Originally Posted by
rcfd13
Will it though? Everyone in my new hire class had ATP mins. Most of the other people I know at the regionals say the same about their new hire classes. People keep making a big deal about it restricting supply, but as of right now the regionals aren't really hiring people who have less anyway and they're doing fine filling the positions.
There is a backlog of entry-level pilots due to the 2008-2012+ recession.
As regional pay gets worse (due to competitive pressures in a shrinking industry) and QOL declines (due to new rest rules and high load factors) fewer people will be attracted to the industry in the first place.
Lenders are already leary of financing flight training. That and the 1500 hour requirement will probably scare off the staple of the puppy mills: young, impulsive ADD types with underwhelming academic backgrounds who wake one morning and decide to become a Pylut...but only if they can be flying a Jet in four months.
Career changers will be scared away by a poor and uncertain compensation outlook and high loads (impractical commuting, useless travel bennies).
The high price of fuel is not going to make flight training any cheaper either...especially after the EPA bans 100LL...I suspect there will be a political agenda to push that through within the next four years.
I heard a radio add yesterday for a school in Tuscon which was REALLY oriented towards the lowest common denominator...it had airplane zooming noises in the background and everything.