Originally Posted by
FloridaGator
I couldn't agree more. I have actually sent letters to the Congressional Aviation Sub-Comittee requesting to add the Bachelors Degree requirement to the ATP (thereby requiring all FAR 121 pilots to have a four year degree). I was politely brushed off with an email that talked about the economy and the ATA.... basically telling me that pilots would be too powerfull and too well paid like lawyers and doctors to actually make quality substantive change.
Funny how its fine for the government to require me to have a bachelors degree to fly one of thier airplanes but as far as thier concerned, I could have a GED to fly for and airline.
I truley wish that ALPA and all legacy carriers would try to push this. Thats the only thing that ever seems to give anything traction.
There is no causal relationship, that is the problem. A guy with an online internet college degree in "whatever" likely just did it as background noise to his fight training in order to check the box, as compared to someone who went to school and majored in chemical engineering or something else similarly challenging.
I have a hard time with the idea of going to a 4 year school to major in aviation. However, as a weed out factor, perhaps this is the best answer if we are going to implement an education requirement.