Horizon Air cutting hundreds of flights due to pilot shortage

[underfire]

Horizon Air — the regional airline that is part of Alaska Air Group, carrying passengers on shorter flights throughout the Pacific Northwest and beyond — is cutting its flight schedule this summer because of a severe shortage of pilots for its Q400 turboprop planes.

The shortage became a crisis this past month when Horizon was forced to cancel more than 318 flights because it didn’t have enough pilots to fly all its planes.
In response, the airline is now pre-emptively canceling flights later in the summer and is weighing if it needs to pare its schedules for the rest of the year.
In an effort to reduce cancellations, it’s also sending out managers who are qualified pilots to fly the planes and offering double pay to pilots who fly extra flights.

To address the problem at Horizon, Campbell said in his memo that in addition to the schedule cuts, the airline is “offering 200 percent premium pay” to pilots who fly extra flights beyond their normal schedule.


The Union objects?!?!

Horizon’s management and the Teamsters agreed in April on a new contract that specifies that overtime should be paid at 150 percent, not 200 percent.
In a letter to Horizon pilots last week, the union leadership — counterintuitively — objected to the company paying more than the contract stipulates and urged the pilots not to accept what it called a “200 percent bribe” to fly extra flights

[Piltdown Man]

Over a 200% percent salary improvement and contract with reasonable T's & C's and Horizon wouldn't have this problem. This is a classic example of what happens when you cut employee pay an benefits to the bone; it reduces your income to zero! What to do now? Get the HR department into a public area and remove their organs? Sack them via Facebook? Because unless they were giving clear and unambiguous advice that company pilots were being under-rewarded it was they who allowed this situation to develop. If I were a shareholder I would like to see the COE out as well. He and his management team are responsible for this fiasco.

[Zaphod Beblebrox]

The Empire Strikes Back....

WASHINGTON — Beginning pilots could substitute “structured and disciplined” classroom training for flying experience in qualifying to work for airlines under legislation approved Thursday by a Senate panel.
The provision would change minimum pilot training requirements the Federal Aviation Administration adopted after the last fatal crash of a U.S. passenger airline in 2009.
Regional airlines, which contend there is a shortage of qualified pilots, have long sought to soften an FAA requirement after the crash that all pilots have at least 1,500 hours of flying experience. But critics said weakening the standard would mean writing new regulations in the "blood" of crash victims.
Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., said the goal of his provision added to broader FAA legislation by a narrowly divided Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee is to provide better quality training rather than a quantity of flying hours.
“The amendment would allow prospective pilots to receive credit toward flight-hour requirements if taking structured and disciplined training courses if completion of those training courses will enhance safety more than an unstructured accumulation of flight hours,” Thune said.
But Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., a former Army combat pilot, said watching videos in a hotel ballroom can’t replace flying experience. She compared the 1,100 deaths from airline accidents from 1990 through 2009 to the lack of fatalities in passenger-airline accidents since the 1,500-rule was adopted. Co-pilots used to qualify with 250 hours of flight time, rather than the 1,500 hours required of captains.
“If we vote for this, we will be writing future regulations in blood,” Duckworth said.
Duckworth tried to block the provision but lost on a 14-13 vote. The committee then adopted the provision by voice vote.
Lawmakers agreed to try and negotiate a compromise before the legislation reaches the Senate floor because Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., has threatened to block the entire FAA bill if the provision is included.
The training requirement sparks an emotional debate because relatives of the 50 victims of the last fatal crash — Colgan Air Flight 3407 in February 2009 near Buffalo — attend congressional hearings and voting sessions to fight for safety standards.
Ten-year-old Summer West of Clarence, N.Y., whose father, Ernie, died in the Colgan crash, told lawmakers before a House vote Tuesday that they and the pilots commanding planes were supposed to protect passengers rather than weaken safety measures.
“My daddy was funny, kind, smart and always protected me. But I couldn’t protect him because I was only 2 years old when he was killed in a plane crash,” Summer said. “But I can protect other daddies now, and make sure my daddy’s death wasn’t all for nothing.”
https://www.gannett-cdn.com/-mm-/f37771f281189f60da63b95add6f7d5e4f266802/c=0-0-3024-4032&r=183&c=0-0-180-240/local/-/media/2017/06/29/USATODAY/USATODAY/636343323487006347-colgan-families-006.JPGSummer West, 10, of Clarence Center, N.Y., urges lawmakers at a Capitol Hill news conference on June 27, 2017, not to change training requirements for airline pilots. (Photo: Bart Jansen, USA TODAY)

