It does doesn’t it.

For all the CFI Cadets who are in here let it be simply put. 723 PSA pilots are being furloughed. If that doesn't really tell you about the status of the program you are not looking big picture or forward into the future. Before you even have a class date they are going to have to bring back all the furloughed FO's.

This isn't going to happen anytime soon. The day of being a 1500 hour CFI and going straight to airlines will not be coming back anytime soon. There already have been closures of other regionals with pilots who have ATP's and thousands of hours. When hiring resumes that is who you will be competing with. There is still a large possibility even more regionals will go under. Bankruptcy is even on the table at this point for certain carriers. The airlines who have not furloughed or found a way to mitigate it have just kicked the can down the road until March. If things do not drastically drastically change by then, which is not looking good considering the return we've seen, get ready for furloughs round 2 and airlines who did not furlough start doing so.

Keep CFI, see if you can find a good corporate gig, which is even going to be difficult at this point, and find somewhere you'll be happy working the next few years if not longer.


There is your not sugar coated 100% honest to God truth about PSA and the industry as a whole right now.

I was hoping, and sort of under the impression that new hire training would resume sometime in early 2022

Put it this way. Assume that PSA and/or AAG management somehow strong-arms SAP out of the picture, whether through BK or a PBS-or-we-shut-the-doors promise. How long will it be before PSA needs 724 more pilots... or how long until furlough return rights expire? The first of those two happening is the absolute earliest that new hire classes will start.

Also keep in mind that we are also no longer a 150 airplane airline. We are now a 130 airplane airline. It will be a long while before we start new hire classes.

Hoping is nice but I'm kind of curious what gives you the impression that new hire training will resume in 2022?

If its emails from the people running the program or anything from the company take it with a grain of salt. Like others have said it's not just a covid problem for us anymore. We were overstaffed when we had a 150 aircraft fleet prior to covid. We parked the 200s for good which brings us down to roughly 130. They want SAP to go away in favor of PBS. PBS is more efficient than SAP therefore would equate to needing even less pilots. Nothing in stone about new aircraft coming to replace the 200's we parked for good.

Go on the TSA website to see numbers of travelers, even though it is not 100% accurate, we haven't broke 1 million since March. We are roughly 1/4 of normal travel for same time last year.

that’s exceptionally optimistic. Reasons

1) PSA was staffed for a growing, 6-base, 150 ship airline with substantial pilot departures. They not only needed to fly 150 airplanes but they needed 100-150 trainees in the pipeline at all times to handle attrition. Even assuming psa goes “back to normal” the new normal will not require everyone who was furloughed. We’re now a stagnant 4-base 130 ship airline.

2) management has made it clear their primary priority is work rule changes (sap to pbs) that will reduce staffing needs. PSA’s growth (and probably survival) is dependent on this reduction in future hiring needs

3) even assuming they start recalling pilots next month they would need to train 50 pilots per month to start hiring early 2022. That’s close to maximum new class velocity the past few years. Not gonna happen.

We’re not trying to stomp your dreams, but the world we all knew is gone. Make your plans based on what you see now, not what you saw a year ago.

Here for the dogpile. Lots of us had CJOs and class dates that were rescinded...so you’ve got people who are currently ahead of you in the flight time game, yet who are behind the thousands of regional pilots who recently lost their jobs.

Remember, too...the military usually
churns out 1,000 airline pilots per year. In recent history, they almost exclusively went to the majors. Lots of those guys are staying in until this blows over, and the ones who are getting forced out are working desk jobs and staying current on the side. Once the regionals start hiring again, and especially if mainline hiring lags, you can believe that many of those dudes are going to be applying to the regionals in droves—thousands of them with thousands of hours of very high quality multi-engine turbine time.

Do not hedge your bets on getting a 121 interview in the next few years. Put all of your eggs in that basket at your peril.

Dont think a lot of young CFIs realize how long this is going to take to bounce back. Now that Oct 1 has hit the only flying jobs available will be CFI and crappy 135 gigs.

And even those are very difficult to get.