by Wendy Kaufman
December 26, 2012 2:40 PM
Some airlines —
especially the smaller ones — worry they wont have enough pilots.
They're a number of factors in play, but they point to new federal
safety rules as a big part of the problem.
In February of 2009, a
Colgan Air commuter jet crashed, killing 50 people. Investigators cited
inadequate pilot training and Congress responded with new legislation.
Beginning next summer, those who want to pilot commercial jets will need
dramatically more hours of flight training before they can be hired.
"The issue here is this arbitrary 1,500 hours," says Roger Cohen, head of the Regional Airline Association.
He
notes the new regulation is roughly triple the number of hours many
commuter airlines require today, and he says it will mean lots of
otherwise qualified pilots won't be able to get jobs.
"These
people have already invested incredible amounts of time and an
incredible amount of money investing in their aviation education. They
have just been told you have to go back out and fly around in circles at
your own expense just to get hourly experience," Cohen says.
Cohen
says most people now in training programs can't get enough hours in
before the deadline, so the pipeline for new pilots will be smaller. Any
impact would be felt largely at the regional or commuter airlines,
because that's where pilots often begin their commercial career.
Cohen
can't say when the regional airlines might face an acute shortage of
pilots, but warns that when they do, flights will be cancelled and
service to some communities will be cut. But others says Cohen is
overstating his case. Still, there's no question the industry is facing
headwinds with respect to pilots.
"The retirements start tomorrow," says Kit Darby, an aviation industry consultant.
Darby
says thousands of pilots are closing in on the mandatory retirement age
of 65. And military pilots who used to flock to the nation's airlines
are staying in the military longer or not leaving at all in part because
of their pay.
"It's quite a bit better than it used to be, and
it's competitive. It's a good base pay. You're going to be up in the
$75,000 range. But then there's all kinds of bonuses that could raise
that well up over a hundred," Darby says.
And that's a lot more than new commercial pilots make.
Another
source for commercial pilots is also shrinking: The number of people
getting private pilot licenses has fallen sharply. Education and
training is expensive and getting more so.
What's more, Kent
Lovelace, who chairs the well regarded aviation program at the
University of North Dakota, says the allure of being a pilot isn't what
it used to be. He says in the past, 75 percent or more of his students
aspired to be commercial pilots. Now, its only about half.
"They
value friends, family. Those kind of lifestyle issues in many ways are
more important than money. So they look at the challenge of being away
from home roughly half the month, and they don't look at it as a
positive," Lovelace says.
And Captain Lee Moak, head of the Air
Line Pilots Association, says those who do want to fly commercial jets
are increasingly being wooed by foreign airlines.
"We have a lot
of our newly trained, nearly certificated pilots coming out of school
and going oversees because the pay is better there. We haven't seen that
before," Moak says.
Some industry officials are now pushing the
federal government to put more money into pilot education. And airlines
are beginning to consider subsidizing flight training in exchange for a
commitment by the students to go to work for them.
Source: http://www.npr.org
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