We've been hearing about it for years... a pilot shortage... a
critical one, at that. For many in the aviation community, it
sounded like good news... at least if you were on the bottom rungs
of the pilot hiring ladder and working desperately to climb your
way up. However; after engaging in discussions thorough the
industry over the last year and in attending a particularly pointed
(and very well-organized) presentation at the FAA Forecast
Conference some months ago, ANN and Aero-TV are left with the
troubling impression that aviation has a BIG problem on its
hands.
The session devoted to discussing the Pilot Supply was, as
indicated earlier, exceptionally produced and wholly on target. The
session was presented by Moderator Peter J. Wolfe, Executive
Director, Professional Aviation Board of Certification (PABC), and
augmented by presentations delivered by Kit Darby, President, AIR,
Inc, Captain Paul Rice, First Vice President, Air Line Pilots
Association, International, Ron Levy, University Aviation
Association, John Dixon, Director of Pilot Recruitment for American
Eagle.
The second presentation, and one that set quite a trend for the
session, was delivered by Captain Ron Levy of the University
Aviation Association. The UAA is a professional association and
unifying voice for promoting and furthering aviation education as a
collegiate academic discipline. Their mission is thus defined...
"To promote and foster excellence in collegiate aviation education
by providing a forum for students, faculty, staff and practitioners
to share ideas, to enhance the quality of education, and to develop
stronger programs and curricula. To influence aviation education
policy at all governmental levels. To provide and nurture the
linkage between college aviation education, the aviation industry,
and government agencies."
Levy set quite a tone... He opined that, "There is no shortage
of interested students," but went to decry the potential lack of
proper instructors. Levy thinks that the recent changes to the 'Age
60 rule' has the potential to harm aero-collegiate programs since
it will most likely prove to be more difficult to convince a
recently 'retired' pilot, past the age of 65, to seek possible
employment in this environment. Levy thinks that is more likely
that a 60 year old pilot may look for additional work than a 65
year old. As to the kids coming up through the ranks, Levy doesn't
see much hope from those ranks... "Recent grads don't want to be
instructors." They want the airline jobs.
Levy also had some pessimistic things to say about the cost of
aero-education. The cost of a 4-year university flight education is
heading North of $120K-$180K. This is beyond the ability of most
student's financial means and there are few, if any, institutions
willing to finance that amount. Levy states that Government loans
are generally limited to a total of about $25K, and that once out
in the real world, the student loan debt load is wholly
incompatible with the initial pay such students are likely to get
from their first commercial flying jobs (most likely a commuter
airline). This difficulty severely restricts the field of
candidates, impacts diversity of those who participate and adds to
a substantial dropout rate.
So... worried yet? You should be. The situation is troublesome,
answers are few and aviation safety can only be negatively impacted
if the situation is not dealt with. Not sure about that? Well...
load up Part Three of our series on Understanding the Pilot
Shortage and see if you don't agree that this is an issue that
needs urgent attention.
E-I-C Note: This is the third in an extensive
series on this topic... each of which will be presented every
Monday (barring special programming requirements for breaking news
or special event coverage) until completed...
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