fighter jets. The high-tech² aircraft could be described as flying supercomputers so lengthy³ training is required.

The Air Force is permitted to have 3,500 fighter pilots. However, there are now about 725 fewer.

Major General Scott Vander Hamm and Lieutenant⁴ General John Cooper supervise Air Force pilots and mechanics who take care of the planes.

They recently spoke⁵ with VOA about the pilot shortage.

General Vander Hamm says the Air Force does not have enough pilots to meet the needs of commanders.

Pilot numbers began to fall following budget cuts that took effect after the United States left Iraq in 2010 and had plans to leave Afghanistan. But General Cooper says that did not happen.

“We didn’t plan for ISIS -- we planned to come home.”

VOA spoke with some fighter pilots at an Air Force base in Virginia. They said longer and additional deployments have hurt morale⁶. One pilot said the rotations⁸ were 45 days at first. Then they increased to 90 and later 120, he said. Now, he said, the pilots are deployed⁹ for six months or even a year.

And pilots must often spend much of their non-deployed time on administrative¹⁰ duties and additional training.

After 10 years of service, jet fighter pilots are offered an additional payment if they agree to stay on active duty. But this year only about 40 percent of the pilots agreed to stay. The Air Force says it must keep at least 65 percent of its pilots to complete its missions.

The fighter pilot shortage has happened at the same time private airlines are hiring more pilots. Private airlines pay more and their pilots spend less time away from home.

This Air Force fighter pilot said his family will decide whether he stays in the service.

“If it’s up to just me, I definitely would stay in, but my family has a vote and so if they're doing well and they're enjoying where we’re at, then we’ll stay. If they want me to leave to do something else, then that’s probably what I’ll end up doing.”

Tom Hunt left the Air Force in 2013. He earns more money working as a lawyer in Washington, D.C. than he was paid as a fighter pilot. He says the Air Force could end the shortage if it paid the pilots a large bonus.

“Some people say you can’t throw money at everything (but) you can. You absolutely can. If you said ‘The pilot bonus is now $500,000, single-lump sum payment,’ (I) guarantee you will solve your pilot shortage.”

The Air Force is asking Congress for money to increase the bonus from its current $25,000 to $48,000 a year. It would be the first bonus increase since 1999.

The Air Force hopes that amount will be enough to persuade experienced pilots to stay in the service. It says they are needed to help the Air Force succeed in its missions and to train new pilots. The generals also have agreed to reduce administrative work for pilots who are not deployed.

The generals say they are still able to meet the demands for fighter jet support. But they say if more pilots do not join the Air Force and stay in, the service will soon be unable to meet the demands of commanders.

They warn that this could possibly cost the lives of troops and civilians¹¹.

Words in This Story

qualify – v. to have the necessary skill or knowledge to do a particular job or activity; to have the qualifications to do something

morale – n. the feelings of enthusiasm and loyalty¹² that a person or group has about a task or job

rotation⁷ – n. the group of people who take turns doing something

mission – n. a specific military or naval¹³ task

bonus – n. an extra amount of money that is given to an employee

throw money at – expression. to try to solve (a problem) by spending a large amount of money on it, sometimes without giving enough thought to exactly what should be done

absolutely – adv. completely or totally (often used to make a statement more forceful)

lump sum – n. an amount of money that is paid at one time; a single sum of money

1 qualified   

adj.合格的，有资格的，胜任的，有限制的

参考例句：

• He is qualified as a complete man of letters.他有资格当真正的文学家。
• We must note that we still lack qualified specialists.我们必须看到我们还缺乏有资质的专家。

2 high-tech   

adj.高科技的

参考例句：

• The economy is in the upswing which makes high-tech services in more demand too.经济在蓬勃发展，这就使对高科技服务的需求量也在加大。
• The quest of a cure for disease with high-tech has never ceased. 人们希望运用高科技治疗疾病的追求从未停止过。

3 lengthy   

adj.漫长的，冗长的

参考例句：

• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。
• The professor wrote a lengthy book on Napoleon.教授写了一部有关拿破仑的巨著。

4 lieutenant   

n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员

参考例句：

• He was promoted to be a lieutenant in the army.他被提升为陆军中尉。
• He prevailed on the lieutenant to send in a short note.他说动那个副官，递上了一张简短的便条进去。

5 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

6 morale   

n.道德准则，士气，斗志

参考例句：

• The morale of the enemy troops is sinking lower every day.敌军的士气日益低落。
• He tried to bolster up their morale.他尽力鼓舞他们的士气。

7 rotation   

n.旋转；循环，轮流

参考例句：

• Crop rotation helps prevent soil erosion.农作物轮作有助于防止水土流失。
• The workers in this workshop do day and night shifts in weekly rotation.这个车间的工人上白班和上夜班每周轮换一次。

8 rotations   

旋转( rotation的名词复数 )； 转动； 轮流； 轮换

参考例句：

• Farmers traditionally used long-term rotations of hay, pasture, and corn. 农民以往长期实行干草、牧草和玉米轮作。
• The crankshaft makes three rotations for each rotation of the rotor. 转子每转一周，曲轴转3周。

9 deployed   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的过去式和过去分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Tanks have been deployed all along the front line. 沿整个前线已部署了坦克。
• The artillery was deployed to bear on the fort. 火炮是对着那个碉堡部署的。

10 administrative   

adj.行政的，管理的

参考例句：

• The administrative burden must be lifted from local government.必须解除地方政府的行政负担。
• He regarded all these administrative details as beneath his notice.他认为行政管理上的这些琐事都不值一顾。

11 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。

12 loyalty   

n.忠诚，忠心

参考例句：

• She told him the truth from a sense of loyalty.她告诉他真相是出于忠诚。
• His loyalty to his friends was never in doubt.他对朋友的一片忠心从来没受到怀疑。

13 naval   

adj.海军的，军舰的，船的

参考例句：

• He took part in a great naval battle.他参加了一次大海战。
• The harbour is an important naval base.该港是一个重要的海军基地。