3. Skills retention 3.1 The Committee notes that the competition for scarce skills impact negatively on theoperations of the South African Air Force (SAAF). However, in order to prevent the loss of particularly pilots, technicians and instructors, employment contracts of those individuals with specialised skills, should be reviewed to allow for a binding period of service after completion of training. It should also be noted that the drastic reduction of pilots' flying hours contribute to the loss of skills, and this too require urgent reporting by the Department. In addition, other retention strategies such as occupation-specific allowances should either be increased or considered where they are absent.