Regional Airlines/Pilot Shortage

            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