Pilot Shortage Revisited

    In recent years, the aviation industry has been struggling to get enough pilots. The aviation industry is getting larger, only making the problem worse. The airlines are struggling to find qualified pilots. After the Colgan Air accident near Buffalo New York, pilots are required to have 1000-1500 hours of flying depending on what kind of flight school from which they graduated. This leaves pilots to spend a lot more time at smaller airlines, cargo operations, flight instructor, or another small aviation type job. Not only do these jobs pay poorly, but to compound on the money problem, pilots spend an enormous amount of money for their education. A combination of a high education cost and a low starting pay leads to few people wanting to become a pilot, leaving the aviation industry short handed.

One of the largest contributors to why the aviation industry is short pilots is the combination of education and poor starting pay. Everyone knows that college is expensive for everyone. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, the average public institution cost for one year was 18,110 dollars. This includes the tuition, room and board, and other college fees. (NCES, n.d.) So over 4 years the average tuition costs roughly 72,440 dollars. This is a substantial amount of money, but compared to what student pilots have to pay, they wish it were this much money. The average pilot pays over 150,000 dollars for their training including their college degrees. (Fitzpatrick, 2016) Student pilots on average are paying more than twice as much as a normal college student does for their degree. For many, the initial cost is too much to warrant getting an aviation degree over another degree with a high paying job, such as an engineering degree. A degree in Mechanical Engineering has an average starting salary of 59,180 dollars. (Engineering Salary Calculator, n.d.) With a starting salary of that much, a student wouldn’t have to worry about not being able to pay their loans if they don’t make poor spending habits.

    For a pilot who just got their degree and are trying to make a living, they have to be even more conscious about their spending. For a pilot, the degree is twice as much as other degrees and one would hope the pay would be as much if not higher than the average engineer. However this is not the case for how much the average starting pay for a regional airline pilot makes. The average a regional airline pilot makes, which is one of the most common paths for a pilot to go if they desire to go into the airlines, about 27,350 dollars. (Fitzpatrick, 2016) This is half the amount on average than a mechanical engineer’s first year salary. So not only does a pilot pay twice as much as an engineer on average for college, but they make half as much on average for their starting pay. Since the new regulations of pilots having to accumulate more hours before they can get their ATP certification. By requiring these hours, pilots are forced to stay at these lower paying jobs. Meaning that they will be spending a lot of time at a poor paying job working poor hours. This is only yet another reason why America’s youth are not lining up to be a pilot.

    However, another reason why the airlines are having a pilot shortage is because another source for pilots, the military, is also having a pilot shortage. The military has always been a large supplier of pilots for the airlines. Many military pilots often leave the military and get hired into the airlines because of their experience. The Air Force in particular is having a pilot shortage that may be contributing to the airlines pilot shortage. Dan Lamothe states that roughly 3,495 jobs, or 21%, are not being filled. (Lamothe, 2016)  This is a concern for the military obviously, but should also concern the civilian industry. If the pilot slots were filled in the Air Force alone, that could have a potential of 3,495 more pilots for the airlines.

   

The pilot shortage is a very real scenario, that if left to its own devices can lead to having more planes than pilots. For those who are not in the aviation industry, this still may not seem obvious on why they should care. If you order something online, then it more than likely goes on a plane, if you plan a vacation overseas, you get on a plane. People who need organs from other hospitals are often put on aircraft to be transported quicker since time is important. Aviation is cemented into the economy as well as saving lives around the United States.

References

Engineering Salary Calculator - Mechanical Engineering Outlook. (n.d.). Retrieved December

13, 2016, from http://www.engineersalary.com/Mechanical.asp

Fitzpatrick, A. (2016, March 23). Here's the Major Crisis the Airlines Are Facing Now. Time

Magazine Retrieved December 13, 2016, from http://time.com/4257940/pilot-shortage/

Lamothe, D. (2016, August 10). The air force fighter pilot shortage is already a crisis-

and it could soon get worse. The Washington Post. Retrieved December 8, 2016, from the Washington Post website: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2016/08/10/the-air-force-fighter-pilot-shortage-is-already-a-crisis-and-it-could-soon-get-even-worse/?utm_term=.caf69e27a8a9.

