The pilot shortage is either over or never truly existed at all.

Seems to me that this profession was beat down so hard in the years after 9/11 that it doesn’t know what a true shortage would look like. Just because pilots don’t have to grind it out for years making minimum wage as a CFI while funding their own multi-engine time building hoping to fly checks at night in an old Aztec doesn’t mean we all of a sudden have a “shortage.” The market has simply approached an equilibrium.

Just ask any 1000-hour CFI looking for a humble Part 91 gig or even one of those low-time Part 135 SIC jobs that supposedly hires at 500 TT. They are still plenty selective, and you’ve got to be willing to move anywhere in the country for very little pay. In any other industry this would be considered a shortage of jobs, not of applicants. Most corners of this industry are still, in most cases, pretty challenging for new entrants.

The pilot shortage narrative has been fueled by the airlines themselves, who seem to be attempting to leverage it as justification for reduced ATP minimums and single-pilot ops. It’s my opinion that pilots who buy into that narrative are ultimately doing great harm to the profession.