Do you plan to fly this summer. Have fun.
The delay is up. Cancellations, too.
Why? It is because of pilot shortage.
Pilot shortage What is the solution? It is very popular to fly. Many people take to flying small planes for entertainment. Why don’t we have enough commercial pilots to fly small planes?
The government has passed yet another stupid law.
After 50 victims were killed in a Colgan Air accident near Buffalo, New York, Congress decided to limit the number of commercial pilots that could be hired by airlines.
They now have to work 1,500 hours instead of just 250.
“That never made any sense,” says current commercial airline pilot Tracy Price in my new Video.
Colgan’s crash would not have been prevented by the sixfold increase in flight time. The pilots were able to fly for more than 1500 hours. Pilot had 3,379 hours, while copilots had 2,244.
Politicians didn’t seem to care. “We need to improve pilot training, address flight crew hours and service,” said Sen. Frank Lautenberg.
Pre-hire pilots were dissuaded from trying to become pilots because they had to wait longer. It had “the effect of pulling up the ladder,” says Price.
It is rare that people can get more than 1,500 hours of flying time before applying for jobs. Even though flight demand has increased, so did the number of licensed pilots.
Pilots’ unions did not object.
“Fewer applicants means higher pay,” explains Price.
I say to Price, “This rule is good for you!”
“Great for me (and other) professional pilots,” he replies. “If you believe in freedom though, it’s a bit of an issue.”
The union blamed the pilot shortage on poor pay at regional airlines, so I push back at Price, “Some of these regional airlines were paying pilots as little as $21,000 a year.”
“(But) there was no shortage of applicants!” Price responds. “Plenty of people were willing to take fairly low pay and live with roommates for a year or two to gain that really valuable jet experience.”
Even though the 1,500 hours required today is a minimum, it doesn’t create more pilots. Simulators are used to train pilots. They get more useable experience in the computerized cockpit than hours spent hobby-flying.
These hours can make pilots less competent. “Flight time does not equal experience,” Faye Black of the Regional Airline Association told Congress. “We waste a lot of time in training, breaking bad habits pilots acquire while trying to quickly get to 1,500 hours.”
She was ignored by the politicians.
That’s not surprising. These rules are permanent once they have been created by the government.
Many others are simply unnecessary. Airlines don’t want to kill their customers, and pilots don’t want to kill themselves, so they self-regulate.
Last fatal airline accident was in 2001. Flying is more safe than driving, bicycling, and riding a bus or train.
“Safer than any mode of conveyance ever, including walking,” says Price.
But politicians believe that if they’re not passing more rules, they’re not doing their job.
Expect more delays in summer flights.
“I spend a lot more time than I want to making announcements to people apologizing for being late,” says Price. “We should be looking for ways to expand the availability of airline travel to more people so more people can take advantage of this amazingly safe way to get from A to B.”
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