Pilot Shortage

Continued from Page 25 schools, or get a job flying banners over beaches or maybe flying skydivers at a skydiving club to build up to the magic 1,200 hours in their logbook that was needed to be hired by a 135 operator who would be flying freight or passengers in piston twin engine airplanes. Once there, the job search continued to find an operator who would hire a pilot to fly turboprop airplanes of the day, such as King Airs, Cessna Conquests, and Merlins. When – and only when – a pilot had logged 1,000 hours of multi engine turboprop time would they be considered competitive enough to apply to a major airline.

Things started to change in the early 1990s, which is a time I personally recall. When the Cold War ended, the United States went into a recession. Three major airlines - Eastern, TWA, and Pan American folded, while at the same time the US Military was downsizing and let go of half of their pilots. There were so many pilots looking for any kind of work that employers could cherry-pick from the pool of applicants. I personally had just 1,100 hours in my logbook, and no one would even invite me to an interview.

During this time, a friend and student of mine showed me an ad from an American Eagle-branded regional airline. The ad stated that for just $24,000 a Commercial Pilot could attend their training school, and if they passed, they were guaranteed a job interview with the airline. I looked into the airline, and discovered the first-year salary for First Officer was around $18,000. In short, these regionals saw an opportunity to turn their flight training departments into profit centers by offering aspiring pilots to pay for their training, with a promise of an offer of employment if the low-time pilot passed the training program. I found the very idea insulting, and I did not apply. It didn’t make any real sense to me at the time. I was a clerk in the Air Freight business, living from paycheck to paycheck. I certainly didn’t have $24,000 lying around, and I wasn’t about to borrow that from a bank to go to work at a job that paid so low I would qualify for food stamps.

By the mid 2000s, the job market had changed again. The regional airlines were taking over routes formerly flown by the majors, and were now using Regional Jets. The supply of pilots was starting to dry up, so the carriers that had been offering PFT dropped those programs and started offering First Officer positions to anyone who had a Commercial multi-engine certificate and 250 hours total time. First year pay was still insultingly low, but those who went that route had the jump on everyone else vying for a position at the majors. But the majors weren’t hiring very many pilots, and the career flow pro- gression was very slow. They did see a looming pilot shortage though, and the airline groups and ALPA successfully lobbied congress to up the mandatory retirement age to 65 in 2007. When this happened, the career flow progression completely stopped… for five years.

The career progression was also aggravated by congressional response to the Colgan Air accident in Buffalo, N.Y. No longer could an airline hire newbies at 250 hours and put them in the right seat. Instead, one must reach 1,500 hours before they can be hired at a 121 operation. So newly minted pilots were spending much longer at the lower echelon jobs while building enough time to get into even the regionals.

In the early 2010s, the joke amongst professional pilots was that to get hired by a legacy carrier, a pilot needed to have at least a Space Shuttle type rating and six Lunar Landings in their logbook in order to be competitive. The flow finally resumed in 2012 as airline pilots began retiring again at age 65.

That flow of career progression is now a torrent. During the Covid shutdown, airlines offered early retirement packages to their most senior pilots, and a great many took it. The airlines were taken by surprise when travel came roaring back much quicker than had been predicted. So now airlines are vacuuming up any pilots that can meet their minimum experience requirements, which has led to many charter and corporate operations being depleted of their pilot ranks.

What a wonderful time to be an airplane pilot! If you have the minimum number of hours, you can get hired directly into the right seat of a turboprop freighter or executive charter operation. I have heard tales of pilots going into a freighter’s right seat at just 500 hours. If you can do two years of hauling boxes in an old Metroliner, you will be swept up by just about anyone when you reach the magic 1,500 hours and 1,000 hours multi engine turbine time.

One word of caution: Aviation is a cyclic business. Right now, everything is going gangbusters, and the future looks rosy to everyone. That right there is a warning flag. Aviation booms will usually go bust right when everyone is predicting rainbows and unicorns into eternity.

But for now, enjoy the ride. I know I am.

Matthew Odenbrett is a 13,000 hour ATP and CFII with Gulfstream IV, V, and Citation 500 type ratings. During his 24-year career, Matthew has served as Chief Pilot, Check Airman, and Flight Department Manager for various companies. Matthew currently works as Captain on the Gulfstream 550, and is a contract Captain on both the GIV, GV, and G550.