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/
