The Navy's Flying Warrant Program is going away:
http://www.public.navy.mil/bupers-npc/reference/messages/Documents/NAVADMINS/NAV2013/NAV13192.txt
The opening paragraph is interesting:
The Navy's flying CWO "Pilot" program was conceived and initiated during a period of high Unrestricted Line (URL) aviation accessions to evaluate the effectiveness of replacing a small number of URL aviators with CWOs unencumbered by the career progression requirements of the URL officer. While the program has produced quality aviators, the URL inventory profile has changed and a requirement for flying CWOs no longer exists.
This says to me "We like the old way better, and don't want to change."
The Army uses flying warrants to great success. Warrant Officers can sit in the same job the entire time, building up expertise without needing to hit the wickets to become an admiral (joint tour, staff tours, etc.). Navy Flying Warrants could stay as the technical experts, while a smaller contingent regular flying officers go through and eventually become the wing commanders of tomorrow.
But, we'll stick with the old way. Short of a crisis, I don't see it changing anytime soon.
