Originally Posted by
A Squared
Yet, somehow, hundreds of non-scheduled operators who do on demand charters or similarly structured flying find it possible to have sufficient staff to have schedules other than "we expect you to be available all hours of every day".
You seem to not get it: there are no pilots out there. Even if I wanted to do as you say, there is no evidence that the pilots want it that way; they all want to make money and they won't make money sitting at home. There are no qualified pilots coming in my door or contacting me for a full time job. I am on several job boards with ads in the system and only once in a while do I get any pilots who live in Alaska or are willing to move here, much less have the quals I need. I am forced to use part time pilots who take the same amount of training, tech, proficiency and line, to get up to speed enough to do the simple flights as does a full time pilot, but I have to repeat it for at least three times with part time pilots to create the same availability as one full time pilot.
BTW I know of no company in Alaska that does what we do. Some do on demand in between scheduled flights, but that is not the same and I am sure you know that.
But never mind that; I am sure you have no knowledge of this subject because if you did you would understand the problem and not push the agenda that money cures every ill.
I get a lot of 200-300 hour pilots with Private certificates, but cannot take them because we don't fly two pilot and I have no way to train someone from scratch. I have reduced the experience requirement drastically but it has not helped; I am still short of manpower. I am working my guys hard, I know that, but have no choice. I would be better off having twice the number of pilots than I have and working them less, but again none of my pilots want that; they want the money. Or they want to build hours quickly to have enough to approach the Cargo/Airlines.
But the problem is not just whether I am a good manager or not, or pay enough, it is the fact that there is a severe shortage of pilots. Real pilots, those who can do the job without years of training. Even the majors have that problem and it will bite them in the butt soon when the accident rate goes up, especially when these relatively inexperienced pilots are put in the left seat and suddenly have to start making decisions.
We need tens of thousands of pilots on the bottom of the pyramid to support the hundreds at the top. It is unbalanced now and getting worse. When the 65 year old captains retire, which will be soon, they will be replaced by pilots who have not seen as much or done as much as they did when they were promoted to Captain and the next generation will have even less time in the job. I cannot see how the great safety record established by the present pilots can possibly be maintained and I forecast an uptick in incidents and accidents. Solely due to the 1500 hour rule which also puts this country at a severe disadvantage compared to the rest of the world. I doubt if any US pilot would have done anything better than the Lion Air guys, especially if they are just button pushers.
I am not the only person blowing this whistle, there are many who see the problem now. It worries me that anyone can support the 1500 hour rule with the damage it has done already and will continue to do so. Even some of my friends in the FAA agree with me. I read a recent advertisement for Inspectors to join the FAA as potential POIs and in the third or so page of the list of required qualifications it said that to be successful, an applicant had to have had no more than 2 pilot error accidents in the last 3 years. If that doesn't make your head spin, it should.