http://www.usatoday.com/story/todayinthesky/2013/08/29/airlines-face-a-pilot-shortage-boeing-report-says/2725815/

 

 

Here's a thought, pay pilots more starting out and bring back the software that's attracted so many to aviation over the last 20+ years...

That's it exactly:  stop paying commercial pilots pathetic salaries.  I make more than half of them.

The laws of supply and demand dictate that once the pilot shortage actually hits the salaries will go up. At the moment there is still a surplus of pilots though. Even here in the Netherlands there's currently something like 1000 unemployed pilots.

The laws of supply and demand dictate that once the pilot shortage actually hits the salaries will go up. At the moment there is still a surplus of pilots though. Even here in the Netherlands there's currently something like 1000 unemployed pilots.

 

Maybe they should look at the option these pilots are taking:

 

http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2012/06/04/u-s-pilots-find-high-demand-high-pay-overseas/

One thing is for sure, starting pilot salaries are extremely low and have been for a long time now.

 

"Airline Pilot" was rated #3 most stressful job to have in 2012 with an average salary of $103,210. I think corporate America could do better by the men and women who have so many lives in their hands everyday.

 

My hat goes off to anyone making the journey to become a commercial pilot. It's expensive to get and an under appreciated / compensated career choice that I feel is based on the passion for flight. This is where corporations are taking advantage of people. The entire industry is designed to make as much money as possible off of the students trying to become pilots. I'd love to see the annual earnings statistics from commercial flight training over the last decade.

I left eagle when furloughs started in 2009 to go back to ATC. If you have no debt at all and can live with roommates then do it. I had debt and was displaced to LGA from BOS. No Bueno. It will be interesting to see how bad it gets considering the new minimum requirements. Lots of instructors are currently banging their heads with frustration.

 

 

-P50&Pilot

Hasn't this airline pilot shortage been "looming" for years now?

 

Here in Ireland we get regular "news" stories about how the property market is about to take off (again). When you look a little closer, the source is usually the opinion of someone who has  a vested interest in talking up the market, like an estate agent.

 

It wouldn't surprise me at all if the source for this looming shortage story turned out to be an airline pilot training organisation, although from the quotes perhaps the airlines are trying to help ensure there's always a plentiful supply of pilots so that there's no danger of salaries being pushed up?

 

Or maybe middle age is making me too cynical,

Shortage of pilots willing to accept low wages is more realistic.

Shortage of pilots willing to accept low wages is more realistic.

I disagree. There are always low time (much higher requirements now but still low time) pilots willing to fly for less than the airlines pay. Sucks but that's the way it is.

 

 

-P50&Pilot

I know that at the US regional level, one of the companies is hiring with just a 10 minute phone interview, prior DUI's are no longer a problem at most, and I heard a story at another that had a recent new hire who had been charged with murder.

I know that at the US regional level, one of the companies is hiring with just a 10 minute phone interview, prior DUI's are no longer a problem at most, and I heard a story at another that had a recent new hire who had been charged with murder.

Any links for those stories? I'm finding them to be hard to believe. The 10 min phone interview I would believe if it were not for the job but for an interview. Lots of times the first step is a phone interview. Hiring a convicted murderer no way. Someone who was charged and found not guilty yes.

 

 

-P50&Pilot

Delta alone is hiring about 300 pilots over the next 16 months. Here's a listing of their upcoming pilot retirements over the next decade plus:

 

Mandatory retirements:
2013 - 56
2014 - 121
2015 - 169
2016 - 225
2017 - 286
2018 - 415
2019 - 513
2020 - 602
2021 - 789
2022 - 851
2023 - 809
2024 - 805
2025 - 713
2026 - 610
2027 - 514

The 'pilot shortage' stuff always makes laugh.

 

I heard the exact same stuff from the flying schools 20 years go.  The line never changes.  

 

Flying Schools are businesses at the end of the day, and you gotta hype things up to generate excitement and new revenue.

 

What's interesting is that if you were in the financial services industry and you made misleading and deceptive claims you would be sanctioned and probably lose your license (at least where I come from).

 

But private post secondary institutions go basically totally unchecked.  

 

 

You want to know what a real worker shortage looks like?

 

My neighbor is an engineer in a highly specialized field.  There is an actual real shortage of people in his specific area.

 

 

His income is well in to the 6 figures, he gets a $100 a day food allowance, free housing, free schooling for his kids at the local foreign school, free trips home for his family and a free company car.

 

 

His food allowance alone is more than what a lot of pilots make.

 

 

That's what a real worker shortage looks like.

This pilot shortage is a myth! Never happened, not currently happening and never will happen! Supply and demand doesn't apply or make any sense in this industry. There will always be pilots willing to take your job and do it for a lot less than what you earn. No matter how hard a pilot group has fought for a good contract, somebody is willing to sacrifice that just to fly a shiny jet. It's pathetic!

 

Look at the largest E170 operator. Every pilot here in the USA knows this particular airline is very bad in terms of pay, qol, contract, base closures, no pay protection on cancellations, very bad rsv rules and poor employee treatment and morale, however pilots line up to work there. Its pathetic!

 

The media has it all wrong. I really don't know how they come up with the average pay of 103K a year. We only get paid from block out to block in. On paper it looks very pretty to see that you get paid $23/hr. (Avg starting pay at a regional) However on a typical month you'll only get paid for 75-85 hours. Do the math...now if we got paid from check-in to check-out on a typical 4 day trip, lets say 96 hrs of time away from home at work, we would be banking, but its not like that. Pathetic!

 

I have noticed that flight schools are empty and kids now a days are not interested in flying as a career. At least here in the USA. In a way this makes me sad, however I don't blame the younger generation. There's no incentive to make flying a career because the airline industry is Pathetic!

Shortage of pilots willing to accept low wages is more realistic.

You are correct sir.