"phil hunt" wrote in message
.. .
On Wed, 8 Sep 2004 13:18:37 -0400, Kevin Brooks
wrote:

"Cub Driver" wrote in message
.. .

I fly about 50 hours a year and wish I could do more, just to stay in
the groove.

Could I have stayed current in a jet fighter, flying about 140 hours a
year?

Depends on what Air Force you are talking about. I was reading the other
day
where the average annual flight time in the Russian Air Force has been as
low as the 40 hour mark--and they don't have decent simulators to help
make
up the deficiency. Supposedly, that average allows the younger pilots to
get
in some 60 or 70 hours a year, while the older guys get stuck with less
than
the 40 hour average. ISTR that some of the NATO nations (and I am not
talking the recent additions here) have annual flight hour numbers that
have dipped as low as the 80 to 100 hour figure; ISTR that even our ARNG
helicopter aviators are (or were a few years ago) required to get a bit
more
than that each year.

Do you have any figurews for USAF and RAF pilots?

Can't find any (after a quick search) for fighter/attack aircraft, other
than in "relative" terms (using 1988/89 as a baseline value that is not
actually stated); you maye derive more info by reading the following more
completely:

www.comw.org/pda/afread02.html

Does the number of
hours typically vary depemnding on type of aircraft flown?

Apparently so; the above reference indicates, for example, that in 1994 the
C-5 pilots were averaging 133 hours per year, and C-141 pilots were
averaging 123 hours. I'd imagine fighter pilots, especially those of
multimission aircraft like the F-16, require significantly more hours to
remain truly proficient (as already mentioned by Ed and others).

Also, to
what extent can good simulators replace flying time?

You'd be better off asking that question of someone who has experience with
the latest high-tech sims. I doubt they are on par with actual flying
experience, but I also have little doubt that they beat sitting around
rereading flight manuals to kill time...

Brooks


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