Today in
the aviation industry, there seems to be a very heavy debate about the pilot
situation for the Regional Airlines. On the management side of this debate, the
Regional Airlines are saying that there is a pilot shortage. However, if you
were to ask the pilots flying for both the Majors and the Regionals, you would
likely hear that there is not a shortage. So why is there a discrepancy? Well,
that has to deal with the pay. According to the pilots, the Regional carriers
are not paying enough money, and that is what is causing the “pilot
shortage”.
After doing some research on the
topic, I believe that the “pilot shortage” has a little to do with what both
the pilots and the management believes. According to the documentary “Flying
Cheap” the starting salary for a regional First Officer is between 18,000 and
22,000. To most people, these numbers
are incredibly shocking. If you do the math, that averages out between 8.65 and
10.58 a hour. With flight training
costing an average of 70,000 dollars, Regional pilots are poor. Between paying
off their flight training, mortgage/rent, and possibly a car payment, they
barely make enough money to make a meal for dinner. It was stated in “Flying Cheap”, most
Regional pilots are literally going hungry. I believe that we are seeing a
decrease in pilots because of this type of pay scale. With this type of pay,
someone is not going to be living comfortably, and that alone, has caused
people to pursue other careers.
However, I also believe that the
aviation industry will start seeing a “pilot shortage” and it’s not because of
the pay. Due to the new FAA regulation,
requiring pilots to have 1500 hours of flight time, before they can hold a FO
position, the industry is likely going to suffer. With the older pilots retiring
and the younger pilots having to build more hours, before they can apply, there
is going to be a shortage in pilots. The
regional airlines are going to be hit the hardest. With younger pilots working
to build their hours, and current regional pilots finding jobs in the Majors,
the regionals are going to have a limited pool to hire from. The aviation industry is trying to come up
with ways that they can fix this shortage, and almost every answer has to deal
with pay. And, according to Dan Akins, “ So far, no one can figure out whose
dime it’s going to be done on” (Bachman, 2014). But, the issue is how can the
airlines afford to pay their regional pilots more? Likely, the ticket prices
are going to increase, and the regional airlines are going to need to receive
more pay from the major airlines for the flights that they complete.
ALPA is the company that represents
most regional pilots. After doing a little research, I found out that GAMA is
another large representative in the aviation industry. GAMA represents over 80
of the worlds leading aviation manufacturers.
As for the managers in aviation, it was much tougher to find the
representatives, and I actually was unsuccessful. So, if you happen to know who
does represent them, I would greatly appreciate it if you could inform me.
To me, professionalism is being
ethical, being able to maintain business relationships without letting personal
issues interfere with your job performance and performing your job to the best
of your abilities.
After watching the documentary
“Flying Cheap” it was quite obvious that there were many different issues that
lacked professionalism, both on that flight and also in the Colgan Airlines
management department. One unprofessional issue that was brought up in the
documentary was the fact that they would fudge the numbers so the pilots could
complete flights and they also promoted a FO to Chief Pilot after only nine
months. An unprofessional issue that occurred during the famous Colgan accident
was a lack of communication during the flight. Prior to the crash, the flight
went into a stall, and instead of the pilot pushing the yoke down, he continued
to pull up, which caused the aircraft to enter a full stall. While this was
occurring, the FO decided to engage the flaps. She did not inform the pilot
what she was doing. I thought this was very unprofessional. I’m sure she was
just reacting, but in the aviation industry, there needs to be communication
between the Pilot-In-Command and the FO. During this portion of the flight
there was a lack of this communication, and in my opinion a lack of
professionalism.
I believe that the lack of
compensation for a first year pilot does contribute to the lack of
professionalism demonstrated in the documentary. It is obvious that most pilot
working for the regionals are only their to build their hours so they can land
a job, working for a major airline. It sounds like the regional airlines; work
their pilots to their limits because they know they will only be working there
just long enough for them to find a better job. I think if compensation was a
little better, the regional airlines could become a career job for some pilots.
If these pilots were treated better and paid more, maybe there would be an
increase in professionalism.
References
Bachman,
J. (2014, February 11). Yes, There's a Pilot Shortage: Salaries Start at
$21,000. Retrieved January 21, 2015, from http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-02-11/yes-theres-a-pilot-shortage-salaries-start-at-21-000
Bachman,
J. (2014, February 28). With Pilot Shortage, Regional Airlines Search for
Someone to Pay Rising Costs. Retrieved January 19, 2015, from http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-02-28/with-pilot-shortage-regional-airlines-search-for-someone-to-pay-rising-costs
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/flyingcheap/view/?autoplay
Press
Release – FAA Boosts Aviation Safety with New Pilot Qualification Standards.
(n.d.). Retrieved January 22, 2015, from
http://www.faa.gov/news/press_releases/news_story.cfm?newsId=14838
