Sun Country airlines cutting employees pay by 50% next week thru end of year. Sorry dont have link (on google)
CC
Becoming a pilot is less and less likely for people. If they want to cut salaries, then they should foot the bill and pay for training. Becoming a professional pilot is already very expensive. Either that or they will have pilot shortages.
With 1000+ pilot jobs eliminated in the past year, there is far from a pilot shortage.
Little boys will always grow up wanting to be pilots.
Have you flown lately? Little boys ARE pilots.
Yup, the airlines are hiring guys with less and less hours because they need pilots and there aern’t a lot of guys training.
drdisque, if you don’t believe the pilot shortage, watch this video.
Consider the source… ALPA… No different then NATCA saying there is a shortage of ATC folks.
I’m not saying there is or not a shortage of either pilots or controllers, but the source does make one wonder since you never hear either of them say we have too many…
I can remember in the last 5-10 years, most regionals were in the ballpark of 2000 ttl, and between 250 and 500 multi. Now, I know of some guys who have been hired w/ 500 ttl (and that number may be high) and a multi ticket. Of course you have to proove yourself in the sim etc, but with the requirements coming down that sharply, you know that there’s still a shortage.
I started to pursue it myself, I started flying at 13 once a month w/ paper route money, then soloed gliders w/ CAP when I was 15, I didn’t really have the $$ and didn’t get anywhere until about 5 years ago, when I bit the bullet and started working on my private (at age twenty eight) after a 10 year career as an ops agent for several carriers. I was at the time working for a smaller regional (Chicago Express) who had a internal deal that would allow for (I think it was) around 500 ttl and a multi ticket which was still lower than what most were after then (2004). I was then laid off because that airline went out of buisiness, and decided to go to a 141. I worked on my instrument there, and eventually made the decision to look for full time work and put the career flying on hold because of all the guys I knew from the carriers I was at, either not finding flying work, building houses, collecting unemployment or flying a freight in a Baron (not that I wouldn’t have paid my dues, but if you’ve driven a Saab or an RJ and had to go back to nite freight, where would that put a fresh blood like me). I ended up taking a non industry job, and ironically enough, now work for a passenger railroad, doing the same thing I did with the airlines, but making enough to go out and fly for fun (which maybe is for the better, it’s not a job, it’s is something I can’t get enough of, I never get to fly enough, and I’m always thinking about the next time I get to go).
Now that I’ve already made this long winded I guess the point is, I’m sure that there are kids out there who don’t care, it’s what they want to do and the pay the hours doesn’t bother them but I’m sure there are plenty of others who decided that a minimum of 40 grand and several years of instructing and flying freight only to get paid peanuts isn’t worth it.
Just looking on here at the activity of my old flight school’s aircraft, there isn’t nearly the instrument training flights that there were when I was there several years ago, It was a great school, so I can only imagine that the others are in the same boat.