blakepilot

The issue is a lot deeper than that. Not only is it prohibitively expensive to train ATP recruits now, but raising the total hour requirement to 1,500 + ATPL for any flight deck crew makes being a professional pilot generally undesirable to a lot of would-be candidates. It means most pilots have to go grind it out being a flight instructor for several years making about the same average salary as a retail worker, on top of staggering upfront training costs to get licenses, and saddling up massive student loan debt that reaches into the doctorate territory just to one day get shoe-horned into a dead-end FO job flying an RJ for, a lot of the time, even less overall salary you would have had flight instructing! "Living the dream," as they say...

But even still, there isn't a pilot shortage as much as there's a pay shortage. Even if that pilot goes and grinds it out and checks off all the boxes to get into that shiny jet, he's probably better suited in the long term to find a career in a field with opportunity to grow and make real money....and many of us (at least the smart ones) do just that. There are plenty of pilots with all the ATP requirements necessary to become a FO at a regional, but choose to pursue other things because the outlook to be a career pilot is so grim here in the states. Or we go to Asia, leave our lives behind, and go where the real growth and pay opportunity is.

As much as people like to get on here and whine about PDB's and other inane things, think about the men and women on the flight deck that barely make rent and work all kinds of silly unpaid hours because they chose to keep following that dead-end dream. Those are the guys that are directly involved with the safety of the millions of people that travel every year. They do it because that's what they love doing, not because they're hoping to one day cash in on untold riches. Raising the minimum hour and training standards hasn't done anything to fix the industry, but it makes the politicians happy.

Pilot shortages, fatigue, and thus safety can be nipped up by making the career of professional pilot attractive again, and the only way to let that happen is the bean counters at the top stop treating the pilots like trained monkeys. It's a skilled job that takes years of practice and training to become professional caliber. Not only that, but pilots as a whole need to stand up and stop working basically for free. What's happening at Republic is just the beginning unless something changes quickly.

Sorry I don't soapbox often, but I know too many friends that have been completely boned by the airlines, and are now stuck in dead-end jobs, slaved to just as inept pilot unions because that's the only option they've got. I just don't know why anyone would really want to go out and be a domestic airline pilot these days. It's such thankless and unattractive job.