The state of the regional airline:
The regional airlines for many pilots today are a stepping stone towards the major airlines. Regional airlines hire pilots at the minimum Airline Transport Pilot (ATP) hour requirements of 1500 hours, or 1000 hours for graduates of university flight schools. Regional pilot pay has increased as the pressure of the pilot shortage has grown. Many regionals offer large bonuses for completion of a full year of employment to compensate for the lesser pay that regional pilots receive in comparison to the major airlines. Regionals also offer pilots relatively quick upgrades to captain, because the turnover of more senior pilots to the majors is so frequent.
The regional airlines for many pilots today are a stepping stone towards the major airlines. Regional airlines hire pilots at the minimum Airline Transport Pilot (ATP) hour requirements of 1500 hours, or 1000 hours for graduates of university flight schools. Regional pilot pay has increased as the pressure of the pilot shortage has grown. Many regionals offer large bonuses for completion of a full year of employment to compensate for the lesser pay that regional pilots receive in comparison to the major airlines. Regionals also offer pilots relatively quick upgrades to captain, because the turnover of more senior pilots to the majors is so frequent.
In referencing the pilot shortage, industry
trends show that a shortage exists. Mandatory retirements at age 65 are
increasing, and the number of commercial pilot certificates issued by the FAA
annually is very low in comparison. Ostrower in his article for CNN said,
“In the next 20 years,
airlines in North America are going to need 117,000 new pilots, Boeing
estimates. And the farm team for training and recruitment in the U.S. -- the
military and regional carriers -- are already struggling to find and keep
aviators.”
Pay increases can very likely help to alleviate
the pilot shortage. Historically, the pilot career has been very difficult to
enter because of the high costs of training, the low pay at entry-level
positions (such as regionals), and the slow rate of progression. Jeff Freidrich
in his article “How We Ruined Airline Jobs” says, “We made the pilot occupation so unattractive,
so tenuous and poorly paid, that people stopped wanting to do it”. The more highly paid pilots are, the more prospective pilot will
want to fly. Ostrower made note in
his article for CNN,
“Rather than change any standards to bolster
recruitment, pilot’s unions have pushed for higher wages for existing pilots to
increase the economic attractiveness of the profession.”
The more highly paid that pilots are, the more
likely prospective pilots are to be willing to invest all of the money needed
for training. A comparison to
another industry would be if a medical student got through medical school, but
then was stuck as a low salary resident for ten years, and they couldn’t work
at a hospital near their home, they had to relocate to a hospital in another
state that wasn’t as desirable. In this scenario, being a doctor would be much
less viable.
The 1500-hour rule’s effects on regional
airline hiring:
The 1500-hour rule severely limits the depth
of the hiring pool for regional airlines. When commercial pilot training can be
completed at 250 hours, there is a 1250 hour gap that aspiring regional airline
pilots have to bridge in order to be eligible. This gap leads to shortages of
qualified candidates for the regional airlines. Many pilots go on to earn their
flight instructor certificate(s), at cost, to work as a flight instructor while
they build time towards the 1500. Alternatives are to fly cargo or charter and
work towards the 1500. A possible solution for the regionals could be to partner
with cargo and charter companies and enact a flow-through program into the
region once pilots get to the 1500.
My very best definition of professionalism:
My very best definition of professionalism:
Professionalism is a combination of appearance, attitude, and manner of conduct that acts, positively or negatively, to externally convey the impression of qualification and competency in regard to a position.
Lack of professionalism in “Flying Cheap”:
In “Flying Cheap”, two
examples of a lack of professionalism would be the airline captain’s falsification
of a weight manifest to make the flight appear to be within the weight and
balance envelope, and the conversation the young Colgan pilot had with
management when they tried persuading him to take a flight when fatigued and
offered to falsify his duty records.
Pay as a factor in the lack of professionalism
in “Flying Cheap”:
Regional pilot pay being based solely on when
the pilot is actively flying seemed like a contributing factor, but the
examples of unprofessionalism that I previously mentioned were examples from
management and a captain, so pay does not seem like the biggest contributing
factor. The company culture at Colgan and greed appeared to be the biggest
contributing factors in the documentary.
Two ways in which I plan to
expand my professionalism throughout my aviation career:
-I plan to pursue my flight instructor certificates
after I’m actively flying professionally as a way to pursue continuing
education and better myself as a pilot.
-I also plan to join and participate actively
in as many pilot organizations as I can to further my exposure in aviation. I’ve
looked at NAFI, I definitely want an AOPA lifetime membership, and I plan to
join ALPA as well.
Friedrich,
J. (7 September 2017). How we ruined airline jobs. Slate. Retrieved from
http://www.slate.com/articles/business/metropolis/2017/09/how_we_ruined_airline_jobs.html
Ostrower,
J. (31 July 2017). The U.S. will face a staggering shortage of pilots. CNN
Money. Retrieved from http://money.cnn.com/2017/07/27/news/companies/pilot-shortage-figures/index.html
I really like your definition of professionalism. Tragically, I also feel as though whether or not you are a professional at something is largely dependent of what others think of the job you did. I also agree with your points about how the 1500 hour rule in place is only making the pilot shortage even more apparent than it already is. I have read several articles in the past highlighting this very issue. I believe it is very real and that some airlines are going to lose a lot of money in the coming years simply because not enough pilots are being produced at this point.
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