Airline fears of pilot shortage spark Congress fight over required training

Whatever pilot shortage there might actually be is directly attributable to the low pay and dismal benefits at regional airlines. Add to that, the low quality of life. Airlines have been using pilots' love of flying to screw them over for eons. As they continue to do that, they can be sure that only the most dedicated (and perhaps most masochistic) will apply.

Maybe if the airlines, FAA and congress would stop trying to destroy GA we would not be in quite as bad of mess...... maybe.

The fear is not of a pilot shortage. It is a fear of a shortage of pilots who will work for $19,000 per year.

Well, both pilots in the Colgan crash were well above 1500 hours. The other thing as noted in the story is that the rule emphasizes quantity over quality of training. If I read the rules right, both people in the pointy end must have ATP's. That can put a very inexperienced right seat in place. To me a right seat should be for some learning under an experienced left seat. I think 250 hours as it was is probably too little but 1500 hours is way too much. That said, other than the Colgan crash in which quantity of hours was not a factor, there weren't any serious accidents related to low hours in the right seat. I think the mandatory retirement age should have been done away with although it did not have that much bearing on the regionals. IMHO

There is no pilot shortage. The only shortage is in the crappy pay that management is pushing routinely. There's plenty of pilots out there but they won't work for the crap starting pay.

Having read about “pilot shortages” for the last 15 years, I am naturally skeptical of such claims. ESPECIALLY when these claims are made by those whose primary source of funding is from flight schools promising the world to young aviation enthusiasts. (And all too often delivering nothing more than shattered dreams and astronomical debt.) A pilot shortage is just the thing to motivate people to walk through their front doors.
However I can see how the coming wave of soon-to-be 65 year olds and the obscene 1,500 hour minimums for beginning pilots could (and perhaps will) have an impact on future airline staffing, particularly regional. Many commentators have spoken about poor pay, low benefits, and tedious working environments at the regionals. This is a non-starter for me. How many times have you heard a student pilot and/or enthusiast say, “I’d fly for free” or an old timer talk about “coming up through the ranks”? There is something deeply rewarding about starting with low pay and tough hours; I believe it really makes you appreciate the better pay, hours, and working conditions at the majors when you arrive. Seniority and “coming up through the ranks” imparts a kind of respect for the position, the career, and your peers. What’s unfair is the added burden (often times crushing) of college debt. Why is this? Why do our airline pilots have anything more than pilot’s licenses? If a pilot wishes to move out of the cockpit and into the office (IE chief pilot, corporate position, etc.) then by all means, he should attain the necessary skills to do that (a degree). But to fly a plane? What does a bachelor’s degree in communications do to serve a pilot other than having a great PA message? What does a bachelor’s degree in marketing do to serve a pilot other than towing an ad banner? These degrees are useless to pilots, passengers, and airlines. The only purpose they serve is to make colleges & universities richer.
If airlines, politicians, whoever are concerned about a pilot shortage, real or not, large or small, they are best served by working to first pressure airlines to scrap this ridiculous, discriminatory practice of college degree requirements. Second, airlines should help to alleviate the cost of flight school and hours attainment. Third, airlines should assist new pilots with housing resources. Finally, and only then, should regional pay be considered.

For all the cost in time and money to get to the place a pilot would need to be to get an ATP, and the starting pay for the first four years of so just don't add up. The majors are the only one in the airline business that pay a fair wage, but as a new pilot trying to get there takes years.
I would guess maybe this is why less and less young people are getting pilot license these days. Demand is going up more pilots needed, more airplNes need, every thing going up, but the pilots pay. Not only that the companies want you to work more hours for the same old pay.
Is it any wonder?