Fast Facts. (n.d.). National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved December 13,

2016, from http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/

Job plans and Topics overview

My plans at the beginning of the semester was to become a pilot in the United States Air Force. They have not changed since the beginning of the semester as I already have my pilot slot and the first base I will be going to. This leads to what I will be doing after this year, where this summer I will be moving to Vance Air Force Base in Oklahoma to start my training. These plans have not changed since I am still on track to becoming a pilot.

The most useful topic that we talked about was the pilot shortage. When researching the pilot shortage, I also found that the Air Force is also having a pilot shortage which is trending to become more of a problem later. I also found this to be important because I learned about how aggressively the airlines are hiring right now to fill this shortage, but it may not last forever. By the time I get out of the Air Force, they pilot shortage may have ended and then I will need to possibly think about where or what I am going to do for a career. It is hard to say if the industry will still be short on pilots, but as much as the airlines are hiring, there is a chance that they will fill this shortage in 12 years.

The topic that I felt was least useful was the airline being fair for the U.S. carriers or not. I felt this wasn't that important because of my career path. I also felt that it wasn't that important because the U.S. carriers are still doing decent in the market. If another airline is performing better, then they need to reassess their business strategy. Some of the airlines that they are complaining about are offering better services to set them apart, while they are looking into just trying to fly people from one place to another, at least in coach. They got set in their ways and just refuse the change that needs to be done. Even though I felt this one was one of the least important topics, I still thought that learning about the systems that went into helping other countries buy American products was interesting.

Aviation Organizations

As I progress with my aviation career, there are numerous organizations that I can join. These organizations can be very helpful in some of the services they offer. Two organizations that I could join are American Association of Airport Executives (AAAE) and National Business Aviation Association (NBAA).

The AAAE is an organization that represents airport owners and managers. They represent and lobby legislation for the aviation industry, specifically airports. They also provide services such as educational development in the form of conferences, training, and they also have professional development opportunities (AAAE). Many of these are certifications that will make members stand out among others trying to apply for an airport owner or manager position.

NBAA also represents aviation, but it instead represents business aviation in the general aviation sector. The NBAA has conferences that focus on many subjects such as insurance, taxes for businesses, and workers' compensation. (NBAA) The NBAA also lobbies congress officials in order to protect small businesses in aviation in order to keep the competitive.

These are important organizations for me to belong to in order to help me get my foot in new doors to new opportunities. These can help me stand out from other applicants to further my chance of getting hired at a higher position. Not only does it help me move up in positions, but they can also help me save money by going to conferences and learning about better ways to run an airport or programs to help me save money  on essentials such as insurance.

Benefits. (n.d.). Retrieved November 29, 2016, from https://www.nbaa.org/membership/benefits/nbaa-member-benefits-guide.pdf

About AAAE. (n.d.). Retrieved November 29, 2016, from http://www.aaae.org/about_aaae/

Aviation Emissions

As the world becomes more aware of our addiction to fossil fuels, people are trying to limit the harm we are doing by burning these fossil fuels. Some people have gone to electric cars or hybrid cars. Then there are those who just point the finger at someone else, which is where a lot of people are pointing at the aviation sector to blame. To be fair though, the aviation sector does burn a lot of fuel and produces green house gases, but contrary to believe the aviation sector only creates about 2% of the total green house gas emissions created by people. (ICAO, n.d.) This isn't as much as most people would expect, but it is also predicted that this could increase by 3-4% each year. (ICAO, n.d.) This growth, if left unchecked could become a larger problem down the road.

One agreement that has been passed and is going into effect in 2020 is the Paris Agreement. The Paris Agreement is not aimed specifically at the aviation industry, but all of the industries around the world. It's aim is to keep the global warming from increasing by 2 degrees Celsius.  (Fountain, 2016) What the Paris agreement does is that it caps the amount of greenhouse gases a company can produce in a year. If the company goes over this amount, they have to buy "Carbon credit" to offset the amount they went over, these are bought from projects that are trying to offset the climate change. These projects are usually forest conservation, alternative energy, and other projects that are combating global warming. (Fountain, 2016).

