Vancouver Sun

Pilot shortage forcing RCAF to bend medical rules, papers show

- LEE BERTHIAUME

OTTAWA — Canada’s air force has been bending 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, searchandr­escue 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 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, 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 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 he wasn’t a Canadian citizen and 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.

Hood justified the moves by arguing the “million- dollar cost” of pilot training “warrants the high initial medical standard” to which recruits are held.

“Skilled pilot re- enrollees do not incur these upfront costs and therefore represent a valuable commodity while the pilot occupation remains significan­tly ( undermanne­d),” Hood concluded.

Simiana would not say how many experience­d pilots the air force needs but noted 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 reason.

But he was also confident air force commanders would not risk lives or multimilli­on- dollar equipment by putting unfit pilots in the cockpit.

“The first airplane that took off with a less- than- qualified pilot in the air and crashed and killed the pilot,” Chester said, “the air force commander would be up in front of the chief of defence staff with his hat under his arm looking at a court martial.”

Chester said the fact the RCAF is bending on the medical requiremen­ts to bolster the number of experience­d pilots it has speaks to the air force’s severe shortage of bodies.

“It’s a delicate balance,” he said of the standards. “But we obviously need pilots in the cockpit. Because let’s face it, if we don’t have pilots, the air force is redundant.”

 ?? MASTER- SEAMAN STEEVE PICARD/ COMBAT CAMERA/ DND ?? The Royal Canadian Air Force has been hit with a shortage of experience­d pilots to train and mentor those fl ying CF- 18 fi ghter jets and other aircraft people leaving the forces.
MASTER- SEAMAN STEEVE PICARD/ COMBAT CAMERA/ DND The Royal Canadian Air Force has been hit with a shortage of experience­d pilots to train and mentor those fl ying CF- 18 fi ghter jets and other aircraft people leaving the forces.

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