Tom Cruise isn’t going to save our skies

OTTAWA—For those who closely follow news about the Canadian Armed Forces in general, and the Royal Canadian Air Force in particular, it will come as no shock to learn that they are currently suffering from a crippling shortage of trained personnel. At a recent defence and security conference in Ottawa, Minister of National Defence Bill Blair admitted that the inability of recruiting to keep pace with retirements from the CAF have left Canada’s military institution in a ‘death spiral.

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For the last 24 years, the CT-155 Hawk has served with the RCAF as their main advanced trainer aircraft, serving as the last step before student pilots moved onto the even more ancient CF-18 Hornets. Previously, a typical training course for fighter pilot candidates would go through four training phases, of which Phase 3 and 4 were on the CT-155.

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