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Airline Pilot Shortage

IKE

Nerd Whirler
pilot
Would've been nice if the military saw this one coming a few years earlier, only for the selfish reason of the value of my DH bonus.

https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/airline-pilot-shortage-united-states/index.html

Not sure of the veracity of their data, since it seems an AW prankster may have been involved in the Boeing study:
A 2016 report by Boeing shows that 42% of the pilots currently flying for the major airlines in the United States will reach their mandatory retirement age of 65 in the next 10 years.
 

xj220

Will fly for food.
pilot
Contributor
The P-8 FRS is already having a hard time keeping guys. It seems to be the jumping board to Delta.
 

scoolbubba

Brett327 gargles ballsacks
pilot
Contributor
Even with the Navy P-8/B737 type rating shenanigans? You mean to tell me guys flying a 737 variant are still employable even without the FAA signing off on them getting a type rating because of big navy interference?

This is my shocked face.
 

Jim123

DD-214 in hand and I'm gonna party like it's 1998
pilot
The P-8 FRS is already having a hard time keeping guys. It seems to be the jumping board to Delta.

tenor-6.gif

I prefer the official brief. Oh... wait...

ostrich-head-in-sand-gif-4.gif
 
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Jim123

DD-214 in hand and I'm gonna party like it's 1998
pilot
I want to see these future airship military inspired whatchamacallits.
 

Python

Well-Known Member
pilot
Contributor
And Fedex...

The gouge I have is that FedEx is extremely hard to get into regardless of community (unless you’re a blue angel...). Of course, I am ignorant of the subject and good/bad gouge is all I have.
 

FrankTheTank

Professional Pot Stirrer
pilot
The gouge I have is that FedEx is extremely hard to get into regardless of community (unless you’re a blue angel...). Of course, I am ignorant of the subject and good/bad gouge is all I have.
Not really.. The issue is we just have a smaller seniority list (about 4700 pilots). So we hire less than say Delta or United so it is more likely you just know fewer folks because we hire fewer folks. It’s just a numbers thing. But we are hiring like gangbusters. July 16th communication from SCP says we are increasing from 40 a month to 59 for Aug & Sep then probably trickle thru peak and then pick back up in January.
 

FrankTheTank

Professional Pot Stirrer
pilot
Is there any concern there about these rumors regarding the remote co-pilot situation? Seems like cargo would be the first target for that.
Nope.. The cargo would be the first to go argument cracks me up.. Good thing we don’t fly into the exact same airports with ‘Generally’ bigger airplanes than the rest of the industry. Although there have been a few times, recently, that a few new hires have made me feel like I was single piloted, I can assure you these aircraft require both folks to safely operate. And I just don’t see that changing in the near future. The money and regulations to get there is in my opinion just more costly than putting a co-pilot in the jet.
 

ChuckMK23

FERS and TSP contributor!
pilot
Heard Spirit is considering a RTP type program for .mil helo types that are graduates of a primary phase UPT program in the T-34/T-6 (e.g USAF, USCG, USN. USMC helo types) that results directly to the right seat of A320. This would be interesting.
 

Jim123

DD-214 in hand and I'm gonna party like it's 1998
pilot
Heard Spirit is considering a RTP type program for .mil helo types that are graduates of a primary phase UPT program in the T-34/T-6 (e.g USAF, USCG, USN. USMC helo types) that results directly to the right seat of A320. This would be interesting.
I'm sure it will work fine- but I think they'll have a few bugs to iron out, just like any new training program. I wonder how they'll fund it- probably with VA money and contractual obligation/payback.

Money makes airplanes fly. As a guy with mil, commercial, and private flight experience you know that better than most people on this forum.

We hit on speed and pilot skills in another thread- there's a jump in skills from 100-150 knots in the terminal area (and 10,000 feet and below) and 200+ knots (and the ability to get into the flight levels). It's really not that hard for a decent pilot to acclimate to the greater performance, mostly it takes study and preparation, imagine that, but the transition costs money.

There are a handful of light civil airplanes that can reasonably do 150-190 for $500/flight hour and cheaper, but there's a big wall right around 200 knots where cost starts to go up fast. Other than a few high end turbocharged piston airplanes, flying 200+ and getting into the flight levels is turboprop territory and it costs $500-1000/hr (think King Air, Malibu, etc.). That's a big jump in $$.

If a lot of guys start using their GI Bill to pay for that kind of flight time I think the VA is gonna notice.
 
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