The pilot shortage just got solved for a few years so I think any recruiting program which addresses that (and costs money) will be gone for a good while (or forever).

If you're going to need an ATP, might just need to bite the bullet on your own.

I am in PERS and my factor is 2.5%. I was 27 when I was hired and I am 34 now. Will have 8 years this summer. I get the % of my 3 highest consecutive years and overtime is excluded. I can also buy 5 years.

10 years credit x 2.5% is 25% and I can collect at age 60

20 years credit x 2.5 is is 50% and I can collect at 50.

30 years credit x 2.5 is 75% and collect at any age. (However evn if i bought 5 I would still be age 52)

I was originally planning on getting my 10 years and going full time pilot. Now I am thinking do 15 and buy 5 to get a 20 year credit to collect at 50. Maybe find a 135/91 gig to do for the next 7 years....if things turn around.

This whole thing has really been eye opening to see how fast everything can stop for something. I definitely appreciate the stability in my current career right now.

So realistically, how long could this affect hiring at the regionals? I’m in the middle of my PPL training and not sure if I should continue once I am done with it. Should I put my training on hold or keep pushing?

Unfortunately no one really knows. Since your post doesn’t specify where you are at in your life, I’ll assume for the sake of my answer you are/were intending to earn the ratings full-time, then time-build until you can get hired by the regionals. If that is, in fact, the case, then here’s my advice.

If you are passionate about flying, if you yearn for making a living flying and can’t imagine doing anything else, then go for it and don’t look back. As you move up through the different flying jobs, the opportunities will come
in proportion to the amount of effort you put into finding them. This industry is will turn around again as it always does after a crisis.

That said, one very smart thing to do would be to create a foundation for yourself in another field as a fall-back while you earn those next ratings. Be it a degree in something useful, or a trade, get some experience doing it while you learn to fly. This will do two things - help you fund your training and avoid debt, and also give you an option when the industry down-turns happen. Besides, a cert or a degree isn’t all that useful unless you have experience to back it up.

No one really knows what’s going to happen in the industry (look what happened in one month), but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t pursue your goal. Just be smart about it!

Accept on trust and work in darkness. Strike at venture, stumble forward, make your mark.
- Rudyard Kipling

This is along the lines of what I was thinking. For perspective, I am a career changer currently working full time (for now at least. My company began furloughing people last week and more May be coming down the pipe in the coming weeks) I was going to switch to a part time position so that I could focus more on training after getting my PPL.

Roger that. Wishing you all the best!

I have about 4 months until I earn my CFI, I am a little worried that there won’t be a demand. I did my PPL at a part 61 school, and IR/Commercial at a part 141 school to receive a R-ATP. What are some ways to make myself more competitive in the meantime. My grades are excellent, I am about 2 years away from graduating.

Worry will not change the situation, so no point in worrying.

We can't change what is happening so just have to wait or out. Keep doing what you are doing, keep the hours up and let's reevaluate where we all are in 4/5 months.

As someone who just dove face-first into pilot training during the Covid19 pandemic I think for career changers like myself there are new opportunities.

As most corporate workforces have shifted to fully remote positions to encourage social distancing there are opportunities to relocate to lower living cost areas while maintaining full-time employement.

I have relocated from a high COL city in the midwest to a low COL town in the west specifically to obtain my PPL and CFL at a lower cost while working remotely for my enterprise. The PPL here runs at ~6500 while it would cost me ~15,000 in my previous city.

Part-61 btw

It's amazing how worse this all looks even in the short time from when this thread started. It is now looking like the pilot shortage even when factoring the retirements over the next 10 years is permanently gone, especially when considering the time it will take to recover from this and the inevitable restructuring.

Without hiring at the Majors, there will be little movement out of the Regionals. I expect their hiring needs to plummet over the next 5 years. That means mins for hiring will climb back up to what they were during the lost decade, i.e. 3500TT with at least 500ME.

That means many pilots will have to go the Part 135/91 route for a few years before being competitive for a Regional. It's amazing because just a month ago those operations were struggling to attract pilots. Now they will be flush with them for the next few years.

It seems like every week that goes by the pilot industry looks twice as worse as it did a week ago. It just keeps getting bleaker and bleaker.