Scott Maurer of Bradenton, Fla., whose 30-year-old daughter, Lorin, died in the Colgan crash, said airlines shouldn’t put profits before safety.
“The system is not broken,” Maurer said. “Short-changing safety is not the way to go.”
Investigators found Colgan pilots made mistakes that stalled their turboprop plane in a snowstorm. Regulators developed new rules for pilot qualifications, training and fatigue.
In 2010 legislation, Congress required that airline co-pilots, also known as first officers, get the same 1,500 hours of flight time as captains.
The Transportation Department regulations finalized in July 2013 made exceptions for military pilots who have flown at least 750 hours, graduates of four-year colleges who have flown at least 1,000 hours and graduates of two-year colleges who have flown 1,250 hours.
Regional airlines, which provide about half the country’s flights, have long argued that training requirements make it difficult to find qualified pilots. Flights to smaller cities are jeopardized if airlines can’t find pilots to fly the planes.
Thune said two-thirds of the country’s airports are served exclusively by regional airlines, and the training requirement contributes to their difficulties hiring pilots.
How pilots get to 1,500 hours is more important than simply reaching that figure, Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., said.
“Fifteen-hundred hours is not necessarily magic, but however you get whatever training you get is important,” Blunt said.
Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., said if regional airlines want to weaken safety standards, they shouldn’t be able to fly with names of major airlines, whose more experienced pilots have more training, on the sides of their planes.
“The American public needs to know that these carriers aren’t meeting the same standards,” Cantwell said. “I don’t think anybody wants to get on a plane that says co-pilot not as qualified.”
The Air Line Pilots Association, a union representing 57,000 pilots, said regional airlines would have more pilot recruits if they paid more. The co-pilot of the Colgan flight earned $16,200 per year.
“We will fight any attempt to weaken these air-safety measures,” said Capt. Tim Canoll, the union president.

[pineridge]

Seems to be the start of something;
Norwegian Airlines is cancelling flights at short notice, leaving passengers stranded or delayed. Reason given by the boss is lack of pilots.

[bafanguy]

No one knows with any certainty how all this will turn out but opinions abound:


"Sprague said an encouraging sign is that Horizon’s new-hire pilot classes — which provide training on the planes they’ll fly — are full for June and July, with 30 trainees passing through each of those months."

"So the selective cancellations now planned are temporary, he said, 'while we build the staffing back up to where we think it needs to be.' ”

http://www.seattletimes.com/business/boeing-aerospace/horizon-air-cutting-hundreds-of-flights-this-summer-due-to-pilot-shortage/

[ironbutt57]

and the same amount will leave

[EatMyShorts!]

Seems to be the start of something;
Norwegian Airlines is cancelling flights at short notice, leaving passengers stranded or delayed. Reason given by the boss is lack of pilots....because pilots keep on leaving, due to conditions at Norwegian?

[Havingwings4ever]

It is just a matter of time, real shortage will become a major issue all across the world, no matter how the economies develop.
See this interesting study by CAE that was just released;

http://www.cae.com/uploadedFiles/Content/BusinessUnit/Civil_Aviation/CAE-Airline-Pilot-Demand-Outlook-Spread.pdf

[bafanguy]

and the same amount will leave

ib57,

Entirely possible...but accurate accounting of Horizon's attrition is hard to come by.

[cessnapete]

The Senate Panel are not very knowledgeable. It is initial professional structured training, not hours that mater in safety.
For years British Airways and other European carriers have taken, as well as experienced Military pilots,250-300 hour pilots straight from the Flying Collages into the RHS of A320/B737 and Turbo Prop types. When it was in service the BA 757 too.
They leave the flying collage with an IR and MEP Rating. All the ATP studies and exams are passed, and a "frozen ATP", i.e. exams remain valid for 3 years and on achieving the ATP flying hours the ATP is issued. After the initial Type Rating course, obviously stringent supervisory route flying follows.
Typically 50 route sectors with Training Capts, and when released to the Line, the first six months with experienced Capts only.
No safety problems, and some of the early trainees have now retired after a long and safe career, as Wide body, and even Concorde Capts.

[Chris the Robot]

Well, the FAA could consider allowing "approved" training programmes to train pilots from nothing to the right-hand seat in 250 hours, so long as the airline fully funded the training and paid the pilots a liveable wage once qualified. Of course this would mean that those selected were done so on ability to fly not ability to pay. What terribly old-fashioned thinking eh? Deja vu surely?