Under the new administration, there is a possibility that Trump will pull the United States out of the Paris Agreement. He feels that it could hurt the U.S. economy if we stay in it. However, I do not know if he will actually follow through with this since he has flipped on some areas that he campaigned against during the elections. I do feel that if the U.S. does stay in the Paris Agreement, a new market for selling "carbon credits" could be started.

There is a real concern with global warming, there have been a lot of studies done showing its existence. Is it as urgent of a matter that is being expressed, I do not know. However, it's better to take care of a problem in smaller chunks before it becomes too large of a problem to fix in a small amount of time.

References

Fountain, H. (2016, September 26). ‘Aviation’s Paris Moment’ as Nations Near Emissions Deal. Retrieved November 19, 2016, from http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/26/business/energy-environment/aviations-paris-moment-as-nations-near-emissions-deal.html

Aircraft Engine Emissions. (n.d.). Retrieved November 19, 2016, from http://www.icao.int/environmental-protection/Pages/aircraft-engine-emissions.aspx

Is the Airline Market really Fair?

In order to help promote international trade and business with other countries. These are “bilateral agreements that the U.S. government negotiates with other countries to provide rights for airlines to offer international passenger and cargo services.” (Novelli, 2016) A catch for the Open Skies Agreement though, is that the company can not accept subsidies from their government. Two of the airlines in this agreement are Qatar and Emirates that are said to be breaking the agreement’s policy on accepting government subsidies. Both of these airlines however are owned by their government. With this, it is claimed that both companies receive billions of dollars in subsidies, about 42 billion dollars since 2004. (M.R.,2015) These include loans that have reduced interest rates, loans from their government that don’t have to be paid back, and fuel hedging are a few to name. Fuel hedging is when an airline buys an excess of fuel now on the prediction that it will be more expensive in the future. Where the U.S. airlines are having an issue with this is that if the airline ends up losing money on this deal, their government reimburses them for the loss.

The Gulf airlines are fighting the big U.S. carriers about their use of government subsidies. One example that has been focused on is the Airlines bailout when the three airlines (Delta, United, and American Airlines) were going bankrupt. The three U.S. Airlines  have received about 70 billion since the early 2000’s. (Everington, 2015) Another report surfaced as well about U.S. airlines receiving subsidies. The report shows that the airlines received over 150 billion dollars from 1919-1998. (Reed, 2015)

The Import Export bank is a credit agency run by the government that helps outside agencies get a loan on American products. It is specifically helps them by giving these companies a lower than market interest rate on a loan. It’s purpose is to help american products become more easily available and sold around the world.

The U.S. airlines are complaining that the market is not fair for them when they are being compared to some foreign airlines, but these foreign airlines are arguing that is fair. Who is the market unfair for or is it fair? Well, I feel that there is some merit behind the airlines’ view. The U.S. airlines aren’t able to get their loans at a lower interest rate and they aren’t reimbursed on a gamble they take on fuel hedging. This puts the U.S. market at a disadvantage because these foreign airlines can charge their seats far cheaper than the U.S. carriers. However, these foreign carriers also offer a better passenger experience on average than the U.S. carriers. This means that the U.S. carriers need to step up their game before they should be screaming an unfair advantage.

Everington, J. (2015, May 15). Etihad says big three US airlines received $70bn in subsidies | The National. Retrieved November 04, 2016, from http://www.thenational.ae/business/aviation/etihad-says-big-three-us-airlines-received-70bn-in-subsidies

M.R.(2015, March 06). Airline Subsidies in the Gulf: Feeling the HEat. Retrieved November 4, 2016, from http://www.economist.com/blogs/gulliver/2015/03/airline-subsidies-gulf

Novelli, C. A. (2016, September 16). OPEN SKIES PARTNERSHIPS - state.gov. Retrieved November 4, 2016, from http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/262234.pdf

Reed, T. (2015, April 14). U.S. Airlines Have Paid the Government $250 Billion -- Amazingly, Some Claim They Are Subsidized. Retrieved November 4, 2016, from http://www.forbes.com/sites/tedreed/2015/04/14/u-s-airlines-have-paid-the-government-250-billion-amazingly-some-claim-they-are-subsidized/#5516e8576530

The Chinese Competitor: C919

The COMAC C919 is a Chinese commercial aircraft that is aimed at competing with Boeing and Airbus. Unlike Boeing and Airbus designs, the C919 is not certified for use outside China. Right now the problem is that the FAA doesn’t recognize the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) as a certification agency. (Perrett, 2013) This is the biggest hold up on the Chinese aircraft from being certified outside of Chinese airspace. I believe that there is a chance for it to be certified in the United States, it just will not happen for a long time.

