IAF continues to lose pilots to commercial airlines

New Delhi: IAF continues to haemorrhage from the exodus of its pilots seeking the much-greener pastures of civil aviation sector, which promises more stable and lucrative careers for them.
“Around 101 IAF pilots have applied for grant of premature retirement (PMR) during the last one year,” defence minister A K Antony told Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.
“The broad reasons furnished by the applicants for grant of PMR are supersession, lack of career progression and medical/compassionate grounds,” he added.
As reported by TOI earlier, over 500 IAF pilots have ditched their uniforms to join the civil arena since 2002. Worried at this exodus, IAF has been forced to “tighten controls” on “premature release” of its pilots but is still around 300 pilots short of its total sanctioned strength of 3,278 pilots, half of whom are into active operational flying.
IAF does not have much of a problem if pilots who have put in over 20 years leave the force but is extremely reluctant to part with those who are younger. It, after all, takes around Rs 11 crore to train a fighter pilot and around half that amount to train a transport or helicopter pilot.
“The money invested in them is recovered if they serve for at least 20 years. Military flying comes down drastically after one crosses 40. A commercial pilot, conversely, can fly till 61-62,” said an officer.
10/12/09 Times of India