2008 U.S. Pilot Statistics

[Sparker]

I was bored, so I decided to see how many active helicopter pilots there are right now. The most recent stats I found were for 2008. I'm sure others have done this before, but here you go anyway.

 

 

2008

United States Population : 307,645,336

Active Pilots PPL or higher : 529,882 (Not counting student certificates)

Active Rotorcraft Pilots PPL or higher: 34,822

 

 

If my math is right:

.1% of Americans are pilots.

7% of pilots are rotorcraft pilots.

.01% of Americans are rotorcraft pilots.

 

source

Edited October 8, 2009 by Sparker

[Inferno]

It really puts things in perspective when you look at that. More people went to my university than there are helicopter pilots in the US.

[lelebebbel]

Its a small industry...

 

but what does "active" mean? Current Class 3 or higher medical? Or flying at least a certain amount of hours per year?

 

How many commercial helicopter pilots are there, and how many of them have a valid Class 2 medical?

 

I heard that there are about 9,000 people with commercial helicopter licences in Australia, but only 1,000 of those have a valid medical for com. operations.

[fry]

Its a small industry...

 

but what does "active" mean? Current Class 3 or higher medical? Or flying at least a certain amount of hours per year?

 

How many commercial helicopter pilots are there, and how many of them have a valid Class 2 medical?

 

I heard that there are about 9,000 people with commercial helicopter licences in Australia, but only 1,000 of those have a valid medical for com. operations.

 

FAA estimates there were about 26,200 active commercial rotocraft pilots/ATPs in the US in 2008. Active is defined as having a current medical. That's up from the long run average of about 23,000.

 

(http://www.faa.gov/data_research/aviation_data_statistics/civil_airmen_statistics/2008/)

 

From LB at JH (http://originalforum.justhelicopters.com/DisplayMsgJH.asp?Search=1&ForumID=23&Msgid=1150007&page=1):

 

Sorry to be the bearer of what I see is bad news:

 

I was updating part of my seminar presentation and one of the graphs I created shows the numbers of Commercial and ATP pilots in the industry every year since 1998. I only use CPL and ATP because they are the only ones eligible to work.

 

In 2007 that number was 23,200+

In 2008 that number was 26,200+ - that shocked me.

 

Source: FAA Civil Pilot Registry

 

With hiring slowed down in many sectors due to the economy demand is down. To ad insult to that injury, 3000 new commercial helicopter pilots hit the streets last year.

 

My stats say that about 20% of our pilots are over the age of 60! As soons as those 401k's come back you guys need to hit the retirement road and create some new demand! [Lyn later posted that that was a joke.]

 

Bottom line: There are still jobs out there, but you better be on your game and be VERY competitive, turnover every stone, and study every angle if you want to get hired. Did I mention NETWORK!

 

Anybody see a silver lining?

 

Lyn

[crashed_05]

United States Population : 307,645,336

Active Pilots PPL or higher : 529,882 (Not counting student certificates)

Active Rotorcraft Pilots PPL or higher: 34,822

 

 

If my math is right:

.1% of Americans are pilots.

7% of pilots are rotorcraft pilots.

.0001% of Americans are rotorcraft pilots.

 

source

 

Your math is incorrect...0.01% of Americans are rotorcraft pilots. Still, that's pretty amazing.

[r22butters]

Looks like its time for me to tell my boss, I want to apply for the Mc Management program.

[Sparker]

Your math is incorrect...0.01% of Americans are rotorcraft pilots. Still, that's pretty amazing.

 

Fixed, thanks.

[rotorrodent]

.........Sorry to be the bearer of what I see is bad news:

 

I was updating part of my seminar presentation and one of the graphs I created shows the numbers of Commercial and ATP pilots in the industry every year since 1998. I only use CPL and ATP because they are the only ones eligible to work.

 

In 2007 that number was 23,200+

In 2008 that number was 26,200+ - that shocked me............

 

 

Lyn

 

Mind you however, that there are many RW pilots who have jobs as FW pilots or CFI's who have other careers, and too, RW pilots who have the currency/ratings but are not interested in the RW industry.

 

I love stats.... maybe that will take us back to 23,200!

 

cheers

 

Rotorrodent

[Gomer Pylot]

In general, in the US right now, there are 6 applicants for every open job. That's for every job in every industry, from the Labor Department surveys. I suspect there are far more for helicopter pilot jobs, but I have no data to prove it. But if you're a low-time pilot just trying to get started, it's going to be very competitive for a very long time, I think, just as it is for almost every other job in every industry. More than two million workers have lost their jobs in the past two years or so, and it's not getting better, it's getting worse.

[r22butters]

Gomer Pylot Posted Today, 17:48

In general, in the US right now, there are 6 applicants for every open job. That's for every job in every industry, from the Labor Department surveys. I suspect there are far more for helicopter pilot jobs, but I have no data to prove it. But if you're a low-time pilot just trying to get started, it's going to be very competitive for a very long time,

 

The last job that I, a low-timer, applied to had at least 400 other applicants. My official title is, an unemployed helicopter pilot looking for a new career, and I never even got to try this one.

[hooked4life]

The last job that I, a low-timer, applied to had at least 400 other applicants. My official title is, an unemployed helicopter pilot looking for a new career, and I never even got to try this one.

 

Wow, I didn't realize there were that many pilots out there. If that's the norm, then 34,822/400=87...does that mean there are 87 jobs out there right now? I mean realistically the number of low time pilots in the total pool can't be over 50% can it? that would be something more like 17,000/400=42 which sounds a little more realistic. I'm thinking that it's probably more like 30% of the pool is low-timers so something like 10000/400=25 cfi jobs out there....man that's rough.

I'm brand new to all this and terrible at math, but looking at numbers that is just what i would think.

Edited October 9, 2009 by hooked4life

[ADRidge]

10k might even be a bit high for low-timers, but not by much. If I had to guess I'd say there are 8,000 people around with CFI's below 1500 PIC.

[Gomer Pylot]

Not all the applicants are low-timers. There are always experienced pilots applying for jobs, now more than ever.

[r22butters]

That particular job was for 500hr. pilots, however three years ago I interviewed for a 400hr. job, and was told by the interviewer that he had recieved 300 resumes the very first day, and that was during the "shortage" of pilots!

 

P.S. These expression balls crack me up.

[lelebebbel]

it is definitely an employers market right now and will be for a while, BUT these "300 resumes per job" statistics need to be taken with a grain of salt.

How many of these 300 "resume senders" actually meet the minimum requirements for the Job?

I gurantee you that a very high percentage of these 300 resumes are from people who are way below the minimum hrs and are just shotgunning out resumes to everyone who has a helicopter.

 

Of course you'll still be competing with a lot of other applicants if you actually have the qualifications for any advertised job these days, but for most positions it'll be way less than 300.