If the C919 got certified in the United States, it could lower the price of Boeing and Airbus. It is no guarantee that it will, but in order for Airbus and Boeing to compete with a Chinese aircraft price. The biggest reason for the lower price in the long run would come from Chinese wages being lower than western countries. If an airline bought a Chinese aircraft, majority of the general public would not notice the aircraft. Most of the public couldn’t even tell the difference between aircraft from the same company or a Boeing from an Airbus.

COMAC is a Chinese aircraft manufacturer that is run by the government of China. They work with the CAAC on the aircraft as COMAC is China’s aviation company to introduce China into the worldwide aviation community. (COMAC) COMAC has another product they have worked on, it is called the ARJ21. As stated before it is a smaller aircraft to get China into the regional jet sectors. It can carry 90 passengers, fly 1,382 miles at an altitude of of 39,000 feet. (COMAC)

If the C919 were to get certified by the FAA, I do not believe more companies would join them into trying to manufacture airliners. Developing an airline is expensive as well as getting it certified. The Chinese were able to because they had their government help fund them in making their aircraft. Another factor that would limit other manufacturers, is that COMAC can manufacture their aircraft cheaper than Airbus and Boeing. This helps them get into the market, if another manufacturer in the west wouldn’t be able to compete with the price of the Chinese aircraft, nor could it compete with the reputations of Airbus and Boeing.

I have not found any information regarding Airbus and Boeing  reacting to the C919. This is both surprising and unsurprising to me.  I find it surprising because there hasn’t been much competition against them in recent years. With the C919, it shows that China is not afraid to take them on and could be a real contender against them. However, this is not surprising because of how hard it will be for COMAC to be seen as a competitor in the aviation community against Boeing and Airbus. Both of these companies have a very good reputation that any company would have a hard time competing against, let alone a newer Chinese company.

Company Profile_Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China, Ltd. (n.d.). Retrieved October 29, 2016, from http://english.comac.cc/aboutus/introduction/

Perrett, B. (2013, December 16). C919 May Be Largely Limited To Chinese Market. Retrieved October 29, 2016, from http://aviationweek.com/awin/c919-may-be-largely-limited-chinese-market

Perrett, B. (2015, January 20). With ARJ21-700 Certified, Focus Shifts To Support. Retrieved October 29, 2016, from http://aviationweek.com/commercial-aviation/arj21-700-certified-focus-shifts-support

Commercial Space

April 28, 2001 Dennis Tito went to the International Space Station on a Russian Soyuz capsule for eight days, starting the commercial space race. (Wall, 2011) The commercial space race has then become more competitive with different companies entering the race. Such companies include Virgin Galactic and SpaceX. Both companies aim to bring space travel open to more of the public. Unfortunately, there are problems holding it back from bringing space to the public. One such problem is the cost of space travel, SpaceX will cost about 20 million dollars in order to fly with them into space. (Space Tourism: How Much Should You Save For A Space Trip?, n.d.) This limits the potential buyers to the top 1%.  Other hurdles would be safety, space travel has never been the safest, making space travel safe would help ensure that the people are more comfortable going to space if/when it becomes affordable to the general public.

Comparing the regulations of space travel to air travel, there are far fewer regulations. The regulations for space travel are contained in Title 14 of the CFR’s. Specifically they are in parts 400-460. (Electronic Code of Federal Regulations, n.d.) Most of these regulations contain that information on launch sites, how to launch, re-entry, pilot qualifications, and safety. Most of these regulations came from the Commercial Space Launch Act of 1984. (Price, 2010) I believe as long as safety is the number one priority and no compromises are made to safety, the regulations don’t need to be more restrictive at the moment. Since the industry is new, more restrictive regulations could prevent more companies from trying to start in this industry. If there are unsafe practices going on, then more restrictive regulations will have to be put in place to assure the public that safety is paramount.

