AirBear

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/united-...lfm0qXvB44Gpj4

Interviews with some "talking heads" about the pilot shortage and a lot of talk about the Aviate Program.

JohnBurke

There is no pilot shortage. There never was.

QRH Bingo

So United pays the bill for the students’ PPL and that’s it? Anything is better than nothing I guess, but there is still a long way to go after PPL that adds up quickly. I’m sure there is some type of training contract involved too.

theoriginalturk

They pay for the PPL and the program cost is still over $70,000

AirBear

Correct, it's a pay shortage combined with the cost of getting your tickets. I have a feeling they're going to have to do full scholarship programs up until you can start making money as a CFI. They're probably be strings attached like you have to work so many years for a Regional in order to have your debt forgiven.

There are many, many, pilots out there who don't make their living flying commercially.

JohnBurke

There isn't a shortage, period.

There is a generation of over-entitled wannabe aviators who aren't willing to pay their dues, who expect to finish flight school and join the legacies, and be set for life.

On the line, there is no shortage of applicants for any given position. There won't be a shortage of pilots until there are either no more to apply, or no more who do apply who are qualified or capable.

Flyawaywayback

Because I'm sure you properly paid all of your "dues" properly, it must be so unfair for these entitled young people to go from CFI/1,500hrs to 3 years at a regional to a legacy. Is somebody spending their career at a regional and can't get a call to the big leagues?

JohnBurke

No.

Not even close.

But, I'll give you this: I've had two first officers who, while on international oceanic legs in widebody aircraft, demonstrated clearly that they didn't understand the concept of latitude/longitude, and couldn't find a coordinate on a map. I've met an unending line of first officers who couldn't navigate outside of a magenta line. I recently fielded a call from one who was preparing for an interview who didn't know what 3:1 meant, had never heard of a VDP. Yada, yada.

It's not an anatomy-measuring contest. There's a lot that gets missed when kids try to run before they've learned to crawl or walk. On a website some years ago, a prolific, well-known poster at the time opined that every pilot should spend some time flying junk. When pressed, he explained that he observed a lot missing from the makeup of those who bypassed the experience, who'd never managed to fly ratty, minimally equipped piston airplanes in the soup and ice. Those who didn't work outside the airline cockpit didn't bring nearly so much to the table.

There is no pilot shortage. This is not a shortage in numbers of pilots. At locations where classes go unfilled, it's not for lack of applicants; it's for lack of applicants for that position, and because the applicants are able to compete for something better. When a company can't fill a job, it's because the company isn't competitive, not because there's nobody qualified to do the job. The "pilot shortage" is a myth that's been promulgated for decades. It was a major selling point for Kit Darby, but was always a lie, always just around the corner. It wasn't here then, and isn't here now.

It is decidednly NOT a pay shortage. Today's fledgling flyers make far more than most of us did early in our careers. We worked a lot harder, for a lot longer, for a lot less, and there was never a shortage of applicants. Quite the opposite. If someone finds the entry level wages today to be a hardship, it's pure entitlement. The wages could always. be higher, but an entry level pilot at his first regional job is still doing better than many in other fields, and is still making five to seven times more than what a regional pilot made not so long ago...and doing at at minimal qualifications, bringing little, if anything but a wet certificate to the table.

As cadet programs and the prospect of "full scolarships" loom one day, the level of entitlement may only increase. It's seen most often in those who have had everything given them, who never had to earn their way. Earning one's way is far more than simply enduring hardship. One doesn't become an athlete without the resistance, sweat, and pain that comes with mastering the craft, and one doesn't really become much of an aviator until one has earned the place. Wearing a few stripes and a white shirt is a trapping, but doesn't take the place of experience. Neither do hours.

I found it remarkable that anyone might cry over a 1,500 hour requirement, but many did, and continue to do so. The ridiculous, entitled world in which some slid into a professional cockpit with a mere 250 hours left some thinking that was the norm, or an expectation. Today, it's nearly unthinkable that one might go instruct for a couple of years, tow banners, fly freight, fly jumpers, and a host of other jobs where one might gain experience.

Some years ago, a pilot approached us to gain employment in a single engine tanker (firefighting). He had some conventional gear experience, in his own homebuilt, but nothing in a large conventional gear airplane. We told him to go get some. He came back a couple of weeks later, and said he'd flown a Cessna AgWagon. Not really the same thing, but okay. He had an hour. We were thinking perhaps a thousand hours. Can't, he said. He wrecked the airplane. He got a job towing a glider, but before he actually was employed, he was asked to demonstrate his skill by flying the tow airplane, for the glider operator. The operator had a single tow airplane, it was his bread and butter. Our applicant destroyed the airplane on his first landing, but walked away. We told him no, he wasn't going to fly our airplane. He didn't understand; the crash shouldn't count, he said. After all, he wasn't really employed in the AgWagon. He might have destroyed an airplane and a man's business, but so far as the applicant was concerned, he'd proven his worth, and was ready to go to work for us. We sent him packing. Entitlement.

It's not nearly as simple as the airlines needing to grant scholarships to the entitled, so they don't need to lift a finger, go earn an hour, or gain experience, then work it off at a regional. Traditionally, aviation has had a way of weeding out those who aren't dedicated. Yes, there are a lot of pilots out there who don't fly commercially, and there are a lot out there who dropped out because they weren't willing to do what it took to have a career.

That's not a bad thing.

TransWorld

It bears repeating, the Children of the Magenta Line.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ESJH1NLMLs

rickair7777

Yeah, I'm really looking forward to flying with new hires in about five years...