Originally Posted By: DeepFriar
We've spoken about the looming pilot shortage before as well as the push for more cockpit automation. Here is another article on the shortage itself. I still feel that this situation will drive the "pilot assistant" type of automation. But until then, if you can meet the various levels of qualification, the future appears bright for aspiring pilots. Makes you wonder how it got to this point. It isn't all about the Colgan crash and the silliness that followed (the article says both Colgan pilots were 1500+ hour pilots - is that true?).
http://money.cnn.com/2017/07/27/news/companies/pilot-shortage-figures/index.html
Yes, both Colgan pilots were over 1500 hours. I was in the First Officer's new hire class; she started at Colgan with just over 1800 hours. The Captain had more hours but I don't know his total.
The Colgan accident was mostly about fatigue, which the new rest rules were intended to address.
Originally Posted By: m_peterson6
Pilots are only paid while they are flying....the flight plan time and delays are not paid time. Pilots probably get about 80 hours paid a month.
Correct; so the UPS Captain's salary at $200 per hour is around 192k per year. However it is a long road before you get to that point. Being a pilot isn't like being a lawyer or doctor, where you start at 150k+ per year right out of school. There are a series of jobs you'll hold along the way, with substandard pay, poor equipment, poor maintenance, or any combination thereof. Ramen noodles are a staple for many just starting out in the industry, and the UPS Captain mentioned above has probably been flying for his livelihood at least 15-20 years before he got to that level.
Educational costs for pilots can run the same as a college education, so many pilots start with huge debts in addition to low pay. I recall hearing about one internal memo at a regional airline, telling First Officers not to apply for food stamps in uniform.
Originally Posted By: m_peterson6
The shortage is because of the rise in commuter airlines. 20 years ago commuter airline flights were about 15% of the flights, now it is about 50%. Pilots would take the low pay commuter airline job as a stepping stone to the "majors". Now a days you may never get out of the commuter airlines because it is such a large share of the market.
Correct in part; in many markets, it's less expensive for the major airlines to pay a regional to do the same routes in smaller equipment since the passenger loads are less. In the US, we're spoiled by having numerous flights available from A to B each day; in other areas of the world there are only one or two flights per day - sometimes one or two flights per
week.