Originally Posted by
robthree
College? Why let them go to college? That will just give them skills they could use outside of aviation. Just train them out of HS. There's no FAR which requires a College degree. Plus with no other skills they won't be able to leave for greener pastures even if they wanted to.
Good point. The USAF Aviation Cadet program (ended about 1962) used to create a 2/Lt. Pilot in twelve months - a college degree was not required. There could be USAFA Academy graduate, AFROTC graduate and aviation cadet in the same UPT graduating class.
When the USAF had a pilot shortage (about nine years ago) they talked about bringing the Aviation Cadet program back.
It does not take a college degree to fly an airplane. It does take a good training program.
Some of the best pilots in the world are at El Al. The Israeli AIr Force begins selection at age 16. Their training program has a high attrition rate but results in highly qualified pilots by age twenty. Many of them are reservists who fly for El Al.
The 90 day schools (0 to CMEL) are questionable; perhaps what aviation needs is one year schools (fully funded by airline industry) with carefully screened entrants and attrition rates that reflect high standards.