WSJ article - Airlines Fact Acute Shortage of Pilots (yes Kit Darby is in it)

[livin'thesim]

By the way, it is always hilarious to listen to some retarded riddle grad talk about how valuable his $100K pilot certs are, while he makes $20/hr at some dismal regional.

Mostly, people who are still carrying lots of college debt are trying to rationalize to themselves why they think it was worth the money.

I'm just honest enough to admit that it was a waste other than as a sort of "permit" to apply for certain jobs, the gatekeepers of such positions often being angry feminists who have been ""educated "" (double quotes intentional) faaaaaarrrr beyond their capacity for reason or their actual management skills.

 

[livin'thesim]

For those who retire at 65, maybe we can get the fire department to use the water cannons to rinse them down the jetway. F-ers.

 

[pilotyip]

It may also show that they decided to sleepwalk through a four-year degree in "communications", or some other meaningless major.

The completion standards for most colleges is now so low, that your "proof of accomplishment" argument no longer holds, whereas it once did.

For those who feel college is the only thing that counts

The notion that education pays and that better education pays better is taken for granted by almost everyone. For college professors like me, this is a very convenient idea, providing a high and growing demand for our services.


The answer seems obvious. On average, doctorate holders earn more than those with master degrees, who earn more than those with bachelor degrees, who earn more than high school graduates. How can education not pay?

The answer is that education isn’t free. Top undergraduate programs are now charging students $50,000 a year to eat, sleep and, hopefully, attend class. But that’s just the direct cost. Education’s hidden cost is the time spent learning rather than earning.
Making School Pay

For education to pay it has to cover all its costs. It also has to make up for the progressive income tax, which taxes annual earnings, not lifetime earnings. If person A earns the same amount over her lifetime as person B, but does so in fewer years, A’s annual earnings, in the years she works, will be higher than B’s. This compressing of lifetime earnings into fewer years can potentially land person A in higher tax brackets during her working years.

Social Security’s payroll tax cuts the other way. It’s regressive, thanks to its ceiling on taxable income. Earnings bunching can lower lifetime payroll taxes provided the bunching pushes annual earnings above the ceiling, now at $106,800.

Social Security’s benefits formula provides no reward for paying taxes early. This too helps those who stay in school and start their careers late. On the other hand, the formula doesn’t credit earnings above the ceiling, which can penalize the better educated.

But what’s the bottom line? Does education pay?

Not necessarily. Consider four equally talented 18 year- olds -- Joe, Jill, Sue, and Matt. Joe takes a pass on attending college. Instead, he decides to become a plumber.

Jill chooses medicine. She goes to an expensive private college for four years, an expensive medical school for four years, does a low-paying internship for two years followed by a low-paying residency for one year, and finally, 11 years after high school, gets a real job, as a general practitioner.

Teaching Education

Sue and Matt both get bachelor’s degrees in education at the same expensive college Jill attends, but Matt spends an extra two years after college getting his masters.

All four of these hypothetical kids settle down in Ohio, remain single, and retire at 62. At age 50, the peak earnings year for all four, Joe, the plumber, makes $71,685 (in today’s dollars). Sue, the teacher, makes $89,584. Matt, the teacher with the master degree, makes $103,250. And Jill, the doctor, makes $185,895. All figures and others used in this analysis are based on earnings data by age, state and occupation.
Earning Power

Who ends up with the higher lifetime spending power assuming Sue, Matt, and Jill had to borrow, at high prevailing interest rates, to pay tuition and cover living expenses while in school?

To answer this question, I used ESPlanner, my company’s financial planning software. The program figures out, in two seconds, each kid’s sustainable spending, taking account of educational costs, foregone earnings, annual federal and state income taxes, annual payroll taxes, Social Security benefits, and Medicare Part B premiums.

Jill, the doctor, has the highest living standard. She gets to spend $33,666 year in and year out from age 19 through 100 This is after paying all her taxes and Medicare Part B premiums. Age 100 is the maximum age to which the kids might live and, thus, must plan.

Come again? Only $33,666? That’s a far cry from Jill’s peak earnings of $185,895. Yes, but remember, Jill has only about 31 years of significant earnings to cover some 81 years of living. And when Jill works, she gets nailed by the taxman. At age 50, for example, Jill pays 36 percent of her earnings in federal and state income taxes and payroll taxes.

Finally, Jill has a bucket load of student loans to repay at an assumed 5 percent real interest rate, which exceeds the assumed 3 percent real return she can safely earn on her savings.
Plumber’s Pay

To add insult to Jill’s injury, Joe the plumber’s sustainable spending is almost as high -- $33,243. All those grueling years of study, exams, late-night emergency calls, and Jill gets to spend a measly $423 more per year than a plumber.

What about Sue, the teacher? Sue has less spending power -- $27,608 -- than Joe.

And Matt, with his masters? His spending power is even lower than Sue’s, at $26,503. Too bad he didn’t run the numbers before sending in his graduate-school application.

These examples are a far cry from an exhaustive study of the returns on investing in higher education. And they treat higher education as purely a financial investment and ignore its tremendous personal and social non-pecuniary rewards. Still, the examples present a big red flag for those who pursue higher education solely for the money. And they raise a major question about government policy that promotes higher education as the sure path to economic success.

Laurence Kotlikoff is professor of economics at Boston University, president of Economic Security Planning Inc. and author of Jimmy Stewart Is Dead.” The opinions expressed are his own.)

 

[arjayeffo]

No one ever said it did. It is used by employers to show that an individual is capable of starting something and finishing it. It is used to show that a individual can study and pass a subject. It is used to get a individual that isn't just a pilot but could also do calculus, engineering or be able to write a ledgible ASAP report or maintenance write up.
P.S. Doesn't has an apostrophe between the n and the t.

Says the guy who misspells 'legible' of all words. Classic.

 

[Ski-N-Fly]

Won't be cabatoge, it will be pilot bases outside conus. Think about it, announce hiring for your pilot base in England or Brazil, who applies? Not a US citizen...

FedEx has pilot bases outside the US.

 

[PBRstreetgang]

I would really like to believe that becoming a pilot is as difficult as becoming a forward for the Celtics, but truth be told becoming a pilot is not much more technically challenging than becoming a season ticket holder for the Celtics…



Arguing that the Chinese, or any other nationality for that matter, is incapable of manufacturing professional pilots above the standard of "lead paint on toys"… That is a faulty premise.

Millions of US jobs have been moved overseas in a myriad of industries across all levels of technology. The travel and transportation industry are ripe for replacing companies and crews with foreigners willing to provide the same product for less. Lets talk again in five years to review.

I have in the past ridden in the back of non western airlines, I will not ever again, here is an example:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zorKO9-iGfI
Or the russkies who took an RJ flying with a snow covered wing....

 

[Dornier 335]

I have in the past ridden in the back of non western airlines, I will not ever again, here is an example:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zorKO9-iGfI
Or the russkies who took an RJ flying with a snow covered wing....

Isn't that infamous Congonhas (spelling?) in São Paulo?

Edit: Not sure which video you're talking about, but the one I have seen was an Aeroflot single aisle Airbus.

 

[Lear70]

He's talking about the CL-850 business jet converted from a CRJ-200.

The Captain on that plane was from Israel and had been a Pinnacle CRJ F/O for 2 years then a Captain for a year and a half before taking that job.

He's still flying, don't know where.

 

[PBRstreetgang]

He's still flying, don't know where.

Dope out of the Keys?