Pilot shortage myth?
#41
As a CFI at a major university, at least on our end enrollment for flight training has been down quite a bit. Even in 08-09 in recession we'd get 120-130 new starts for the fall semester. This year:65.
A shortage may not be immediate, but how are people going to build the 1000-1500tt to move up. Not everyone can be a CFI when there aren't enough students to support it. Jump pilot, banner towing, survey get harder and harder to find anymore, and don't give you much if any x/c, instrument, or night time. Something has to give.
A shortage may not be immediate, but how are people going to build the 1000-1500tt to move up. Not everyone can be a CFI when there aren't enough students to support it. Jump pilot, banner towing, survey get harder and harder to find anymore, and don't give you much if any x/c, instrument, or night time. Something has to give.
#42
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Apr 2007
Posts: 456
Even in better times you must realize that it's a pyramid scheme to a large extent, if your CFI has 8 students, those 8 students will all require 8 students when they are CFIs, and so on. Not everyone can be a CFI anyways. If it's a true shortage and the airlines need bodies, they'll buy a fleet of Cessna 150s or maybe even skycatchers, lol, probably try to find some way to make people pay for it, but if all else fails, they'd interview and let people fly it for the promise of a job.
#44
Bracing for Fallacies
Joined APC: Jul 2007
Position: In favor of good things, not in favor of bad things
Posts: 3,543
As a CFI at a major university, at least on our end enrollment for flight training has been down quite a bit. Even in 08-09 in recession we'd get 120-130 new starts for the fall semester. This year:65.
A shortage may not be immediate, but how are people going to build the 1000-1500tt to move up. Not everyone can be a CFI when there aren't enough students to support it. Jump pilot, banner towing, survey get harder and harder to find anymore, and don't give you much if any x/c, instrument, or night time. Something has to give.
A shortage may not be immediate, but how are people going to build the 1000-1500tt to move up. Not everyone can be a CFI when there aren't enough students to support it. Jump pilot, banner towing, survey get harder and harder to find anymore, and don't give you much if any x/c, instrument, or night time. Something has to give.
#45
I'll say that we fly cirrus and aren't Aerosim or Purdue. My best guess we have about 5-10 international students who start each year, which hasn't changed much with the downturn. Most if not all of the internationals are coming from Malaysia with intent to go back home. Thus it looks as if most of the losses are on the domestic side.
#46
Bracing for Fallacies
Joined APC: Jul 2007
Position: In favor of good things, not in favor of bad things
Posts: 3,543
I'll say that we fly cirrus and aren't Aerosim or Purdue. My best guess we have about 5-10 international students who start each year, which hasn't changed much with the downturn. Most if not all of the internationals are coming from Malaysia with intent to go back home. Thus it looks as if most of the losses are on the domestic side.
#48
I read in the regional forum that airlines like American Eagle are being picky about whom they want to hire, in spite of its having hardship in staffing airplanes. This does not seem like a shortage to me even on the regional level. And let's not even start with low-time jobs. Those are as scarce as an innocent senator in Congress, not to mention that for each one there will be like one position open and 500 applicants sending resumes. The majors will never be confronted with a shortage, bar something extraordinary happening which is currently unforeseeable to us. At the end of the day, there is no shortage!
#49
I heard the other day that there were only 200 multi-commercial tickets issued to americans last year. And by americans, i mean people that actually intend to stay in the USA, not international students that come to get trained and leave again.
#50
The regional level is where the shortage will happen, some regional airlines are already experiencing it and canceling/delaying flights because they don't have any pilots. The majors will always just suck up the regional pilots, but the regionals is where the shortage will be. Look at Republic, they are in trouble with united for the Q400 operation because of so many cancelations (some due to mx, some due to staffing), and they are pushing back some of the American 175's they got because they don't have the staffing for it yet
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post