"Israel Air Force Receives New Breed of Pilots"

so the new pilots with the degrees are doing well now?

http://www.defensedaily.com
July 8, 2005

Israel Air Force Receives New Breed of Pilots

HAZERIM, Israel--Israelis revere their air force (IAF) pilots perhaps
more than any other popular figures, and while citizens and officials
here last week honored graduating pilots much the same way as they
always have--with much pomp and ceremony--these graduates have toed a
different and longer line than their predecessors.

For the first time, new IAF pilots are graduating from flight school
with a bachelor's degree, having spent three years studying and
flying, instead of the two years that had been the norm for completing
the first stage of pilot training.

"This is something we've borrowed from the United States and other air
forces," Lt. "O," a 21-year old graduate entering the IAF's fighter
pipeline, told Defense Daily International last week. "It has taught
us how to study and how to use our heads a lot more...in different
ways."

Though the overall service commitment for the graduates increased by a
year, keeping them in the IAF for nine years instead of eight, the
time required after graduation held steady at six years.

"This is not a general retention program...it was not devised for
this," Capt. "A," an IAF pilot and instructor for the trainee's ground
portion of the school, told Defense Daily International.

Rather, it is a reflection of the school adjusting as it always had to
what the IAF squadrons say they need, Capt. A said. "The squadrons
said they needed new pilots with better avionics training, and they're
getting that with the new A-4 avionics upgrades. They also said they
needed better junior officers 'work-wise' in terms of paperwork and
projects...and computers, and they are getting that too."

Remarkably, very few IAF pilots--regarded worldwide as part of the top-
tier of combat pilots from any nation--have begun their service with
any kind of higher education degree. At ages much younger than pilots
in most countries, they have already started racking up operational
experience, and here that eventually means combat hours.

"This was an amazing opportunity," Lt. O said. He never completed the
national exams most students take to finish out high school. "Now,
here I am at 21 a pilot...with a degree."

That is not to imply that the pilot selection process is anything but
the most difficult of its type in Israel. Careful screening was done
for all candidates at different points throughout the country's
general draft process; Israel requires mandatory service.

"It is a completely voluntary course," Capt. A said. There are some
candidates who transfer laterally from other Israel Defense Force
(IDF) branches, but most come by way of prior arrangement as a special
result of the draft selection process, he added.

And that is just to get into the program. The officers and other IDF
spokespersons were unable to say how many students typically begin a
class, but one said the completion rate was only about 15 percent.

Capt. A said that the program was designed to keep the squadrons
supplied with exactly as many new pilots as it needed. From this
graduating class, of which there are two per year, the IAF is getting
several dozen.

The IAF expects that the new program will also help it become more
professional and gain a better balance of regular versus reserve
officers. "For a while we've been relying on [greater input from the]
reserves...this will help keep people in their jobs longer and
increase the [active duty presence]," Capt. A said.

The program now has four degree tracks, from mathematics and
computers, to economics and management, political science and
information technology. The cadets spent one day a week at nearby Ben
Gurion University, with the rest of the classes taught by the
university's faculty at flight school facilities, Lt. O said.

Current national education standards and regulations preclude the IAF
from designating the program as an 'air force academy,' Capt. A said.

But that is essentially what the service has created for itself.

"Everyone is happy with the results; I am sure it will continue," Lt.
O said. But it was also a grind, with nearly every waking moment spent
either studying or flying or studying about flying, he added.

This is also the last class that will be getting its first taste of
flying aboard Piper Super Cubs, which are being phased out, Lt. O
said.

The French Fuga Magister and then-McDonnell Douglas, now Boeing [BA]
A-4 Skyhawk trainers, remain stalwart platforms for the program.

"As a student, the A-4 was of course the most exciting," Lt. O said.
"But from a pure flying [standpoint], the Piper was also
incredible...and if I could own just one aircraft, that might be it."

This, of course, is coming from a young man soon headed for a day job
at an IAF squadron equipped with either Boeing F-15 or Lockheed Martin
[LMT] F-16 jet fighters.