I feel space travel at the moment is still at least 20 years away from the being affordable for the general public. It will make leaps in technology to make it more viable and reliability. Technology and interest in space has spiked, and with NASA not doing manned missions anymore, more people are showing interest in exploring space. Now that private companies are at the spearhead, space exploration and space tourism will be here sooner than if the government was front runner in the space tourism race. At first this will be a 1-time vacation sort of deal, but then later evolve into a means for fast transportation. This wouldn’t be viable though far beyond when space tourism is available for the general public.

To become a pilot to fly in space, they must have: a bachelor’s degree at an accredited college in engineering, biological science, physical science, or mathematics. They also must have 1,000 hours of PIC. They must have 20/50 eyesight corrected to 20/20 and a maximum blood pressure of 140/190. They also cannot be shorter than 5 foot 4 inches and 6 foot 5 inches. (Lethbridge, 2000)

Lethbridge, C. (2000). Spaceline: U.S. Astronaut Drafts: NASA Group 8. Retrieved October 21, 2016, from http://spaceline.org/astronauts/stsqualif.html

Price, H. J. (2010, June 28). Fact Sheet: Commercial Space Transportation. Retrieved October 21, 2016, from http://www.faa.gov/news/fact_sheets/news_story.cfm?newsId=11559

Electronic Code of Federal Regulations. (n.d.). Retrieved October 21, 2016, from http://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?SID=e88e980f1d8e363aa7e5e9247547e381&mc=true&tpl=/ecfrbrowse/Title14/14cfr417_main_02.tpl

Space Tourism: How Much Should You Save For A Space Trip? (n.d.). Retrieved October 21, 2016, from https://financesonline.com/space-tourism-how-much-should-you-save-for-a-space-trip/

Wall, M. (2011, April 27). First Space Tourist: How a U.S. Millionaire Bought a ... Retrieved October 21, 2016, from http://www.space.com/11492-space-tourism-pioneer-dennis-tito.html

Drones

UAVs currently are in their infancy being compared to the aviation industry. Most of the UAVs are small aircraft weighing no more than 5 or 10 pounds. This limits their uses of what they can do in the civilian market. Most of the business that these small uavs are capable of doing are photography related. A lot are also used to gather information. (Thompson, 2015) Regulations for drones have just passed Congress and the FAA has put them into effect. These regulations limit how fast the drones can travel and the weight they can carry. It also limits their use to “line-of-sight” use only. This means the pilot must be able to see the drone in order to operate it. This is to help the pilot avoid other air traffic while operating their drone. Another provision put in the regulations to keep these drones from interfering and possibly colliding with aircraft, is that they must fly below 400 feet AGL and outside of airport’s airspace.

As technology improves with drones, I foresee drones starting to get integrated into the National Airspace System (NAS). With NextGen, I see UAV’s becoming more prominent because the collision avoidance systems will be much more accurate. We already have production cars that can drive themselves in the Tesla model S’s autopilot mode, and the military has been using drones for several years now, it’s only a matter of time before civilian drones are flying in our NAS. I do believe though that this won’t be the case for a long time, at least within the next 20 years. However, the training to become a drone pilot (especially to fly commercially and when they become larger aircraft that can actually carry material) will have to be more extensive and will probably require a system of certificates much like how pilots have different certifications. Unlike pilots, a drone’s vision for its pilot (if they become more like our military’s drones) is going to be from cameras and GPS satellites. If these become unavailable or the pilot loses control of the drone, then it will likely crash and could cause injury to anyone on the ground.

