Originally Posted by
jaxsurf
Sure, they’re fine with regional pay NOW. But we’re still dealing with the stigma about pilot pay from when people used to take pay cuts to go from a CFI to a regional FO, which was not that long ago. There’s always a lag time between when pay improves and when that fact pierces the general psyche of the population.
Regardless, the solution is not to enact changes that will cause ALL airline pilots’ pay to stagnate or go down, because then you’re back to people not wanting to become airline pilots at all, ala 2000s and early 2010s.
Being an airline pilot is not that sexy to young people anymore (if it ever was), so there HAS to be something about the career that outweighs the many, many cons of being in this profession. Pay and the promise of a better lifestyles are the things that will do it, not diluting the requirements.
I agree with most of what you said. No one wants to be an Airline Pilot anymore. I’m not entirely sure that pay alone is going to change that. When was the last time a kid or young adult asked to come up to the flight deck after a flight and pick your brain about how to become an Airline Pilot when they grow up. I’ll tell you that 15-20 years ago it used to happen all the time. In the last decade, it’s happened exactly zero times. To me, that’s a major alarm that this job is not even being looked at or considered by the next generation. I think technology has a lot to do with it. Flying just doesn’t seem to be that interesting when you can escape to the Metaverse whenever you want. I also honestly think the fact that Pilots have to pass drug testing is going to become a factor as well. There is a major drug crisis in this country that no one wants to discuss. I do think that industries that require vigorous drug testing (Airlines) are going to have trouble getting candidates that can even pass a drug test as sad as that is. The other thing working against us is that no one wants to work anymore. Everyone wants to work from home. You can’t do that in our line of work. All the Airlines can offer is pay to attract future talent. I just hope it’s enough to work. Unfortunately, I think pay alone won’t be enough of a motivator to get people to go into this industry. Flying is going to have to be made to look sexy and prestigious again to attract the TikTok and YouTube star generation.