Defense urgently seeks F-16 trainers

The Ministry of Defense does not have enough instructors to train Ukrainian fighter pilots on the F-16, so the ministry has asked for help from aviation companies.

And at the end of last year, Royal Netherlands Air Force General Onno Echelsheim did just that. communicate For several commercial companies. Many former F-16 pilots started working as commercial pilots after leaving the Air Force. The purpose of the invitation is to recruit enough instructors to train Ukrainian F-16 pilots. Transavia is one of the airlines contacted by the Ministry of Defense.

Transavia stated in a letter that it could not provide pilots. One reason is that the company is currently in the process of transitioning from Boeing to Airbus. The company would like to remain flexible regarding the number of pilots. It has recently become clear that there is a risk of a pilot shortage at the airline. Furthermore, the uncertainty surrounding Schiphol’s downturn is playing a role. It is not clear which other airlines the Ministry of Defense has contacted.

Training center

Ukrainian pilots will be trained at the European Fighter Training Centre (EFTC) in Romania. The EFTC is located at the Borcea-Fetesti airbase (Airbase No. 86 “Lt. Gheorghe Mociorniśă”) in the southeast of the country. The training centre was officially opened in November. According to Kajsa Ollongren, the outgoing defence minister who heads the international coalition supplying F-16s, the opening of the centre is an important step in Ukraine’s defence against Russian aggression.