RAAF Resignations Becoming Critical

The RAAF is aiming to increase the number of pilots it graduates each year to 75. It also is looking at measures which could see civil airline pilots, particularly those flying with Qantas, undertaking regular reservist training on high performance aircraft. The US Navy and US Air Force has proved conclusively that reservists who fly commercial aircraft are fully capable of handling military jets and other planes.

Quite a lot of US reservists fly frontline aircraft like the F-18, the F-16 and the F-14. Some are putting in 160 hours of military fliying a year. This compares with about 230 hours a year for an RAAF F-111 and F-18 pilot and up to 500 hours for a P-3C Orion pilot. The RAAF losses are occurring right across the various squadrons as well as from those ‘flying desks’ in the Defence Department and Air Force Office in Canberra.

Older pilots assigned to desk jobs are tending more and more to opt for civil flying opportunities. An increased number of personnel are now leaving the RAAF after completion of 20 years service when they qualify for a pension. Not so long ago, the lure of salaries sometimes double or triple what the Air Force can afford often was not an overriding factor in resignations. But it seems to be more so today.

On top of this is the change in social patterns which has seen many wives of RAAF personnel pursuing their own careers. Postings, especially to the more remote areas of Australia, interfere with this. Today, many wives of aircrew and other Air Force personnel have special qualifications which they seek to use. Some have been known to drop more than $10,000 in salary when their husbands are reposted to outlying bases. That is assuming they can get a job at all as in many areas employers are loath to hire Defence personnel due to their transient lifestyles.

Most of those resigning are flight lieutenants or squadron leaders whose training has cost millions of dollars. But an equally worrying trend which has emerged is that younger pilots are leaving immediately their six years of return-of-service obligation is completed. In a bid to counter this, the RAAF has lifted the return-of-service provision to eight years. But this cannot be done retrospectively, so any longer retention will take time to take effect.

Another factor said to have influenced some pilots to resign was the recent decision to hand over the RAAF utility helicopters to the Army. One experienced RAAF helicopter pilot who resigned in frustration was a Wing Commander with 20 years service.

Dissolutionment over Government decisions on pay freezes and delays and steady increases in rentals charged for living in often inadequate married quarters are other reasons frequently given for resignations.

There also remains resentment over a pay freeze inflicted by the past and present Governments which meant no pay rises for Australia’s 70,000 servicemen and women for three years. Eventually a niggardly 5. 9% pay rise was granted last year, but there was no retrospectivity.

Inadequate housing and frequent, and often irrelevant, postings that disadvantage wives and families are other sore points with many servicemen and apply equally to pilots. Another factor that is enough to make any ‘real’ aviator leave the Service is that by their 35th birthday most feel that they are well and truly on the final approach to their flying careers. In many cases this is just at a time when they feel they are reaching their peak yet their future instead is almost certainly taking them towards flying a desk at Canberra’s infamous Defence Central (which is more colourfully known as Blunderland, Fort Fumble and The Sponge). If aircrew could retain their active flying status longer then it is felt that many more would remain in uniform. The alternative is to fly for the airlines, receive two to three times the pay and live comfortably in the one place. Flying a mahogany bomber is certainly a poor substitute!

Apart from the heavy pilot wastage, the RAAF also is concerned about increasing resignation rates by engineers. This particularly applies to those skilled in electronics. In the eight months to the end of February, 64 RAAF engineers resigned. This compares with the annual 10-year average of 56 which means that the current rate is nearly double the long-term average.

Senior Defence Department officials and RAAF officers are currently studying a variety of schemes designed to retain skilled Service personnel. But it remains to be seen if a range of possible other measures, which might include bonus arrangements for those with specialist skills, will plug the widening hole.