Having a number of jets or fan engines with low by pass to start from, new engines are now designed faster than they used to. Decades ago new engines needed to be more powerful; this needed higher temperatures and new alloys (or ceramics) and designs in the turbine blades; this takes easy a decade to develop.

The F-35 program is a modern day jet platform program. It took 5 years to develop and build a winning prototype, and then 5 years for first flight of a production machine.

Every one of those planes rolled out of Boeing’s Renton Production Facility, where workers build a 737 in just nine days. The factory, near Seattle, pump them out at the rate of 42 per month, and Boeing claims the 1.1-million-square-foot facility is most efficient airplane factory in the world.

41,500 Hours

U.S. Air Force leaders in early 2021 all but admitted what critics have been saying for many years—the $100-million F-35 stealth fighter that Lockheed Martin LMT -0.3% is building for the service is too expensive and unreliable for hard, day-to-day use. …

Airlines prefer a pilot with multi engine experience, not a fighter pilot. They would much prefer a pilot who has experince on transport or bomber aircraft although they will accept fighter jocks for training of course.

If you’re asking the question “Is it worth it to become a fighter pilot?” then, no, it’s probably not worth it to you. Those of us that made it spent every waking moment thinking and hoping and working to get here. Becoming a fighter pilot for us was the realization of a life-long dream.

Similarly, United Airlines pilots earn an average of $205,000. The average Delta Airlines pilot earns $192,000 with top-earners making $526,000. American Airlines pilots earn an average salary of $118,000, with some pilots earning in excess of $700,000. Most importantly, pilot salaries continue to increase.