http://www.news-journalonline.com/Ne...IZ02032108.htm
March 21, 2008
Do you believe you can fly? Be a pilot -- airlines need more
By MELISSA GRIGGS
Business Writer
DAYTONA BEACH -- Airline passengers, already inconvenienced by canceled flights, may need to worry about flight safety if the airlines can't avert the growing crisis of a pilot shortage.Educators and airline executives gathered this week at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University to discuss solutions to the pilot shortage at the 2008 National Training Aircraft Symposium.
In a sharp turnaround, the American airline industry has gone from cutting thousands of jobs after Sept. 11 to scrambling for pilots.
William Voss, head of the Flight Safety Foundation in Virginia, said Thursday he is concerned the shortage of pilots may affect safety.
In the United States, where thousands of experienced pilots were laid off and left the industry, regional carriers have been giving jobs to pilots with considerably less experience than would have been required 15 years ago.
Aviation analysts say the lack of experience is starting to affect flight safety; they point to a crash in Indonesia last year that killed 21 people. Initial findings from the probe into the crash suggest a miscue between the veteran pilot and his rookie co-pilot may have contributed to the crash.
At some airlines, pilot shortages have led to flight cancellations. Last summer, Northwest Airlines canceled about 1,200 flights because it didn't have enough pilots to replace those who were grounded after reaching their maximum allowed hours.
In an effort to retain experienced pilots, United States airlines have raised the mandatory retirement age from 60 to 65. But the airlines still face an uphill battle for pilots, seeking to fill about 17,000 jobs a year during the next few years.
The pilot shortage has been a good news/bad news development for Embry-Riddle. On the one hand, the school's graduates are in great demand, with no problem finding jobs upon graduation. But now the school has a harder time keeping graduates to serve as flight instructors.
Frank Ayers, chairman of the Embry-Riddle Flight Department, said the school is offering incentives to get graduates to stay on as flight instructors for six months to a year. The instructors get generous bonuses, benefits packages and free tuition for a master's degree.
Ayers said the instructors leave as more seasoned pilots "after they've flown with students, who in a very nice way, have done everything they can to kill you in a plane."
Airline flight directors at the Embry-Riddle symposium said they are concerned they are getting pilots from flight schools who may meet the flight hour requirements, but still aren't qualified.
Dave Bushy with Cape Air, a regional airline for JetBlue Airways, said 30 percent of the pilots joining its training program fail. "No one from Embry-Riddle has failed," he said. "The problem is not with the accredited institutions, but with the mom-and-pop flight schools."
Ron Karp, a professor at Arizona State University, suggested one solution to the pilot shortage is to form partnerships between aviation colleges and airlines. His school has joined with Mesa Air Group to train pilots.