PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - UK helicopter pilot numbers dropping - why?
Old 20th Nov 2019, 16:41
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ApolloHeli
 
Join Date: Mar 2019
Location: Europe
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Originally Posted by Mutley1013
Dear All,

I was looking at the CAA stats on pilot numbers (those with an active medical cert) by license type over the last few years. Starting in 2015, there has been a consistent drop of 100 per year of ATPL(H) and CPL(H) combined numbers, with CPL forming the larger part of the drop. PPL(H) have dropped on average 91 per year, but the yearly numbers fluctuate widely.

What are the views on why the steady downward trend in professional numbers? Poaching by airlines, lack of vacancies (maybe drones picking up the work instead), or the lack of new blood through (as shown by the almost matching drop in PPL? Thoughts? Are we on trajectory of the mythical pilot shortage or are the jobs just not out there with sufficient renumeration \ quality of life?

Regards
One reason would be Brexit incentivising people to SOLI transfer their certificates to better authorities. Obviously with hindsight it may have been unnecessary but given the two or three month wait for the transfer, I imagine many people changed their issuing authority earlier in the year with the expectation Brexit would have gone sideways back in March or whenever it was supposed to happen.
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