The best explanation I've seen in 15 years on the pilot shortage

[r22butters]

"Panacea" is Greek. I am so disappointed in you.

 

Et tu, Brute!,...

[aeroscout]

Et tu, Brute!,...

 

My hypochondria has me convinced I have all the classic symptoms of panaceacreatic cancer.

I sure hope they develop a cure all for it.

I'm going to be needing it!

[avbug]

 

To the point- Nothing wrong with being dual rated. But, I know more airline pilots driving helicopters than helicopter pilots driving airliners. Airlines pay well if you survive enough layoffs to be senior.

 

 

I can't think of any airline pilots who have left the airlines to go fly helicopters, unless it was someone making the move from a regional with no foothold in the industry.

 

The upper end of the helicopter wage range doesn't go very high. The regional level of the airlines doesn't go particularly high, either. The regional lifestyle by and large is not very glamorous. It's not a lot of fun, either. It's a stepping stone. Helicopter aviation is a broad brush, is a lot more fun, and while it contains many stepping stones, it's more of a destination than a stopping place. It's also a much smaller community.

 

If you want an interesting dichotomy in the pay scales, look at what you'd be making flying fires in an L3 or AS350 vs. a single engine air tanker...it's a crime that the helo pilot is getting paid so little in comparison.

 

If someone wants to go for the airlines and endure the commutes, bumped flights, long hours, crash pads, low pay, stress, etc, then they should. I've done the airline thing, corporate thing, fractional thing, charter thing, long haul international freight thing, and a lot of other things...and I never enjoyed corporate or airline work. Other do, and some of you might, too. You won't know if you don't try it.

 

I wouldn't consider a regional airline position to be a quick leg up, or a fall back, or anything but what it is; a very unglamorous, low paying, low-experience job. It's a place where people tend to get stuck; a lot of pilots are working at regionals who have the "airline stink," who have a hard time getting hired elsewhere, very slow or no progress trying to upgrade, and few chances to escape to the major airlines (where pilots generally undergo multiple furloughs in their careers...furloughed pilots become the career lepers and the untouchables (no one wants to hire a furloughee that is going to return to his airline on recall).

 

If you're interested in talking with regional pilots, try airlinepilotcentral.com. You'll come running back here in short order.

[Wally]

 

 

I can't think of any airline pilots who have left the airlines to go fly helicopters, unless it was someone making the move from a regional with no foothold in the industry.

 

The upper end of the helicopter wage range doesn't go very high. The regional level of the airlines doesn't go particularly high, either. The regional lifestyle by and large is not very glamorous. It's not a lot of fun, either. It's a stepping stone. Helicopter aviation is a broad brush, is a lot more fun, and while it contains many stepping stones, it's more of a destination than a stopping place. It's also a much smaller community.

 

If you want an interesting dichotomy in the pay scales, look at what you'd be making flying fires in an L3 or AS350 vs. a single engine air tanker...it's a crime that the helo pilot is getting paid so little in comparison.

 

If someone wants to go for the airlines and endure the commutes, bumped flights, long hours, crash pads, low pay, stress, etc, then they should. I've done the airline thing, corporate thing, fractional thing, charter thing, long haul international freight thing, and a lot of other things...and I never enjoyed corporate or airline work. Other do, and some of you might, too. You won't know if you don't try it.

 

I wouldn't consider a regional airline position to be a quick leg up, or a fall back, or anything but what it is; a very unglamorous, low paying, low-experience job. It's a place where people tend to get stuck; a lot of pilots are working at regionals who have the "airline stink," who have a hard time getting hired elsewhere, very slow or no progress trying to upgrade, and few chances to escape to the major airlines (where pilots generally undergo multiple furloughs in their careers...furloughed pilots become the career lepers and the untouchables (no one wants to hire a furloughee that is going to return to his airline on recall).

 

If you're interested in talking with regional pilots, try airlinepilotcentral.com. You'll come running back here in short order.

" (where pilots generally undergo multiple furloughs in their careers...furloughed pilots become the career lepers and the untouchables (no one wants to hire a furloughee that is going to return to his airline on recall)."

Exactly.

 

 

My hypochondria has me convinced I have all the classic symptoms of panaceacreatic cancer.