[underfire]

http://i65.tinypic.com/2j13aed.jpg
http://i66.tinypic.com/2ce5i8i.jpg

[atpcliff]

Horizon Air is canceling hundreds of flights because of the "pilot shortage." It's airlines' fault. (http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2017/06/30/horizon_air_is_canceling_hundreds_of_flights_because_of_the_ pilot_shortage.html)

"...American companies don’t have a shortage of people. They have a shortage of wages, benefits, and training. Companies could fix that problem, but they haven’t.
...
But many businesses seem blind to the reality. They’ve become accustomed to thinking they have can have all the labor they want, with all the skills they need, without having to pay much for it or offer long-term job security or help fund the training.
...
To recruit new employees, offer to train them yourselves, or to pay back the loans they incur while getting the training that will enable you to run your business, or offer to split the flight school tuition in exchange for a commitment to work for the airline for several years.

There’s a phrase people in companies use when colleagues complain of a challenging situation. “You’re a businessperson. Figure it out.” Managers and leaders get paid to figure out how to solve the problems they face. Coping with a shortage of skilled workers by shuttering a portion of your operations doesn’t seem like much of a solution."

[GMC1500]

What the lawmakers can't understand, is that there is a big difference between training and experience. You can have the best training in the world, and it won't matter when you need that gut feeling that something is wrong and what to do about it. Look at EK 521 as an example.

[cessnapete]

The EK 521 accident didn't require much experience to avoid, surely just common sense! Any properly trained co- pilot should monitor the fact that the TOGA hasn't worked, when the engines are still at idle. My airline SOP require the HP hands on Thrust Levers continually below 500 feet, and ALWAYS follow through manually when TOGA selected in a go around situation, and apply power as required. Simple airmanship.

[RAT 5]

Regional airlines, which provide about half the country’s flights, have long argued that training requirements make it difficult to find qualified pilots.
Thune said two-thirds of the country’s airports are served exclusively by regional airlines, and the training requirement contributes to their difficulties hiring pilots.


This topic, at least in USA, is about Regional airlines and pilots getting their first step on the ladder. No-one wants to spend their whole life in a Regional, and the companies know this. Thus they treat them as real apprentices who are being paid in experience and will leave at the first chance.
"How pilots get to 1,500 hours is more important than simply reaching that figure.
Fifteen-hundred hours is not necessarily magic, but however you get whatever training you get is important,” Sen' Blunt said.

True: quality over quantity.

Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., said if regional airlines want to weaken safety standards, they shouldn’t be able to fly with names of major airlines, whose more experienced pilots have more training, on the sides of their planes.
“The American public needs to know that these carriers aren’t meeting the same standards,” Cantwell said. “I don’t think anybody wants to get on a plane that says co-pilot not as qualified.”

True: Airlines have, for a longtime, outsourced flights to cheaper alternatives. I wonder how much oversight they give to them; that they provide the same quality product as the host airline. They should, because any lowering of any standard will reflect badly on them.

The Air Line Pilots Association, a union representing 57,000 pilots, said regional airlines would have more pilot recruits if they paid more. The co-pilot of the Colgan flight earned $16,200 per year.

It is a fact that regional airline flying is more challenging than B787 fully automatic operations. They fly into less equipped airfields; they have less equipped a/c; they had less experienced pilots, especially the captains; they fly at lower altitudes in worse weather; they often fly multi sector days in these conditions and therefore are prone to more tiredness = mistakes. etc. etc. They get the short end of the stick and worse. Yet, they are paid less, have worse T's & C's and most are not motivated to stay.

I flew with a national airline B747 skipper on the jump seat of my B757; he was also the union leader. he admitted that their own regional small jet & turbo-prop fleet was more challenging than his 8 sector per month in his flying palace, but the union was not willing to campaign for better conditions for their own regional. Reason: one day all this will be theirs.
That's OK if there is a career path within one company. That is not the case in the USA or other regionals with a major name on the fuselage. Why not make the regional part of the host company and make a career path?
Many years ago there were some countries that had career paths via the military into the national carrier. That ensured the military had enough pilots and ensured the airline had a steady stream of pilots: not necessarily 100%, but enough for a core. After privatisation that was deemed unworkable and also there was doubt about having 'the right stuff in the wrong place'. Australia has been having problems keeping airforce pilots for financial reasons. the rewards are greater outside.
IMHO there needs to be a complete rethink of how the pilot workforce is recruited, trained and how a career path is offered. Nowadays a cadet goes into huge debt with no guarantee of a job. the squeeze into a LoCo for a few years, burn out, see greener grass and move on. Find the green grass has been fertilised with BS and move on again, and again.
The lowly regionals will always struggle beasue they are a training school; similar with the LoCo cadets.
Also in the regionals you have 40-60 pax paying the wages, not 200-300 per a/c, yet they often charge more per seat, but they can't charge less than jets, they'd never make ends meet. If they were in the fold of the host airline then seat fares and wages could be balanced out in a big pot and career path formed. Standards would rise and be maintained across the board and all fleets and pilot recruitment improved.

