Originally Posted by
iaflyer
I could see a local paper without any resources doing that, but this is the WSJ - how hard would it be to verify the data from the FAA? Isn't that the reporter's job to investigate or at least verify the data?
I know that some data is hard to verify, but publicly available data is easily available. I found this page in 5 seconds of Googling "faa 2010 airman statistics", first hit too. <sigh>
US Civil Airmen Statistics
It's fodder for a completely unrelated thread, but real investigative reporters are few and far between anymore. Large corporations control more and more of our media outlets, and they will systematically squash any story or individual reporter that doesn't advance their agenda. The Wall Street Journal is owned by Rupert Murdoch, and its pretty easy to figure out how he feels about union labor. That pilot shortage article was nothing but barely disguised scare tactics designed to undermined our rest rules, retirement age, and the 1500 hour rule. It was probably written by an RAA lawyer, with only minor edits by the WSJ by-line reporter.