As said previously, the military has been using drones extensively for several years now. However, drones have not replaced the roles for pilots in aircraft. The largest mission that drones participate in is the Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) mission. This means their primary purpose is to gather information about a target. There are drones that can destroy ground targets, but there are far fewer of them. The military also uses drones to test air-to-air missile systems as well, these are normally retired F-4 Phantoms and F-16’s that have been converted into target drones. Gathering information via drones has changed the strategy of the military. Instead of sending a pilot flying an aircraft to gather information, they send a drone to get this information, because the drone is cheaper if it is lost than a trained pilot and their aircraft. However, it was found that in 4 studies that recorded the ratio of militants to civilians killed by drone strikes, anywhere between 4-20 percent of the deaths caused by drones were civilians. (Shane, 2012) However, the drones did prove their worth in the ISR field when an RQ-170 was used to gather intelligence for the raid that killed Bin Laden. (Reed, 2011)

Reed, J. (2011, May 07). RQ-170 Stealth Drone Used in Bin Laden Raid - Defensetech. Retrieved October 14, 2016, from http://www.defensetech.org/2011/05/18/rq-170-sentinel-stealth-drone-used-in-bin-laden-raid/

Shane, S. (2012, July 14). The Moral Case for Drones. Retrieved October 14, 2016, from http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/15/sunday-review/the-moral-case-for-drones.html?_r=0

Thompson, M. (2015, February 6). Jobs for Drones Are Set to Take Off. Retrieved October 14, 2016, from http://www.nbcnews.com/tech/innovation/jobs-drones-are-set-take-n301506

Cargo Operations and the New Flight Duty Regs

After Colgan Air accident in 2009, the FAA introduced new flight duty regulations in order to combat fatigue and inexperience in the aviation industry. The first is that they increased the amount of rest for pilots in between flights from 8 hours to 10 hours. This will give pilots more time to get to where they are staying for the night and also any paperwork they must do before they go to sleep.

    They also added the changed the amount of minimum hours it takes to achieve an ATP certificate from 250 hours to 1500 hours of flight time. (Thurber, 2013) This is a large increase in hours in order to become a first officer in an airline flying 121 operations. For many pilots out of flight school, this forces them into flying for regional airlines, flight instructing, or flying cargo operations for the beginning of their careers. Most of these starting jobs pay far less, as was discussed in the last blog, than most jobs that require college degrees.

    Cargo operations are exempt from these flight duty regulations. Cargo pilots still have 8 hours rest in between flights, and can fly longer than the 8-9 hours an airline pilot cannot exceed. This means that cargo pilots can fly more hours with less sleep and do it more often than 121 operations. Cargo operations though fly a different schedule than 121 pilots. Cargo is a fast paced industry where goods need to get shipped quickly and with little notice on when they need to get moved for some operations. This makes it difficult and very expensive to have cargo pilots flying less than they are now. The FAA has not made cargo carriers follow the regulations because the cost of following the regulation (projected 550 million) would outweigh the cost of an accident within the industry. (Carrol, 2014)

    Trying to balance profit with safety is always a difficult thing to do in any industry. It is especially difficult in the aviation industry because flying is inherently dangerous in itself, so with it comes a lot of safety regulations, which make it very expensive as is for the companies to operate. This makes me believe that if the cargo operators make it work, then I do not have a problem with them following the old regulations. Cargo operations are a different industry than flying passengers in itself, let alone the pace at which it must be done. Time is money, especially in transporting goods. Unlike 121 operations, cargo has to be flexible since they are not scheduled to fly from specific airports at specific times. Overall, the cargo industry also puts less people in danger than a 121 operation does since they do not fly passengers, which is another reason I feel that they don’t need to be as strict as 121 operators on rest.

    These regulations won’t affect my career path very much, if at all. Since I plan on flying with the Air Force, I am already committed to 10 years after i get my wings. This means that I will have about 11-12 years to get more than 1500 hours (less hours actually for military pilots, but I’m using this number to compare to someone who came out of a flight school that isn’t part 141 certified) to get my ATP. I will still need more hours for most airlines to accept me, but I have a lot of time to build hours to reach this goal if I want to go down this route.

