How Much Does It Cost to Train a US Air Force Pilot?

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Pilot training costs are dependent on a number of factors—how expensive the plane is, how much maintenance it requires, how many instructors are available, and so on.

Training a US Air Force pilot is an expensive endeavor. It costs between $1.1 million and $13 million to complete one prospective pilot’s training, depending on the platform—making pilot acquisition and training one of the single most expensive personnel pipelines in the US military. The cost is driven by aircraft, fuel, instructors, and time.

As any civilian recreational pilot can attest, flying is not cheap—and a supersonic fighter jet obviously costs many times more than a civilian Cessna or Beechcraft. Teaching someone off the street to fly the most sophisticated aircraft in the world, carry out complicated missions, and defeat rival pilots from adversary nations in air combat is a fantastically expensive proposition.

Still, skimping on pilot training would be penny-wise, but pound-foolish, given the astronomical price tags of the aircraft that Air Force pilots are trusted to fly to the best of their ability. Ultimately, pilots are not merely military personnel, but strategic investments in American airpower—and the Air Force has long held the view that training pilots to........

© The National Interest