http://www.eturbonews.com/16252/futu...less-experienced-less-ethical-and-


I had this article sent to me by another pilot which brings up some very interesting statistics and points brought up during a recent NTSB hearing on pilot professionalism. Most notable is that screening of college bound students says most see a career in aviation as a dead end job. This does bring up a good question with regard to what kind of people are we attracting to the industry these days and what steps need to be taken to improve the outlook.


I know things are perilous right now for those looking for a good job in aviation. This will not be the case in just a few years. In the article Judy Tarver claims that there will be 42,090 pilot jobs changing hands in just the next 10 years. This is a good quantifiable number to what I am seeing on the line. There are a lot of pilots on furlough right now but a great deal of them have moved on to other careers and have as of now absolutely no intention of ever coming back. So where are we going to find good pilots, not just a warm body to fill the seat?


I have a few thoughts on how to curb this and improve the outlook:

1. The race to the bottom has to end and end now. Pilot wages and working conditions simply have to improve and there needs to be a crackdown on operators who continue to push the wages down.

2. The industry either has to limit the number of 121 certificates that will be allowed (thereby eliminating startups like SkyBus) or make the requirements to obtain a 121 certificate extremely difficult so as to limit startups that will drive down ticket prices and profits for all airlines.

3. There is talk of re-regulation of the Airline Industry but at this point looking at how the DOT has managed this and other industries would be a mistake. Option 2 is the better way to go to avoid unintended consequences.


What are your thoughts...


727forever

[Edited 2010-06-28 09:04:53]