Think outside the box. Extra hours for F/O's does not solve the problem.

[Vokes55]

I know plenty of experienced guys in Europe that would jump at the chance of taking a flying job in the USA if it got them a green card - myself included. Solve the personnel and experience shortage in one hit.

[SMT Member]

Whilst the above holds a lot of merit, it balances on the point that airlines would like to provide a career path for their pilots, which in turn implies they'll eventually end up with rather a lot of very senior pilots. 'Senior' equals 'expensive', and for that reason alone I think it's naive to suggest the airlines of today are at all interested in creating a career path. It's far, far cheaper to take young pilots off an 'incubator' airline, have them pay for the rating and bond them for half a decade. Keep them on for a few more years until their bucket of BS is full and they seek pastures greener, rinse and repeat.

As long as there is no coherent pilot body, where the benefits of the many take precedence over individual advancement, and as long as there is a steady stream of starry eyed youngster who are willing to gamble their parents money, what enticement does the airlines have?

You can blame them all day long, something I certainly have over the lack of a structured training path that is owned and managed by airlines, but at the end of the day your modern day pilot is a self-absorbed individual who will go to extreme lengths to achieve their goals, and to hell with everybody else. It's pretty hard to blame someone for being 'abusive', when they're being invited to do so by the 'victims', who offer no repercussions at all.

[GMC1500]

The EK 521 accident didn't require much experience to avoid, surely just common sense! Any properly trained co- pilot should monitor the fact that the TOGA hasn't worked, when the engines are still at idle. My airline SOP require the HP hands on Thrust Levers continually below 500 feet, and ALWAYS follow through manually when TOGA selected in a go around situation, and apply power as required. Simple airmanship.

Thats exactly my point. Further training will result on further reliance upon automation.
Nothing replaces experience, end of story, except for pay to fly people, who had their rich parents (airline captains) pay their way for them, while the rest of us actually struggled through it.

[bafanguy]

...the lack of a structured training path that is owned and managed by airlines...

SMT,

The US has never come anywhere near having to go that route (especially "owned") and my prediction (worth what you paid for it...maybe less) is they won't despite today's circumstances. We have an enormous training infrastructure at the college level. Obviously, getting young people to opt into that infrastructure is a separate issue.

[BluSdUp]

How hard is it to plan pilot recruitment. It is easy, You have the whole fall and winter to do it when the summer program is out for the next year.
I used to do this, mind you in a small company. Book all the simulator you need and add 20%. Then cancel any sessions not needed 3 months before ( no pay).

Anyway, management are trying to dispatch a flight without the ONLY personnel that is a no-go item.Sweet.

How can ANYONE be so incompetent.? It is a crime, any AOC states clearly the company SHALL have sufficient, qualified personnel to execute the operation!

No pilots, no airline.

[Officer Kite]

It is just a matter of time, real shortage will become a major issue all across the world, no matter how the economies develop.
See this interesting study by CAE that was just released;

http://www.cae.com/uploadedFiles/Content/BusinessUnit/Civil_Aviation/CAE-Airline-Pilot-Demand-Outlook-Spread.pdf

I'd be careful with anything CAE come out with. Their priority is to fill as many classroom seats as possible with the bums of £100,000 fee paying student pilots.

[RAT 5]

Arithmetic is quite an exact procedure. There is not much new about training. XX a/c, short haul, require Y crews per a/c. That's easy. Y crews require Z trainers mixed with SFI/TRI/TRE. To achieve that for Y crews you need A simulators. If you order B a/c to be delivered over the next 5 years it will create an expansion of B a/c to bring ther total to XX + B - any sales. Each year a % of B a/c will arrive. In advance you need to train a known number of crews. Therefore in advance you need an increase in trainers & simulators. Inherent in those calculations you'll need to factor in a captain upgrade program. Included will also be the number of retirees (known number) and those leaving, often 10% loss.

It's been that way for decades. I was associated with an airline who had a very aggressive order book, but did not increase their training dept' and sim availability at the same time. They lagged behind. The left & right hand did not seem to be connected; either that or delaying the increase in trainers and upgrading captains was seen as a cost saving until the last minute. But then you start cancelling flights, or you try & delay deliveries. Either way the forward planning bloke/committee was not up to it. The overall oversight rests with CEO.

[ironbutt57]

I don't feel sorry for the woes of any regional airline, decades of poor T&Cs, horrible work rules are now coming home to roost...karma is a bitch...and theirs has arrived