Originally Posted by MTOP

Your analysis is quite accurate. Pilot training in North America is not well organized as an industry and has not produced the capacity necessary to meet the demand. This is in part due to the fact that flight instruction is primarily administered by the very same pilots that make up the entry-level of the commercial airlines. In the U.S., flight instruction is given primarily by the least experienced and least qualified from among the available pilots, and those same inexperienced pilots have been in demand by airline companies seeking to employ the inexperienced pilots at the lowest possible cost.


While the possibility of an economic recession in the U.S., coupled with recent air carrier failures and those soon to come may provide a short-term adjustment in supply, the long term solution to any pilot shortage will require a fundamental change to the way in which pilots are recruited, trained and paid.