View Full Version : Article Re: Pilot shortage?
Can pilot training keep up with demand? (http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/in-focus-can-pilot-training-keep-pace-with-demand-367291/) Flightglobal, Jan 2012
To be honest, there isn't much new in this article, but it does quite nicely sum up the entirety of PPRuNe Wannabe forums in one page!
Hope you enjoy
widered
1st Feb 2012, 07:41
There has been a pilot shortage since the industry began. a so called pilot shortage.
I will actively discourage my children from joining this profession. It really is not what its made out to be. when the rose tinted glasses wear off reality kicks in and you realise your being abused by your employer no matter where you go..
most pilots I know are trying to change career.
Luke SkyToddler
1st Feb 2012, 07:55
Yep - there's already a pilot shortage - of experienced captains who are type rated on modern jets (or even better, if they are willing to pay massively inflated fees for a rating).
They must be willing to drop everything at a moment's notice and move to a third world sh!t hole, work for a dodgy agency that pays crap wages and zero benefits, and skims 20% of your salary for doing absolutely nothing.
They must also be willing to sign a contract that locks them into that particular agency forever, that makes the pilot 100% liable for every possible thing they can think of, and indemnifies the agency / airline from taking any form of responsibility for anything whatsoever that might go wrong.
And any time when such pilots are mysteriously not forthcoming in the numbers the agencies would like, they go weeping and wailing to newspapers about the massive "pilot shortage". Which then gets turned around and used by unscrupulous schools to sell the dream to the next generation of punters, who don't realize that at the first-job level, there's already 100 qualified wannabes for every genuine job going.
tarmac12
2nd Feb 2012, 20:08
Is the author serious? Just because BA and Iberia are taking on a couple of hundred Ab initio's between them in the next few years means we now have a pilot shortage? Well Spanair went broke at just the right time for all those guys to move straight over to Iberia Express seeing it is the same A/C being used.
There is some movement in Oz but only for TP jobs. Qantas hasn't hired in nearly 4 years. Virgin only takes a trickle of very experienced applicants and Jetstar are only recruiting for Asia right now which requires time on type or loads of TP time.
The US majors are having a trickle of furlough's coming back but not many. American is in bankruptcy protection so that only leaves TP operators who pay you 18k for your first year wage.
This shortage as a previous poster said is in the Far and Middle East only and is only for Captains. China Southern, Hainan Airlines and most of the other Chinese carriers have no trouble training local FO's it's just that they take a bit more time to upgrade for various reasons. The two main flying schools in Indonesia are pumping out about 400 students a year which easily covers thier needs. The likes of Merpati and Citilink are only taking expat FO's cause you gotta pay them 20-30k for the job.
Singapore Airlines and Cathay have very succesful cadetships which will see them through the next 10 years easily. Singapore Airlines are now taking cadets from India. There are probably between two and four thousand fATPL holders in India without a job and no prospect of one soon. This could easily cover the so called "shortage" for quite a number of years.
tarmac12
3rd Feb 2012, 01:48
On a second read of the article I'm left wondering why the specific flight schools and their locations are mentioned. Think there might be a conflict of interest going on here.
Plug for CAE, OAA and flight safety maybe?
'Pilot shortage?' Definition : a rhetorical question, repeated ad nauseam to bring out cheque books at flight academies
during the next 20 years.
Always pay attention when you read that along with an accurate number of pilot to be hired.
This article has been coming back every year for 20 years already. Again and again, they almost change nothing, only the date at the top.