Carroll, J. R. (2014, March 13). UPS pilots urge more rest for cargo crews. Retrieved October 08, 2016, from http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/03/13/ups-pilots-urge-more-rest-for-cargo-crews/6402615/

Thurber, M. (2013, August 01). 1,500-hour Pilot Rule Presents Challenges And Opportunities. Retrieved October 08, 2016, from http://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/aviation-international-news/2013-08-01/1500-hour-pilot-rule-presents-challenges-and-opportunities

Professionalism in Aviation

Regional Airlines have been a topic of discussion in the aviation industry for years. Part of the discussion regarding the regional airlines side of aviation is the pilot shortage. There are two sides of the argument about the pilot shortage. The first argument is that there is no shortage of pilots, but the pilots don’t want to fly because of poor pay of the regional airlines. The second argument is saying that there is a shortage of pilots coming into the profession.

    The first argument about the pilot shortage has merit behind it. Many regional airlines do not pay their pilots well compared to other occupations. Especially with the price of how much it costs to go through a 4 year college and receive a degree in aviation. According to Alan Tovey, many pilots are graduating pilot training with 90,000-130,000 dollars in debt. (Tovey, 2014) This is a lot of debt for a very low paying job out of school. Regional airlines on average pay about 23,000 dollars a year. (Bill, 2015)

    The second argument, that there is an actual pilot shortage also has some merit. From 2015 to 2022 there are a projected 20,000 job openings because of the age 65 retirement, but there are not many students opting to go into aviation due to the reason stated above. (The Coming U.S. Pilot Shortage Is Real 2015) Furthermore, another large supplier of pilots, the military, are also having a pilot shortage. The Air Force in particular, is going to face a shortages of 700 pilots by the end of this year, and be short 1,000 pilots by the end of 2022. (Browne, Starr 2016) The pilot shortage can be attributed low pay and people not having interest in the career field.

    The new regulations can make it very difficult for pilots to start their careers and make the pilot career look unappealing to the general population. Pilots have to have 1000-1500 hours of flying (depending on what program their flight school is under). This wouldn’t be as bad if the starting pay for jobs that people use to build up to those hours (regional, flight instructor, cargo, etc.) didn’t pay so poorly. Pilots don’t start making a decent amount of money until they reach the airlines which require this 1000+ hour requirement. This means that pilots are going to be flying for 20,000 dollars a year for a prolonged time. A fix for this would be to adjust how regionals get paid by the airlines in order to provide regional pilots a livable wage while they get their hours. This way there is more of a progression from living with nothing of a college student to living like they a job that requires a college degree.

    Not only are their organizations that represent pilots, but there are organizations that represent every aspect of aviation. One such organization is the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association. Another aviation organization that isn’t heard about too much is the Airborne Law Enforcement Association. This association is to support and promote the use of aircraft in law enforcement. (FDOT) These are only a few examples of the many of organizations that represent the different aspects of the aviation industry.

    Another issue that can happen in any industry is the lack of professionalism. I think professionalism not only knowing your job and doing it to the best of your ability, but to also act with more responsibility than the average person in that position. This was a large problem in the crash of Colgan Flight 3407. One instance of the lack of professionalism with this accident was that the pilot didn’t know what to do in a very dangerous scenario that he should have known about with his training. The plane was stalling, and the pilot did the worst thing he could do in that situation. This was to pull up on the stick and lose his airspeed. The training he received explains that you should push on the stick to gain airspeed. This means that he wasn’t keeping up on his training in a preventable situation. Another example of poor professionalism was the company’s policy on issuing check airmen on their aircraft. Colgan was putting people who were not type rated in the aircraft.

    I do not feel that the lack of pay in the regional airline is a contributing factor in professionalism. Professionalism is not related to pay, it is related to how people act. Even if you do not get paid the big bucks, doesn’t mean you don’t act professional. I plan on maintaining my professionalism by making sure I try to be the professional in the room on my job. I also plan on maintaining my professionalism by being respectful and owning up to my mistakes.

