Another Pilot Shortage Article
11-14-2012, 04:01 AM
#51
Retired
Joined APC: Feb 2008
Position: whale wrangler
Posts: 3,527
If this country's debt and deficit issues aren't fixed ASAP and if we keep borrowing from China to fund out of control entitlement programs and if Bernanke keeps printing money, the double dip recession will hit and the fabled pilot shortage will be resolved in short order. There will be more than enough pilots to go around. Oh, and $6 to $9 per gallon gas prices will help, too!
Crisis averted yet again!
Crisis averted yet again!
You beat me to it .
Ally
11-14-2012, 06:00 AM
#52
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: May 2009
Position: Square root of the variance and average of the variation
Posts: 1,602
The point I want to make is that flight time is hard to come by compared to the 80's and 90's. In addition, the "commuter airline" salaries sucked in the 80's and 90's but they really haven't gone up much since then. The cost of flying has gone up 500% and the salaries have gone up 25 to 30%. One certainly has to wonder if the sacrifice is too great!
11-14-2012, 12:34 PM
#55
pants on the ground
Joined APC: Jan 2007
Position: back seat
Posts: 1,359
11-14-2012, 09:13 PM
#56
Bracing for Fallacies
Joined APC: Jul 2007
Position: In favor of good things, not in favor of bad things
Posts: 3,543
Sorry, not a WSJ subscriber. Maybe I've maxed out my free visits to their site or something like that, but none the less, I can't read the article you've linked.
You're calling the article a "gem" so I'm guessing fixing pay and ending the whip saw were *not* listed as solutions.
Allow me to go further out on a limb and guess the article's suggestions were like bandages to a hemorrhage?
11-15-2012, 01:44 AM
#57
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Mar 2010
Posts: 218
Fulltime CFI/CFII/MEI, and I get maybe 50 hours a month teaching international students. There are not really any decent jobs left teaching Americans. Honestly, I'm making more than a regional, and taking the controls away from my students as they try and do a power on stall on the takeoff is good experience... Good luck with those jumper, banner tow, photo survey jobs too.... Okay there are a few opportunities out there but most of them at least want 500TT and even the CFI jobs have dried up somewhat because attrition has slowed way down at flight schools. Once you get the 500TT you'll probably just want to stick with your CFI job... I like flying though, in the end I'll get to a regional. 1500 hours bites, but what's the rush?
11-16-2012, 06:45 AM
#58
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Dec 2007
Position: Hot tub for now
Posts: 1,203
Did you all read ALPA's response?
I think it's bang on.
I think it's bang on.
November 15, 2012
The Wall Street Journal
Letters to the Editor
The Air Line Pilots Association, Int’l does not agree with your analysis in “Airlines Face Acute Shortage of Pilots” [November 12, 2012]. The article failed to consider a number of variables, including the cadre of highly qualified pilots who are currently furloughed or displaced from North American carriers and those flying overseas in order to make a livable wage.
A significant number of currently furloughed or displaced American and Canadian pilots have had no choice but to accept pilot jobs in other parts of the world in order to make a living. In addition, many qualified pilots have chosen to fly for overseas airlines because of the instability in the North American aviation industry. These pilots would prefer to fly for North American carriers, if they were able to support themselves and their families as well as feel confident of a long-term career.
It’s also important to consider another key issue. Emirates—as well as other Middle Eastern and Asian carriers flush with cash, incentives, and favorable government aviation and tax policies—attracts highly qualified airline pilots because they offer compensation commensurate with the pilots’ training and skill; some North American carriers do not. The U.S. and Canadian governments must adopt strong, pro-airline policies that level the playing field for their airlines and enable them to compete and prevail in global air transportation.
So you see, we face a much more dynamic and challenging issue. The solution to increasing the quantity of airline pilots in North America lies in attracting and retaining the most qualified pilots.
Capt. Lee Moak
President
Air Line Pilots Association, Int’l
Washington, D
The Wall Street Journal
Letters to the Editor
The Air Line Pilots Association, Int’l does not agree with your analysis in “Airlines Face Acute Shortage of Pilots” [November 12, 2012]. The article failed to consider a number of variables, including the cadre of highly qualified pilots who are currently furloughed or displaced from North American carriers and those flying overseas in order to make a livable wage.
A significant number of currently furloughed or displaced American and Canadian pilots have had no choice but to accept pilot jobs in other parts of the world in order to make a living. In addition, many qualified pilots have chosen to fly for overseas airlines because of the instability in the North American aviation industry. These pilots would prefer to fly for North American carriers, if they were able to support themselves and their families as well as feel confident of a long-term career.
It’s also important to consider another key issue. Emirates—as well as other Middle Eastern and Asian carriers flush with cash, incentives, and favorable government aviation and tax policies—attracts highly qualified airline pilots because they offer compensation commensurate with the pilots’ training and skill; some North American carriers do not. The U.S. and Canadian governments must adopt strong, pro-airline policies that level the playing field for their airlines and enable them to compete and prevail in global air transportation.
So you see, we face a much more dynamic and challenging issue. The solution to increasing the quantity of airline pilots in North America lies in attracting and retaining the most qualified pilots.
Capt. Lee Moak
President
Air Line Pilots Association, Int’l
Washington, D
11-16-2012, 07:46 AM
#59
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Mar 2009
Position: Lunar Lander Commander
Posts: 158
Learned more instructing and flying solo in that Mitz than anywhere else. Kills me when someone complains..." I had to spend 300 hours as an instructor..." Of course probably better they leave then as that's probably an instructor you don't want to have - one that wants to be somewhere else and is filling the seat on your flight training dime.
You hit it out of the park with this one. That CFI in that article revealed much more than he thought he did about what is really going on here.
So was a contributing factor with that Colgan captain the result of training by a CFI that hated being a CFI and therefore received terrible instruction (Law of primacy)? Was it a result of his CFI being afraid to death of stalls (Yes they are out there)? Or did his CFI not do his duty when the student turned out to be one of those very rare individuals who just should not be a commercial pilot or possibly even a pilot at all? I have always said that this is where we need to start looking first. After all the guy failed a bunch of checkrides and rode that stall all the way to the ground.
No one seems to point out the training and checking much. Seeing the results of bad instruction from bad CFI's for years I cant help but start here.
I understand if being an airline pilot is your dream job but if you hate being a CFI to the point of cheating you students out of the best training you can give them than please do something else.
11-17-2012, 01:45 AM
#60
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Mar 2010
Posts: 218
Just because you hate being a CFI doesn't mean you are a bad CFI... "hate" is probably too strong a word but I don't really enjoy CFIing most of the time (obviously it has rewarding moments). But, it is what I am doing, and I want to be the best at whatever it is that I am doing, and even if it's not exactly my dream job, my students deserve somebody who gives a damn about them being successful.
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