Would like to share the following article with you. What's your opinion on it? From my personal experiences (worked as an instructor in the US came back to Europe and did the silly conversion FAA to EASA) I must say, the chap who wrote this is absolutely right.
I have earned my living for 36 years, as a pilot, starting as an Army helicopter pilot progressing through the years all the way up to Captain of the Boeing 747-400. I have flown approximately 130 different single and multi-engine airplanes, single and multi-engine seaplanes, single and multi-engine helicopters, two and four engine turboprops, two and four engine jets, as Pilot-in-Command. I hold ATPL from seven countries and Flying Instructor for single and multi-engine airplanes and helicopters, from two countries, plus an Aircraft Mechanic License. I served as a Captain of Boeing 737-700, 737-800, 747-200, 747-300, and 747-400 aircraft. Very few pilots in the world have that kind of background or credentials.
Few truly understand the complexity or the issues why there is a pilot shortage. Imagine someone like me is unemployed, though I have so much experience.
There was a time, early in my flying career, after I made my exit from active military service, as a pilot, I was visiting airports and distributing my curriculum vitae. At one airport, I fished a brown paper bag out of a trash can, tore off a piece, wrote a brief CV, with my contact details, using a pencil, then stuck it on the door handle of a KingAir, because I had run out of CVs typeset on expensive, fancy paper, done by a printing shop. The ONLY call I had received was from the “brown paper bag CV”, handwritten in pencil. There IS a lesson in that.
The challenges to getting a flying job especially during the past ten years of the 21st century are varied.
Problem #1
Since 11 September 2001, pilots cannot just walk into an airport and stick their heads into any open hangar or aircraft.
By comparison, my first international airline job, I had been writing to a Chief Pilot who died in a crash, in Central America. I only got the name of the current Chief Pilot by walking up to one of the airline's aircraft, parked in front of a hangar, walked up to the flight deck, talked to the crew… then I flew cross country, walked into the headquarters, up the stairs and met him, who hired me on the spot. I saw some very unusual places, in the world, and did some equally “very unusual” flying, with that company. The kind that chapters of flying stories are dedicated to.
Problem #2
Go onto Google, and do a search for the email address and telephone number of some major Flag Carrier's Chief Pilot or HR Manager. Impossible.
Problem #3
Airlines and General Aviation employers, no longer want to provide training, because the dishonest and disloyal amongst us aviation professionals (cough, cough) will take the training investment spent on them and apply it to their preferred employer, just as soon as training has been completed.
Problem #4
Pilots are their own worst enemies. There are the inept or poorly trained who would crash a twin-engine sophisticated helicopter, in the Australian outback, that precipitated CASA to ratchet-up regulations, instead of fixing the root cause. Or, the Cessna pilot who after yanking and banking, causing an Accelerated Stall, flying below the lowest level which CASA already gave a dispensation, crashed into the sea. Or, the delusional miscreant and malcontent, type of Pilot who deliberately crashed into the mountains, killing himself and all aboard. Yep, he got even. With the whole Aviation industry! Making getting a job even more difficult for the levelheaded amongst us, who just love to fly.
Suppose someone has been a Boeing 747 Captain for a decade and decided to change to an employer who pays more or would treat him better, but the 747 Captain would have to pass a German DLR psychological test first. And, if he answered honestly, thoughtfully, but not within the defined test’s parameters, would that 747 Captain no longer be worthy to fly a kite? Rubbish!
Problem #5
There is no one-world standard for Pilot Licensing or even the form it takes, for that matter. IF, IF there was a Pilot License that could be used universally/globally, issued by say ICAO or whatever international organization, then pilots could use their license anywhere in the world, with the only requirement needed to convert for a particular country, an Air Law examination and in-Flight assessment, by an examiner. That is all that should be required. All first-world Pilot Licenses should be equal. I mean an FAA ATPL should be 100% compatible and equal to an Australian ATPL or German ATPL or... I mean even though I hold an Australian ATPL, prospective employers will advertise must have sat the seven examinations, which is code for they do not accept ATPL that was converted from overseas. AS IF an Australian ATPL is superior or they are better pilots. I have flown with Australian ATPL holders, who were my First Officers. They were definitely no better or no worse, except they tended to be more pedantic.
Of course, developing countries and countries like China and India, which have a very high demand for Pilots and the more experience they have, the better. Though they are critically short of Pilots, they impose age restrictions, of 53 or 55, for recruitment.
I could write a thesis on Pilot Hiring issues or the perceived Pilot Shortage. There is no Pilot Shortage, just lots of obstacles, obstructionism, sometimes deliberate backstabbing and badmouthing (Union versus Scab drama) of Pilots seeking and trying to gain employment, added to that the egregious costs of flying and maintaining a Pilot License, as in the case of Australia.
Solve these issues and you will solve the “Pilot Shortage”.