A Mentored Experience Accumulation Differential Model: Rapid Parameter Space Analysis Applied to Royal Canadian Air Force Pilot Production, Absorption and Retention

Since the early 2000s, the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) has used a detailed personnel training model-Pilot Production, Absorption, Retention Simulation (PARSim)-to study the progress of pilots from recruitment to release. The model captures key dynamics of pilot career throughput, with particular attention paid to the upgrade of inexperienced pilots arriving at operational squadrons via mentoring by experienced pilots. Here we develop a simplified model of the same career structure, based on systems of differential equations, that captures the fundamental dynamics and constraints of the full PARSim model but enables rapid analysis of the parameter space via numerical simulation to produce a higher level view of pilot occupation health. A further advantage of this model is that, within certain domains, the equations can be solved analytically which provides valuable insights into the system's stability, steady state, and critical conditions in terms of the model's fundamental parameters.