I'm not surprised that a severe shortage of pilots is here. The high price of Student lessons, aircraft rental, fuel, maintenance, tie down or hangar space and overall soaring prices of aircraft have all but stopped new pilots from getting involved. Even experienced pilots have curtailed their flying as well. I remember my first lessons in 1972 were in a J3 Cub at $12/hr and that included the plane. I spent $2500 getting my license and another $3000 for my instrument commercial. Luckily the airline paid for my heavy iron ATP training and I wouldn't want to have paid for that either. Today a private pilot student will pay $9000 to $11,000 for the private and several thousand more for the instrument and commercial. The cost of owning a plane is not too cheap either. It's not unusual to pay upwards of &1500 for an annual that used to be $300-500 for a 172 or Archer. Fuel prices have risen to the point where no one wants to spend the money for fuel at today,s prices. So, it's no wonder that students interested in flying has dropped.

Every other career path is guided by the idea that if you aren't happy with the salary offered, you simply don't accept the offer. Why does it seem people in the pilot business feel it should be different for them?

Hello pilots,
On the pilot "shortage" , the majors have always "feasted" on the military pilots returning to civilian service as their major source of recruitment. Until(if) this steady source starts to dwindle, will the self-trained civilian pilot population see improvement in hiring and benefits.
JetmanXX

It's all B.S.!!!! I'm an "Older" well seasoned pilot and I can't begin to tell you how many times I've been passed over due to my age! There is no shortage, there's NEVER been a shortage, it's all about flooding the market with pilots to save on labor costs!

All of the a-holes that run businesses in the US love the free market, until all of that "supply and demand" stuff starts rearing it's ugly head.

Then it all about going to Congress for subsidies of one sort or another, or "relaxing the requirements", or (preferably) both.

Business leaders always talk about "growth". Any growth in the aviation business in the past 30 years has been subsidized by taking money away from the airlines employees, and giving it to the airlines execs directly, or to the passengers by way of super discounted airfares.

Incentives usually mean you get more of something (like crooked Wall Street bankers). Disincentives (1980-present) are mainly created by screwing employees. People aren't totally stupid. eventually means that you are going to get fewer pilots and mechanics, and the quality of the ones you do get are going to be lower.

Don't believe me? Go ask any crew chief/floor supervisor on any shop floor in any Airline/Business Aviation/GA maintenance shop.

In the aviation business, chickens are coming home to roost

Well, as opposed to earlier years and way of life, there probably is a pilot shortage in some quarters. I'll not get into the pros and cons of a college education other than to say by not having one, you are limited to a particular career field, which may be fine. Some say that is a learning thing that shows an individual can put forth extra effort. That would be all well and good if it weren't so expensive, but the one thing that is totally lacking is a clear path to a job out of flight school, college, whatever, into a flying job. Still too much luck and who you know. There is talk in this thread about truck drivers. Having owned a truck line for awhile, bottom line is that money is paid, drivers are trained and put on the road. Now, that is very simplified but the bottom line is that if you learn how to drive a truck, you are going to have a decent paying job. The Airlines need to set up something similar, FAA is going to have to get involved, and so are the legacies. It will all be interesting.

Obama is a disaster to our country and military , he hated America and is siding with our enemies in Iran, he's a fool.

There is a shortage of pilots. I can't find any pilots qualified for a jet copilot. Oh, they think they are qualified with some simulator time and 1600 hours of single engine time, but our insurance won't touch a guy like that and it's too risky to spend $18,000 on a type rating on a guy that will take years to even halfway train.

@ preacher and loral...AMEN! I was hired with 314 hours and went on to retire off the 747-451. Back then applicants took what was called the 'STANINE' test which eliminated some, why I don't know.
Congress must lower the requirements or the qualified pilot shortage will hinder us greatly. Look at the Big3ME carriers and their traing program.

You never win making a deal with the Devil

The result of the current scheme is to populate Asian airlines where the new pilot can get in lots of hours. Unfortunately, culture and lack of experience in the mentors will decrease quality, but then when did government look at anything except numbers.

