Shutdown Had No Major Impact on Flying Hours, Exercises: Air Force

The six-week government shutdown did not affect the hours flown by Air Force pilots, a service spokesperson told Air & Space Forces Magazine—avoiding what could have been a major blow at a time when flying hours are already lower than they have been in decades. Service officials also said the shutdown had no impact on any significant wargames or exercises.

During the shutdown, previous authorizations for flying hour execution continued without interruption, an official said. Air Combat Command did not respond to queries about whether any exercises were canceled during the shutdown, but an Air Force official said “any impacts on training were very small” and would have been related to the availability of contractor personnel for maintenance support.

“The Air Force continued toward” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s “readiness priority, and executed flying hours to remain combat ready,” a service spokesperson said.

Air Force pilots are flying somewhere around 10 hours per month now, according to research from AFA’s Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies. That’s fewer hours than what Soviet pilots flew during the Cold War; a level considered laughable by American pilots at the time. That figure is offset by hours in simulators, which are of ever-increasing fidelity, but they are not considered a total substitute for live flying.

The flying hours program cannot be increased from last year’s level due to the continuing resolution under which the government is operating.

In a recent editorial for Air & Space Forces Magazine, retired Chief of Staff Gen. Merrill A. McPeak said he is worried about the situation.

“We’re not flying enough,” McPeak wrote. “I don’t think single-digit flying hours per month is the right answer for anybody.” He said increasing hours should be a “top priority” for the Air Force. If it’s too expensive to give hours in expensive-to-operate fifth-generation fighters like the F-22 and F-35, he said, the pilots should be provided lower-cost trainer aircraft in which to build their hours and time “in the air…to build airmanship and confidence.” The flying hour program should be aimed at “ensuring the excellence of the existing force,” he said, concluding, “better a small Air Force that can be relied on than a big one that cannot.”

John Venable, a senior fellow at the Mitchell Institute, previously noted that in the late 1980s through the late 1990s, service pilots got upwards of 350 flying hours per year; nearly 30 hours per month. They were rated as “peer war ready,” while anyone with less than 150 hours was considered “non-combat capable,” he said.

Ten hours per month—today’s rough metric—is considered “minimally combat mission ready,” and at that rate, proficiency declines and accidents increase, Venable said.

The Air Force requested $6.7 billion for flying hours in fiscal 2026, a figure that Congress boosted by $71.7 million in the reconciliation package.

In its 2026 budget submission, the service said “the Department has faced challenges increasing the execution of flight hours due to pilot shortages, training limitations, and rising costs. As a result, the FY 2026 program is funded at executable levels that fall below the minimum training requirement.” In making that budgeting choice, the Air Force “considers historical execution and force structure changes, ensuring that the program remains adaptable and responsive to evolving operational requirements.”

Air Force leaders have said in recent months that a shortage of pilots and reduced aircraft availability due to spare parts shortages have depressed the number of hours the service flies.

To “ensure operational readiness” the flying hour program “employs a comprehensive framework that allocates flight hours in support of aircrew production, continuation of basic combat flying skills, unit-specific mission requirements, and a range of training activities that encompass both formal and operational elements,” the Air Force said in its budget submission.