The Coming U.S. Pilot Shortage Is Real. (2015, February 16). Retrieved September 30, 2016, from http://aviationweek.com/commercial-aviation/coming-us-pilot-shortage-real

Starr, B., & Browne, R. (2016, August 10). US Air Force facing bigger Pilot Shortage than Thought. Retrieved September 30, 2016, from http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/10/us/us-air-force-pilot-shortage/index.html

Carey, B. (2015, June 25). Airline Pilots: Low Pay Drives Disputed Pilot Shortage. Retrieved September 30, 2016, from http://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/air-transport/2015-06-25/airline-pilots-low-pay-drives-disputed-pilot-shortage

FDOT Aviation - Aviation Professional Organizations. Retrieved September 30, 2016, from http://www.dot.state.fl.us/aviation/organizations.shtm

Tovey, A. (2014, April 12). Want to be a pilot? Count the cost first. Retrieved September 30, 2016, from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/jobs/10761957/Want-to-be-a-pilot-Count-the-cost-first.html

Today we will be discussing the privatization of ATC.

First though,we will look at the current system compared to next gen. Now, ATC uses a ground based radar system. Using radar to track aircraft, the air traffic controller can then direct aircraft in order to keep them separated.

Next ten uses a satellite system with the aid of ADSB in order to get information about the aircraft such as altitude, airspeed, and heading. This information is shared and compared with other aircraft directly in order to keep aircraft separated.

The GPS and ADSB system are more accurate, that the separation minimums will be less. This means that aircraft can fly closer together to get more aircraft into an airport. (Houston 2016)

Pilots and controllers can also exchange information such as clearances via a texting service. This is done digitally, so this can be shared quickly and shared between the parties. (Houston 2016)

Generally speaking, general aviation is against privatization of ATC because general aviation could lose ATC services. This can be down to private companies will get most of their money from the airlines. With this, most ATC services will be at the larger airports where the airlines fly. (ATC Privatization Brings Few Savings, Threatens General Aviation Services, 2016)

The airlines however, would like to have ATC privatized. This would let ATC progress at a faster pace by removing government funding restrictions and red tape. Right now, ATC being funded by the FAA and run by the FAA. Since it is run through the government, things need to get passed through congress in order to get the funding it needs, but this takes a very long time. Being privatized, the ATC system could get money and new technology approved faster than it is now. (Meyer 2016)

One country that has Privatized ATC is Canada. It uses a company called NAV Canada. It was founded in 1996 and was the first Privatized ATC system. It us run as a not-for profit organization, which the revenues come from their customers and put into upgrading the system. It has a board of directors that has representatives from commercial sectors of aviation, Canadian government, and independent directors. Since it’s start, NAV Canada has proven to be very successful and is on a faster track to use Next Gen then the United States. (Meet NAV Canada, n.d)

In order for the United States to update its ATC system, it would have to go through congress. The bill for this, has already gone up to congress and been shot down. The FAA keeps trying to re-introduce it though.

Personally, I feel the current ATC system could work better if it were Privatized. If it was like Canada’s, it would be better. That way it could act independently of the government (not have to wait for funds) and it could actually get the funds it needs. If however, it doesn’t receive enough money and cuts services to more airports, I feel we wouldn’t be any better than we are now. We may have it updated, but at the cost of losing coverage, we may see a slight drop in safety at smaller airports.

Sources:

ATC Privatization Brings Few Savings, Threatens General Aviation Services | EAA. (2016, February 18). Retrieved September 23, 2016, from https://www.eaa.org/en/eaa/eaa-news-and-aviation-news/news/02-18-2016-atc-privatization-brings-few-savings-threatens-general-aviation-services

Houston, S. (2016, August 14). NextGen in a Nutshell: The Next Generation Air Traffic System. Retrieved September 23, 2016, from https://www.thebalance.com/nextgen-in-a-nutshell-282561

Meet NAV Canada. (n.d). Retrieved September 23, 2016, from http://www.navcanada.ca/EN/about-us/Pages/who-we-are.aspx

Meyer, J. (2016, February 16). Free The Skies: Privatizing Air Traffic Control. Retrieved September 23, 2016, from http://www.forbes.com/sites/jaredmeyer/2016/02/16/free-the-skies-privatizing-air-traffic-control/#45ac5c5f46ac

Good Morning Everyone,

I am Jared LaBarge, a senior at Eastern Michigan University studying Aviation Management Technology. I am also in the Air Force ROTC program at the University of Michigan. Upon graduating I will be training to become an Air Force Pilot.