A "Crisis" in Flight Training???

[rumpletumbler]

The real crisis in flight training is the instructors who don't give a rats behind about what they're producing and thus put shat heads on the street with license to kill themselves and their families.

 

[Secret Squirrel]

To add to all that, The military this year for the first time trained more UAV pilots that pilots for manned planes. And very soon they will have a program in place where UAV pilots will not be trained in airplanes prior to flying the UAV.

 

[UndauntedFlyer]

There has to be a pilot shortage in the future. This is because the wages are now and forever to be at school teacher levels: $20K to 80K per year. That's it.

Nobody will leave the military for that kind of work plus the insecurity of the profession. Now lets look at the colleges. In 10 years 75% or more of those programs will be closed. Why, you ask? Answer: The cost of a Commerical Certificate will increase from the current level of $75K to $300K by the year 2020, plus the cost of college will double or tripple by then. So you see a college flight training program will be $500K by 2020 at a state school and it will be $1,000,000 at places like ER. No one will pay that for a job that starts a pilot out at McDonalds level wages, lets them make it up to higher levels and then closes the airline, forcing them to start all over at the bottom. It is insanity.

Yes, I know the wages will go up but not enough to attract the military pilots or those who may be choosing a career. For a pilot choosing a civilian route but without money, there will be no money available to borrow for this profession because it will be such a bad investment.

 

[avbug]

A rather broad-brush assumption that most pilots come from college flying programs. Not true.

There's no pilot shortage. There has never been one, and there is no reason to expect one.

 

[nosehair]

There's no pilot shortage. There has never been one, and there is no reason to expect one.

Wait and watch. This time it is different. All the old tried and true standards that we grew up with are changing. I don't think anybody can make an accurate forecast about anything anymore.

Even the weather is different, now.

 

[UndauntedFlyer]

A rather broad-brush assumption that most pilots come from college flying programs. Not true.

There's no pilot shortage. There has never been one, and there is no reason to expect one.

AVBUG: It is very true, as you say, that most civilian pilots (in the past) have not necessarily come from college programs. But I can say that now things are changing rapidly. Local flight schools are ceasing operations everywhere and the levels of training is dropping to never seen low levels. The civilian flight tests are way off from there previous levels. In many locations of the country it is all but impossible to find flight training, even to just get a private pilot certificate. Yes, in the very largest areas like Arizona, Florida and California it is still possible to find a civilian flight school but not in the Heartland areas and other areas too. Learning to fly is becoming a big commitment that may likely involve long drives to a distant airport or relocating. This is all part of the problem and it is only getting worse.

As for the colleges, they are still training because young people and their parents still want their kids to go to college for something and flying is an appealing major. However, the reality of the costs compared to the jobs is now becoming a consideration. On graduation parents are writing letters of complaint to the Board of Trustees at these schools, saying that the whole program was a sham for a major. I have seen these types of letters. The result will have to be a closure of some of these college programs. The only ones that will survive will be the ones that have a foreign pilot training and recruitment program like ER.

In 5 years the costs of flying will probably double and triple in 10 years. College tuition is going way up too. These costs are becoming prohibitive and the payback does not exist.

It may take 10-years for the effect of this plus the age-65 retirements to kick in, but at that time there has to be an extreme shortage of pilots, just like in the foreign countries where the airlines and foreign governments have to train their civilian airline pilots (in the USA).

My youngest son is 18-years old and he has his commercial certificate; but, he's studying to become an electrical/computer engineer. If a flying opportunity opens up in the future, great, but no one in the flying profession should have all their eggs in one basket. No one can predict the future but I do think there will be a real pilot shortage in this country in 5 to 10 years. If not, every young person must have a back up. Aviation degrees are not a back-up.

 

[SIG600]

To add to all that, The military this year for the first time trained more UAV pilots that pilots for manned planes. And very soon they will have a program in place where UAV pilots will not be trained in airplanes prior to flying the UAV.

What rock did you dig this nugget out from under? Because it's not true. What IS true is that the USAF is ramping up (significantly) the UAS program. But to say that military wide more UAS pilots were trained than the rest of us, isn't even close to the truth.

Whoever said GI Bill money doesn't cover flight training, also partley untrue. The Montgomery GI bill remains unchanged. However the Post9/11 GI bill does NOT cover flight training (although it's 10x better than the MGIB in terms of money, schooling, the fact you can pass it on to family/kids, etc.).

 

[Secret Squirrel]

How about Newsweek. http://www.newsweek.com/id/215825/page/3





In an e-mail, Gen. David Petraeus, who commands the U.S. military in Iraq and Afghanistan, praised Schwartz for doing "a particularly impressive job of accelerating" the deployment of UAVs, and helping the troops on the ground. This sort of joint effort may sound unremarkable, but in the annals of Army–Air Force relations, it's practically revolutionary.
In 2007, the year before Schwartz became chief, UAVs were performing 21 combat air patrols at any one time, for a total of just over 100,000 hours. By 2011, they'll reach 54 patrols and almost 350,000 hours. For now, the joystick pilots have to be certified fighter pilots as well.
But Schwartz says this requirement will be dropped, mainly because there aren't enough fighter pilots to fill the growing demand for UAV crews. "There's no need for them to be pilots," one senior Pentagon official says. "It's sort of like a union regulation."
This year, the Air Force will train more joystick pilots than new fighter and bomber pilots. "If you want to be in the center of the action, this is the place to be," Schwartz says. "It's not a temporary phenomenon…It's a sustainable career path. I've made that very clear." Lt. Col. Travis Burdine, a Predator pilot-from-afar, has gotten the message: "We all joined the Air Force to go flying, but word on the street is that job satisfaction is very high [manning a joystick]. Every day we're doing this, we're in the thick of the fight. We fly 36 [combat air patrols] a day. Where they're happening, the hottest 36 things are going on."

Looks like you need to get your head out from under the rock. The air force is replacing you faster then the Majors are outsourcing.

 

[oops!]

Here we go again...the mythical "pilot shortage" which does not now exist, and never did.

very true

 

[taters]

Well this guy is an inspiration to everyone to become a pilot...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwZWyBQeMro

what a f@ggot!!