Non-Commissioned Pilots in the RCAF Discussion

[SupersonicMax]

My next question is related to trg/OTU bottleneck. If anyone has insight into the pilot side of the FAcT project, would you give FAcT a thumbs-up, or thumbs-down rating (overly simplified but...) and why? Training in FAcT is supposed to (the last I heard) converge and include "crew" training for the involved trades...if it isn't going to work well for one, that will impact the others.

Given the RFP went out last month, I don’t think we have a solid idea of what will be provided. I would be curious to see what the RFP says though!

 

[Good2Golf]

I participated in that OA. It was primarily budget focused for practical purposes, with secondary considerations

I think it's been well argued that in our current environment, NCM pilots would not help with any of our issues therefore there is no value in creating a pilot NCM trade. A dual stream (at the officer level - this should be addressed in the next pay review for pilots) would fix the issues an NCM pilot stream could potentially solve (career captains).

Thats a facile interpretation, Max. If you're saying NCMs wouldn't resolve the "current situation" (OTF/OTU backlogs and disproportionately high pre-OFP composition of established positions), that's a foregone conclusion as it would no doubt take CMP and the RCAF together until the F-35 is due for its mid-life upgrade, to get the pers structure adjusted to support NCM pilots. The RCAF isn't even considering 'Specialist Aircrew' (like the RAF Flt.Lt and Sqn.Ldr-for-life types. You continue to believe it boils down to pay, and I think that isn't true. I know a number of NCM aircrew who CFR'd and fly now, and they all said that they would also have been quite happy to keep flying as an NCM doing what they do. At the very least, I would say that "non-yellow" CH-146 and the CH-147F would able to be supported by NCMs pilots.

Regards
G2G

 

[SupersonicMax]

Pay is not the only factor but, after reviewing data on release interviews, it is one of the biggest dissatisfiers for people. The CAF can’t move base and can’t change QoL to the level people would like (the missions still need to happen - workload can’t decrease significantly) therefore pay is probably the only big dissatisfiers the CAF can influence.
Sure, NCMs could fly aircraft. But in our context, it would not improve our situation. If we want to pursue the “technical” stream, there are means within our processes to make that happen (CAG-level decision wrt postings, removal from merit list), albeit informally. Many whom I considered extremely competent pilots left the CAF because of money, QOL and location. The vast majority said they would come back if the pay is along the lines of what I proposed.
Regardless of rank, what the CAF offers has to be more attractive than what the industry offers. People don’t join solely out of patriotism anymore.

 

[Eye In The Sky]

Given the RFP went out last month, I don’t think we have a solid idea of what will be provided. I would be curious to see what the RFP says though!

I'm also curious what the draft looked like. I read somewhere the expected throughput for pilot production under FAcT was supposed to increase slightly (in the 105-120 annually range). I'm not sure what current production is.

Anyone curious about FAcT, here's a link to the PSPC FAcT Program page.