Originally Posted by
xjtguy
Agree to a point. The "shortage (ha ha) will be at the regional level, NOT the legacy level.
Yep, there's PLENTY of regional lifers, but there's ALSO plenty of us that are ready to GTFO ASAP. Combine that with the 135 pilots, corporate pilots, separating mil pilots, etc etc etc.
The "shortage', (again, ha ha) will be at the regional level. So your point of there being plenty of qualified pilots within the U.S.A. is true. But at the level where the alleged "shortage" will be, how many of the qualified pilots will be willing to work at the wages regional pay?
It was seen as measure to get pilots into cockpits quicker, or to put "meat in the seat".
It was designed to give a pilot TONS of turbine/multi crew simulator time with VERY LITTLE ACTUAL FLIGHT TIME. A pure "apprenticeship" if you will. You can probably google the specifics, but IIRC it was less than 100 hours in ACTUAL airplanes combined with the sim time before be put into the cockpit of an airliner.
Multi-Crew Pilot License (1) - AviationKnowledge
Ready to vomit after reading that?
Well, the fact of the matter is that there is no way an MCL regulation will be up and running anytime soon. The regionals are going to be hurting very soon. A year before the new rules kick in, the regionals are already limiting new hires to those at or near 1200-1500. When these guys run out, doubt there will be many more entering the pipeline. This is no mystery - these airlines must have plans to handle this, especially with all these new aircraft orders. There sure doesn't seem to be any panic, though.......