I sure hope they develop a cure all for it.

I'm going to be needing it!

 

 

I hope you're joking. I had a colleague and also a family member pass away from pancreatic cancer in the last couple years. It took about a year from hale and hearty but somethings wrong to the end of all earthly suffering.

Get it checked out.

[kona4breakfast]

It's ridiculous how much a SEAT pilot makes compared to a Type III pilot, but there's only around 50 federally carded SEAT pilots in the US, from what I hear. An 802 is a lot more airplane than an L3 or AStar is though.

[avbug]

There are a few more, but it's not a big industry. They still make up the bulk of the federal air tanker fleet, however.

 

It's galling that fire operators in rotor wing pay pilots by the day and don't add on an hourly override, but there are a number of operators who do just that.

 

Heavy tanker operators have gone to that pay model, which is supposed to eliminate the incentive to push it under unsafe conditions; those operators, however, have built sizable values into their billing scheme to cover a decent daily rate. Helicopter operators don't seem to have figured this out yet.

[aeroscout]

I hope you're joking. I had a colleague and also a family member pass away from pancreatic cancer in the last couple years. It took about a year from hale and hearty but somethings wrong to the end of all earthly suffering.

Get it checked out.

 

Wally,

Not pancreatic cancer, panacea ...creatic...

Oh, never mind , my attempt at a humorous method to define panacea fell sadly short.

[achfly]

There isn't a pilot shortage. This myth has been the selling point for flight schools and aviation job services such as AIR Inc for decades. There's always been a big impending pilot shortage, but it hasn't occurred.

 

With economic changes, the bottom feeder employers of the industry are hiring, and due to minor changes which altered the minimum experience levels for those operators, they're faced with a selection dilemma, but that's it. There's no pilot shortage.

 

The airline route is not the panacea one might think.

I know what you're saying and for a long time it was just a gimmick by flight schools. This is different. You should check out the article.

[r22butters]

Hmm, explanation for the pilot shortage? Well, let's see...

 

At least three operators paid $300-500/mo. while wanting me to be on-call 24/7 making a second job impossible.

 

One wanted me to work for free for the first four months, then only paid $500/mo. afterwards, also on-call 24/7.

 

One said they'd give me a job if I paid for their turbine transition, I did (scam).

 

One operator wanted me to sell my car, mortgage my house, and borrow money from my relatives to pay for his ridiculous "internship".

 

And the a**hole who finally hired me treats his employees like indentured servants.

 

,...yeah, great industry to be a part of.

 

 

By the way, I just noticed someone altered one of my posts in this thread, I thought they only did that on that other forum?

[avbug]

I know what you're saying and for a long time it was just a gimmick by flight schools. This is different. You should check out the article.

 

 

This isn't different. I've seen the article. I've seen hundreds just like it, over the last few decades. What I see while employed in the industry does not match what the pilot-shortage articles have to say. There isn't a pilot shortage. Several regionals have used it and the current ATP requirements as a contract negotiation ploy, but it boils down to insufficient pay, not an inadequate number of pilots.

[Gomer Pylot]

And as long as low-time pilots keep on working for insufficient pay, all pilots will suffer from it. It's an epidemic that spreads virally. I see no cause for optimism about this.

Edited July 13, 2016 by Gomer Pylot

[r22butters]

[Eric Hunt]

Panacea?

 

 

Good thing for me its Latin.

Bong. Wrong. Take off all your clothes.

 

Originally from Greek, pan = all, akos = remedy, panakea = remedy for everything. Some time further down the track, them Romans changed the K to a C and got panacea. Or was it the latin americans...

[r22butters]

Panacea?

 

Bong. Wrong. Take off all your clothes.

 

Originally from Greek, pan = all, akos = remedy, panakea = remedy for everything. Some time further down the track, them Romans changed the K to a C and got panacea. Or was it the latin americans...

Back on this huh?,...it really was a slow weekend!

 

I guess I'll just explain what Google told you when you looked it up(just as it told me when I looked it up). Yes the root is from Greek, but the word as we know it "panacea" is Latin.

 

I think Adam and Eve spelled it panajea, then Moses changed it to panagea, and so on...