10 pilots per plane
 

Before the massive attrition started, regionals were staffed up to about 10-11 pilots per plane. With hiring stopped almost everywhere, attrition and staffing will go back to pre-2014 levels. The current surplus covers the inactive pilots going through initial/upgrade training, that’s no longer needed.

Take your regional fleet count multiplied by 10 and that’s where your pilot size should get to after October when airlines can start furloughing.

The pilot shortage leverage is gone, be grateful about the contractual gains locked in during that time period and hold the line on concessions. The managements will certainly try and restart the whipsaw play. Prepare yourself once October hits.

cool story bro

Glad you liked it junior, getting ready for part II, “Alter Egos.”

I thought this thread was going to be a joke like how may pilots does it take to change a light bulb?

The pilot shortage is not gone, it is on pause but it will be back. The Pandemic is not going to change the fact that the industry has a lot of pilots getting near retirement.

It depends on how bad the economy is damaged when all this is said and done. The longer this country waits to implement an NATIONWIDE law enforced shutdown, the worse we will all be suffering for a LONG time. Even when the music was playing purchasing an airline ticket was still a “luxury” for most Americans. With everyone being buried more and more into debt slavery as we continue on our current path, severe downsizing of the majors is inevitable.

The bonuses and higher FO pay was never there for the embry riddle kids. Those types were always willing to work for $22/hr. The bonuses were there to pull in pilots from other regionals or aviation segments as there wasn’t enough embry riddle kids out there.

Now we have plenty of embry riddle kids in the pipeline as their mainline parents got them in once the industry recovered, pilot shortage solved no need for higher FO pay so you guys better fight to hold onto it.

Every mainline captain has a son or daughter in flight school. Before 2013, mainline pilots told every kid they knew not to become pilots, which created the pilot shortage.

What third world country do you live in? In the USA, a $40 ticket on spirit ain’t no luxury.

But fleet sizes will shrink too. So take your current fleet size and reduce it by at least a fourth, then multiply by 10.

Things are going to be awfully tough...

Delta’s RJ count won’t shrink, it’s based on a hard 375 limit or something close to that, not a mainline fleet ratio like American’s.

Delta pilots historically are the first to bend over on scope concessions, maybe some Delta RJ growth. United and American will hold the line.

Delta management is also the most ruthless with RJ operators.

Why are you flying?! You should be in management!!! Haha

staffing went up per hull due to part 117 changes in late 2013. What used to be a reduced rest overnight now requires a pre-staged crew. You need 13 to staff what used to be 10.

not even close to what caused the shortage.

Whatever you are on please pass the needle!

It didn’t cause the shortage but was certainly a factor. It’s hard to keep the motivation to become a pro pilot when every professional pilot you talk to tells you that if they could go back they would do something else

name one professional pilot who would do something else if given the chance.......Most if if not all will need their cold dead hands pried from the stick.

As for the pilot storage...cost its that simply. I got my PPL in High school working part time for 3.35/hr and you didn't have to written a 1000 dollar check for a check ride.

That must have been around the mid-eighties.
what I like to call “the good old days.”

These days are just plain old.

Guilty. I've had a variety of real jobs.

confusing symptoms with cause only helps managements.

no, well before that. Even in the 80’s the costs were high.

Pssh. I’d go collect garbage if i got the same amount of time off and money as i get from flying planes. This job is a means to an end, not the end game itself. It’s just a job.

If push came to shove, yes. But all else being equal I still like to fly.

Same. If I had the skills to be a computer programmer and QOL was as good I’d do it in a heartbeat.

My brother does it, works from home. He works more than he has to because he enjoys it, but still has plenty of QOL. He is expected to be available for calls/email during M-F working hours, so he doesn't have as many unrestricted days off as I do.

He also cannot make what I do, unless he goes independent and maybe employs other programmers. The market is pretty portable, therefore pretty level.

Been there. Done that. Stayed a long time too.

Pilots do VERY well on the outside and typically make tons of money. Upper level managers love us.
And the desk/meetings/screens/cell phone sucks the soul from your body. With my eyes up in the sky over lunch my fellow Friday business casual friends would ask what I was looking at....

Tell us how does one stumble into a professional pilot career?

Someone could have loved flying and got into the career only to find out that the “job” part of flying 121 isn’t for them.

“What can I do with the skill set I have that makes the most money” was what did it for me.

I started out simply because at the time I thought that flying was fun, and to be honest, I didn’t know what else I would enjoy. Outside of our current situation, I still think that I have a great job. It pays well, I have a flexible schedule, far more vacation than most people, and a I get lots of days off. Another huge perk is that I never take work home with me. That is why I like my job, but after 20,000 hours, it is just an ends to a means now. If I had the winning lottery ticket, I’d never fly again.

I used to say this, too. I stopped saying it, because it’s CLEARLY not true. You’re a DAILY poster on this forum. And I come on here almost daily as well. This forum isn’t “the job”, but it’s certainly work related.

You have a point. It’s not work, but it’s entertaining.

I can understand job burn out, But I would bet large sum six months after you won that lottery you buy a plane......just saying, we are all ate up its like a old girl friend.....day after day might not be great but the occasional flight are still great.

But that skill set just doesn't come from a few correspondent courses. Most pilots I've seen who have been hoo hum about the career field were military trained, The rest of us who scraped and clawed since we were 16 have a indescribable passion that never goes away. Not slashing Military pilots ....... just the nature of the paths we take.

Well, for me, when i was in my jr. year of college i had no direction for after graduation, so i started researching jobs that paid a decent amount of money without having to work 80 hours/wk. Pilot is what i came up with.

I haven’t flown anything GA in decades, and I really don’t have that much interest. A cabin on a nice lake and a boat is another story. The twist and turns of this industry and what people think about it is interesting to me, but not necessarily actually flying a plane.

Agreed. The job does nothing for me and I really don't even enjoy flying the airplane at all. Takeoff, cruise, and land. It gets pretty boring to be honest. The last thing I want on my day off is more aviation. I make good use of that time relaxing or trying to improve myself.

I dunno... with all this furlough talk I’m getting pretty wistful on every takeoff wondering if it’s my last for a long time

Sounds like time to step away for a little while and try a second career. Never been a better time to do it.

I have thought about it for a while. Right now there is a lot of uncertainty. Lots of industries taking a severe hit from all this.