April 16,2008: The U.S. Air Force has about 14,000 pilots, about four percent of the force. Most of the senior generals are pilots. Some 26 percent of the pilots are fighter pilots. The senior commanders tend to be fighter pilots. And about two percent of the fighter pilots are women. While most of these women just wanted to fly combat aircraft, all are aware that their chances of getting promoted to general are much better if they are fighter pilots.

Only about half the pilots are actually flying regularly. There are about 3,000 aircraft available to fly, and the machines work longer hours than the pilots. This is common, especially for transport aircraft (which are the hardest working type during the war on terror.)