BoilerUP

Can we collectively please get off this "pilot shortage" nonsense?

There is not and never will be a shortage of pilots.

What there has been and will be in the future is a shortage of pilots willing to work for the current level of regional airline compensation. There will NEVER be a shortage of pilots for places folks *want* to work like SWA, FedEx, UPS, Delta, etc.

Its basic economics - pilot supply is down because the risk/reward for pursuing the career has gone way to the downside over the last decade. This has been fortuitous because pilot demand is also way down. If circumstances change and pilot demand goes up and risk/reward transitions upside, more people will pursue the career.

Until that point, there are PLENTY of qualified (loosely defined as having an ATP or meeting ATP minimums with previous twin turbine experience) pilots out there who are unemployed, underemployed, working in other aspects of industry (corporate/charter/frax, cargo, training, etc), employed outside of aviation, or decided to hang it up because it wasn't "worth it".

Change the value proposition and *poof* a "shortage" goes away.

As folks hit 65 and retire from airlines, if they still wish to fly they can do so until the day they die in 91/91K/135. You'll see corporate guys making the jump to airlines and retired airline pilots seeking post-retirement corporate jobs...providing little net gain in total pilot positions despite 121 retirements.

When legacy airlines begin ab-initio training programs, get back to me about a "pilot shortage". Until then, its nothing more than wishful thinking...

sinsilvia666

it would be nice to see the majors take control over regionals and make them disappear, just straight pick a single company and stay there for the career. in house training.

as said before no shortage of people who want to work for a good company....fix the company fix your "shortage" problem.

hurricanechaser

Oh I know that, don't be so silly. This job i'm at is so my Resume can get walked in 4-5 years from now. My next job I get after this one will fill in those valuable SIC turbine hours that I need to complete the application.

Da Magic

Any "time" is valuable when you dont have it.

PilotJ3

Of course they will, BUT!!! how many years does it takes to get into the regional airlines? At least 5 years from student pilot to get into a right seat.

So when more people start realizing this is a good career will take them time to get their certificates and the flight times to get into the airlines. (1500 hrs take a couple of years to build up)

So I say the pilot shortage is already started, but the media is not even talking about it. Why? Because the airlines have $$$ and they can pay to get people quiet. AA already have 200+ guys that had retired in the past 2 months, just well below 65 years. I know that's happening in other companies as well.

The airlines wont say a thing what's currently going on...

BoilerUP

There is more than one "zero to hero" program out there that takes somebody with ZERO flight time to COM-ASMEL and CFI-AIM in 90-120 days.

Even if they have to get from the 250-300hr they have at that point, it would be easy for someone to accumulate the 1200-1250 hours they would "need" to reach 1500tt in 120-18 months..assuming the FAA doesn't create a "flight school exemption" for collegiate flight training programs or highly structured 141 schools. So you're talking as little as two years from zero time to being qualified.

If you actually believe what you wrote, that airlines are paying the media to "keep them quiet" about an impending pilot shortage due to mandatory retirements (instead of using that $$$ to set up a pipeline of pilots to keep their revenue-generating airplanes flying) there's nothing I or anyone else can say to get the *reality* of the situation through your head.

THERE IS NO PILOT SHORTAGE, THERE WILL BE NO PILOT SHORTAGE.

American Airlines will *never* have a shortage of qualified applicants wanting to work there. NEVER!

If believing in a great pilot shortage that will turn the career fortunes of pilots around makes you feel better more power to you...but you might be wise not to set an expectation of that, lest you be sorely disappointed.

galaxy flyer

The ONLY time there was a pilot shortage was the summer of 1940, PERIOD. I've been around this industry since 1968, grew up around the WW II generation of pilots, it has ALWAYS been so.

GF

Thedude

This is perhaps one of the dumbest things I have ever read.

block30

Yeah, I agree...I am sorry J3, I imagine good intentions were behind that post, I just hear that line from Billy Madison about being dumber for having read that.

With that said, the same could said about my posts at times....but not my Gojet posts...those should be transcribed into several languages and made public service announcements. I think Wayne Knight could play me...