Were you there? I know in the hiring spree of 2006-2007, one of my classmates was hired on the condition she completed her commercial multiengine rating by August 2007. Her class was eventually cancelled, but some airlines were desperate for pilots back then.

 

My comment is to his assertion that all pilots should spend 1000 hours as a CFI. And yes I was hired and worked at a regional carrier in 2007. There were a few....(two that I actually 100% know of) that had less than 500 hours in the classes around mine... one was a girl with only about 300 hours and all bought time..... However..... the vast majority of guys/gals hired had significantly more. The company I worked for put 40 of us in class that day...and the low time pilot was 900 hours.. high time just shy of 3000....

CAN pilots be trained to fly airliners with only 300 or so hours of flight time ...yes. The military system bears this out that it can be done. The difference is that while in training in the military ( at least in my time ) you where always at risk.... failure to perform on THEIR time line... and you were OUT. Given enough time and money "nearly" anyone can be taught to fly. If you really ever want to have ANY chance of changing this profession there must be REAL barrier's to entry... i.e., not everyone should be a commercial pilot and the weak should be filtered out....problem is in our current system while there are standards the system allows someone as much time to learn something as they want... i mean if you are learning to fly ILS approaches.. and it takes you 20 lessons... thats okay... the difference is that in an ab into program or in the military you are on very strict curriculum's that require you to meet standards not just at check rides but all along the way. SOLO? 8-10 flights....not 12...13... or 20....or 30.... Listen military pilots are simply trained differently... in the end we are all equal down the line. And yes...weak ones slip thru in the military as well... but they are (or were) very few in total.

Don't take this as a MIL vs CIV debate. Its not... I believe we are trained differently and 2-3,000 hours down the road depending on many factors... its all evened out. I know I am in the minority but I believe a well run, ab into program for US airlines could be a good thing. It would have to be on structured course programs that require progression on a known timeline and deviation from that timeline would have to have the possibility of failure attached. NO guarantees... (oh if you fail out ... you owe nothing). I am aware this is not a popular idea....but it might should be as the current system is not going to cut it over the years to come.

 

I certainly didn't say that it wasn't "pie in the sky" and I would nOT expect any such thing from the airlines, but it doesn't change that this blaming of the consumer is misplaced. The consumer is not SETTING the price, they are reacting to it; and the consumer absolutely DOES expect a certain level of performance/safety from the service no different than you expect that off-brand, $1/gal cheaper gallon of milk to be just as safe to drink as the more expensive all-natural, milked from cows fed only the greenest of grasses under blue California skies brand super special milk sitting next to it in the store.

USMCFLYR

 

You're a prime example of why this industry is going into the toilet. Go ahead and submit your petition and then ask yourself why you're still making crappy money in 10 years. If you invested money for your career, then why on earth would you want the ease of entry into your chosen profession eased?

 

So he can tell chicks "That's right, I'm a regional aviator".

 

Unintended issues will arise from this rule. Safety will obviously improve but in reality, we will have no one to put in the effort to make it all the way through to atp. In a few years there will definitely be changes. A great rule with a good economy. Bad rule with a not so great economy like ours.

 

I could argue with the bad economy there won't be a need for as many new pilots as airlines limit growth or retract, and retire fleets. Thus this rule really won't have a far reaching effect.

In a good economy with growing airline business the need for new pilots would make this rule more burdensome on companies and force them to compete for what little qualified candidates that will be coming into the market. Hopefully in a good economy the companies can pass increased costs on to the consumers.

 

Or... we will now have a rule stating that an airline position is for experienced pilots only. It will then command the salary of a career, not an entry level job. Minimum pay really should be in line with other jobs that in demand college graduates get. Say $50k/ye to start.

That is what will hopefully happen. There wont be enough pilots so supply and demand will cause pay to go up. The good companies with the best pay will get the pilots. The ones with the bad business models that can't afford to pay more wont get pilots and will shut down.

This is a good thing for all of us. Hopefully it is one more reason we can expect the demise of the regional jet industry.

 

Can anybody else see that we are headed toward a massive M1 Visa issuance to import willing candidates. The airlines have a half dozen contingency plans already thought up. In "Silicon Valley" the local politicians responded to the tech lobby to solve a similar "shortage" by granting hundreds of thousands of visas for tech workers. Instant mass migration of foreign workers willing to accept any conditions. They will get their cheap pilots.

 

There aren't that many qualified foreign workers out there though. We are the world's cheap labor when it comes to flying airplanes.

Europeans and Asians come to the US to learn to fly. It can't be done cheaper elsewhere. That also means we get a significant amount of the "general aviation employment" flight hours out there for our collective pilot group to work towards meeting ATP requirements.

Pilots from the US are leaving in droves to go fly in the Middle East and east Asia. You will see some of these pilots return, and maybe some foreign nationals coming to fly here... but only when we offer a better deal than they're getting where they are now. That will only happen if pay goes up significantly.

As long as the hardline of experience requirements is still there, we'll be ok. If it is ever waived... maybe for MPL or something like that... thats when we need to worry.