College? Why let them go to college? That will just give them skills they could use outside of aviation. Just train them out of HS. There's no FAR which requires a College degree. Plus with no other skills they won't be able to leave for greener pastures even if they wanted to.

 

Great it gets better every day. (Sarcastic)
First skybuss, now the only hope of limiting the supply of pilots is going out the window.

I can see the future, regionals covering the cost of training to pay 25k a year, luring more in, more expansion, regional pilots moving on to skybus and virgin America. Skybus and others undercutting the competition. New contracts issued to united and cal, dal, and others. Massive expansion by skybus, and virgin America. A few years down the road, Huge loss's reported by legacy carriers due to the Ultra low cost carriers. Concessions from pilots to get inline with 65k skybus captains. And a lot of ruined careers.

 

Good point. The USAF Aviation Cadet program (ended about 1962) used to create a 2/Lt. Pilot in twelve months - a college degree was not required. There could be USAFA Academy graduate, AFROTC graduate and aviation cadet in the same UPT graduating class.

When the USAF had a pilot shortage (about nine years ago) they talked about bringing the Aviation Cadet program back. It does not take a college degree to fly an airplane. It does take a good training program.

Some of the best pilots in the world are at El Al. The Israeli AIr Force begins selection at age 16. Their training program has a high attrition rate but results in highly qualified pilots by age twenty. Many of them are reservists who fly for El Al.

The 90 day schools (0 to CMEL) are questionable; perhaps what aviation needs is one year schools (fully funded by airline industry) with carefully screened entrants and attrition rates that reflect high standards.

 

Maybe . . . or why don't airlines just raise their standards and pay and only select candidates from those "Pilot Training Schools" that are producing THE BEST candidates.

 

I agree with you although a comparison between the USAF and corporate America isn't apples to apples. Funding levels and mission objectives are obviously much different, and pilots working for airlines are liabilities unless they turn a wheel - no so in the military.

Training programs for the airlines are designed to get pilots onto the line as quickly as possible and take for granted much of the background the military introduces or re-enforces in their training. The balance that airline training appears to to seek is to invest in training programs only to the point of bringing risk to an acceptable level. The problem with this approach is that these programs are designed to start with candidates that have known a minimum level of experience and aeronautical knowledge.

As the supply and demand curve in the current pilot job market favors pilots for entry level positions, my fear is that safety could be jeopardized as airlines struggle to fill their cockpits.

 

Accurate point. Airlines need a pilot to produce revenue immediately, where as in the military service, pilots need to be prepared for when the need arises, so the govt. is willing to pay a pilot when they are not producing.

In addition, the military engages in all sorts of aptitude and psychological testing prior to accepting a candidate for flight school. The airlines (121 regulation test and Class 1 medical).

I am sure that you will see safety being jeopardized in the very near future, and you will see finger pointing as well as airlines sweeping these incidences under the carpet to protect undue regulation and public outcry.

 

"my fear is that safety could be jeopardized as airlines struggle to fill their cockpits."

I knew we were in trouble when guys start asking if they have to indicate in their logbooks whether their 50 hours multi PIC is safety pilot or sole manipulator....

 

a long time ago stanford trained a monkey to fly an airplane. as far as im aware the monkey was not a college graduate. sure college isnt a critical requirement for aviation, buts its a another way of distinguishing and adding exclusivity to the pilot profession. it doesnt mean pilots can walk around with their noses in the air waving their college degrees in everyone's face. its selection criteria. it is what it is.

well since on a purely statistical basis on flight frequency, most future accidents will involve RJ's. this means the loss of life will be 1/3 that of a bigger jet. meaning accident rates can be 3 times as high before people start to care. its psychologically more palatable... if you think what i just said was outrageous, prove me wrong.

 

Then again modern airplanes virtually fly themselves and Skybus does not pay wages through training.

Perhaps in the near future HS grads can go strait to a one year airline sponsored cadet program and fully fund the entire cost of their own initial training through IOE. It would be cheaper for the cadet than ERAU and who cares how long it takes if the new hire is paying for it all.

If a pilot is groomed from day one to be nothing other than an RJ pilot then I think safety will not be compromised. Most of what is learned through an average general aviation flight training experience has little to no value to an airline pilot anyway.


SkyHigh

 

I agree completely about the "need to produce" - but that's after training. What we need to do is produce highly screened, well trained, safe pilots. My suggestions (and I welcome critiques and other suggestions) have safety as the bottom line - not training a minimally qualified "acceptable" pilot. There is a screening system; many airline pilots have undergone extensive "aptitude and psychological testing" - they become Federal Flight Deck Officers.

There is extensive knowledge on this forum. Collectively they could design the best system. Now all they have to do is convince management their current system "may" have long term costs in lives and aircraft.

During my flying career I hated that expression, "The pilot is the first one to arrive at the scene of the accident."