RCAF eases medical standards
Officials waiving requirements due to pilot shortage
OTTAWA — Canada’s air force has been bending on minimum medical standards such as vision and hearing requirements as it contends with a critical shortage of experienced pilots.
The Royal Canadian Air Force has long struggled to retain enough trained military pilots to fly its fighter jets, search-and-rescue aircraft and helicopters, but a growing “experience gap” is adding to the problem.
RCAF spokesman Maj. James Simiana said the gap’s origins can be traced back to the 1990s, when the Chretien government slashed about one-third of the military’s ranks and put a freeze on new hiring.
The problem has been worsened in recent years by heavy recruitment of military flyers by civilian airlines, and a mass exodus of baby boomers due to retirement.
“The RCAF has sufficient pilot recruits and pilots undergoing flying training, but not enough experienced pilots that are required to train new pilots, to mentor less experienced RCAF pilots,” Simiana said in an email. As a result, the air force has been accepting retired RCAF pilots and recruiting recently laid-off British military aviators to deal with the shortfall.
“The point here is to show that we’re taking mitigating action to counter a challenging demographic situation,” Simiana said.
But secret briefing documents obtained by Postmedia News show that air force officials have had to seek waivers for some of those experienced aviators who failed to meet minimum medical standards.
In one case, air force officials asked that a former RCAF helicopter pilot who had retired after 37 years in the military be allowed to rejoin despite failing an unspecified medical standard.
“In the past three years, precedent has been set by granting waivers for the enrolment of several applicants whose medical categories were below the pilot occupation minimum for enrolment,” RCAF deputy commander Maj.-Gen. Michael Hood wrote in the briefing note.
In another case, Rear Admiral Andrew Smith, who was then chief of military personnel, was asked if a former British air force pilot could join the RCAF even though his vision did not meet minimum standards. Air Force officials noted the RCAF’s pilot shortfall in their letter to Smith, and said “a special need did in fact exist” for the British aviator.
Simiana would not say how many experienced pilots the air force needs. But he said the experience and skills experienced pilots bring to the table compensate for reduced vision.
Air Force Association of Canada national president and former RCAF pilot Terry Chester said minimum medical standards for such things as vision, hearing, heart beat and blood pressure are set for a good reason.
But he was also confident senior air force commanders would not risk lives or multimillion-dollar equipment by putting unfit pilots in the cockpit.