Don't worry, Obama will be clearing our the aviators in our military pretty soon. ;)

Although not directly related to your question about what to do I would like to weigh in on the 1500 hour rule. As stated that was because of the "inexperience" of the Colgan pilots in reacting incorrectly to a wing stall. I disagree with the NTSB finding and believe they reacted correctly to what they thought was a tail plane stall due to icing rather than what really happened which was a wing stall due to slow speed. I believe they reacted improperly because 1) they were tired, 2) they lacked cockpit discipline perhaps because of the airline's culture, and 3) the airline let a marginal pilot go on the line. Flight time had nothing to do with the errors made in my opinion.

Quantifying "Pilot Shortage":

The only source for the number of "active" pilots is the FAA.
"Active" meaning those with a current medical who haven't requested that the FAA not list their addresses in the FAA data base.

Having even an accurate number for the number of "active" student, private, commercial, or ATP pilots is of course useless without knowing what the openings/demand is for each license (read commercial and ATP), which is pretty much unobtainable.

Sooo, one has to plot the history of those numbers.
In doing so I found the following:

1) In March, 2001 the FAA stopped including pilots who had only a glider and/or only a rotorcraft rating in the statistics for private, commercial and ATP licenses and added them to the "other" category.
This resulted in an approximate increase in the "other" category to 29,596 from 16,200 for an 83% apparent, but not actual, increase of pilots in this category.
This in turn resulted in a reduction of ATP listed pilots by approximately 1,804 from 141,596 (1.2%), Commercial by 3,672 from 121,858 (3%), and Private by 7,917 from 252,561 (3.1%).

2) In July 2010, the FAA issued a rule that increased the duration of validity for student pilot certificates for pilots under the age of 40 from 36 to 60 months.
This resulted in an apparent, but not actual, increase in active student pilots to 119,119 from 72,280 for a 64% increase.

3) From 1980 thru 2000 the plots show a roughly linear change. Private pilots decreased from 357,479 to 252,561 or by 30%, Commercial decreased from 183,442 to 121,858 or by 34%, ATP increased from 69,569 to 141,596 or by 103%.

4) After 2000 thru 2014 plotting FAA numbers (uncorrected for 1) & 2)) shows:
a) Private continuing to decrease at roughly the same rate as from 1980 thru 2000,
b) Commercial continuing the same rate of decrease apparent in 3) from 2000 to 2007 and from 2010 thru 2014 but with a significant uptick from 2007 to 2010 (an increase of 22,219 from the 115,127 in 2007).
c) ATP roughly unchanged from 2000 to 2010, then a slight increase from 2010 thru 2014 of 11,200 from the 145,464 of 2010 (7.6%, averaging 1.9%/year).

5) Incorporating approximate corrections for 1) & 2) changes 4) a) Private and b) Commercial into ~3% less of a decrease and c) ATP by ~2% more of an increase.

Data for all years noted are for end of that year, 12/31.

Let's address the root cause of all of this. It's the cheap air fares that have created this mess, what else? It started with the Airline Deregulation Act in 1978.
I've seen it and experienced the downward spiral of commercial aviation (airline travel) as a frequent, job and business related, domestic and intercontinetal air traveler since 1964. The US airlines are now the Greyhounds of the air. It might be possible that Greyhound Bus drivers are now compensated at a higher rate than many of the commercial airlines aircraft 'drivers' these days.

I heard today on radio ad for truck driveing job wanted stating pay $55000-$8000. it make me wonder what those guys paid in training to become a truck driver.

While there is pilot shortage just around the corner, companies think that lowering the hour experience requirement will solve their problems. As a ATR flight examiner (TRE), I can say that they are wrong.

as a non-pilot observer: A:I see a lot to indicate that you guys aren't pilots, just system managers. B:had I the choice, I would not travel with a non-fighter pilot driver. C:since congress is in the loop, 'tis going to be a CLFK anyway, and the decision is going to be made by campaign contribution. just MHO...