PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Is the pilot shortage here?
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Old 21st Nov 2016, 07:22
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Guttn
 
Join Date: Aug 2007
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In short... No. As long as there is a steady supply of pilots who, after all the advice and warnings from fellow pilots, still are willing to fork up a wad of cash for a typerating , or even worse, a P2F scam-scheme, these same lo-co airlines and their likes will still keep on trucking. Just take a quick peek at the last comments on the latest threads (at any given time) here at T&E and you'll see what I mean.
However, there might be a light at the end of the tunnel that possibly isn't the freighttrain after all.. If one is to believe the article, there is an upcoming shortage of suitble candidtes. Albeit the term "suitable candidtes" can mean several things, i.e. for O'Kjos it means whoever isn't an expense for them, while at more traditional airlines with unions it most certainly means those who fit into a given profile which they are looking for. The thing is.... a lot of these future pilots having these prerequisites often are the ones who actually analyse things in stead of just doing the Leap of Faith blindfolded. Given the high training costs for initial training, in addition to what has more of less become a European industry standard (SSTR, P2F etc), there will most certainly be a lack of suitable candidates.
What can be done? Regulation comes to mind. But can one fault the newbies straight out of flightschool, fed by the shiny jet propaganda? It's a catch 22 from my point of view. The phrase "don't hate the player, hate the game" is valid, but in the same phrase lies the truth that if there weren't any players to play the game, well, then there wouldn't be any game to be played, or the rules of the game would be different. And that, IMO, is the crux. What kind of a pilot are you, and what kind of a pilot do you want to be?
Good luck.
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