It's finally here!

[Wacko]

http://www.forbes.com/sites/johngoglia/ ... shortages/

2014 Outlook For Aviation Careers Brightens With Looming Pilot And Mechanic Shortages

If there’s a bright side to looming pilot and aviation mechanic shortages, it’s that young people with a dream to fly or fix airplanes can look to a brighter future in an exciting and challenging field. For some time now, aviation professionals have worried privately that turbulence in the aviation industry – with layoffs, furloughs, wage and benefit cuts affecting wide-swaths of the industry – was going to result in too few men and women choosing to become pilots and mechanics. Combined with a predicted global growth in aviation, the decrease in the numbers of trainees – both civilian and military – is creating what many see as a looming shortage of both pilots and mechanics.

Well, in my opinion, that shortage may have arrived. As I travel around the country speaking with aviation professionals seeking to fill jobs in all types of aviation – from general aviation to corporate to air taxi and airline – the fretting these days is real. Almost everyone seeking to fill a pilot or mechanic opening has remarked on the difficulty of finding qualified applicants. The reasons for the decrease are varied – for pilots, the change in the experience requirements enacted as a result of the Continental /Colgan crash outside Buffalo, New York in 2009, the global demand for pilots with some foreign airlines offering significantly higher pay to US pilots than US airlines, and the aging pilot population with many reaching the mandatory retirement age of 65. The cost of pilot training is also a barrier to many would-be aviators; students seeking to fly frequently pay for flying lessons on top of already hefty college tuitions.

For mechanics, the decrease in the number of students entering the aviation field is mostly due to the reduced pay and benefits offered to aviation mechanics – auto mechanics, for example, have on average earned significantly higher wages over the last decade. Would-be aviation mechanics have also found brighter career prospects in computer repair. And the cost of training for aviation mechanics is also high, with the decrease in the number of schools for mechanics increasing the costs of aircraft licenses. Even after training and becoming certified as an aviation mechanic, the lure of higher-paying jobs in other industries has been difficult for many to resist.

But I predict that these shortages combined with increased airline profits will begin to be reflected in the pilot and mechanic pay and benefits. Young people with a passion for aviation can look to that field for their careers. In addition to traditional piloting jobs, the expected growth in drones provides opportunities for a whole new batch of aviation-related jobs that people need to start training for now. I believe 2014 will be the year that aviation careers begin to regain the luster they once had.

[sparky99]

Put your sunglasses on boys, the future is bright!

[sstocker31]

I wouldn't be holdin' my breath if I was you.....

[Big Pistons Forever]

http://www.forbes.com/sites/johngoglia/ ... shortages/

2014 Outlook For Aviation Careers Brightens With Looming Pilot And Mechanic Shortages


Almost everyone seeking to fill a pilot or mechanic opening has remarked on the difficulty of finding qualified applicants.

This line was from the middle of the article and IMO is an accurate statement. Note the word "qualified". Qualified in this context is 5000+ hrs with large T-Prop/jet command time.

There has never been, there is not now, and there will never be, a shortage of 200 hr CPL MEIFR pilots looking for work.

If those 200 hr wannabe's do fight their way into the industry the best they can hope for is to make a modest living as wage and working conditions are now permanently at historically low levels and the constant competitive pressures to keep fares low will ensure that will never change. That been said money is not everything and many people, including myself. would prefer to make OK money doing something we like rather than huge money at a job we hate.

With over 25 years of full and part time instructing behind me is that my personal observation is only about 1 in 5 people who get a CPL license will be making their living working as a pilot 5 years after they pass the CPL flight test.

My other personal observation is all the students who really really wanted to fly eventually succeeded, although it was along hard road for many. Notice I said "really really wanted to fly" and not "wanted to wear the cool uniform and sit in the front of a shiny jet".......

[Changes in Latitudes]

Looks like my idea for a "Hunger Games" like interview process for our company might not work out as well in the coming years. It was fun while it lasted, we've had some great tributes.

[sstaurus]

Looks like my idea for a "Hunger Games" like interview process for our company might not work out as well in the coming years. It was fun while it lasted, we've had some great tributes.

You can still pit the 200hr guys against each other for ramp spots

[Wacko]

Looks like my idea for a "Hunger Games" like interview process for our company might not work out as well in the coming years. It was fun while it lasted, we've had some great tributes.

Damn! Where do I apply! I am pretty good with a bow!

[frozen solid]

Looks like my idea for a "Hunger Games" like interview process for our company might not work out as well in the coming years. It was fun while it lasted, we've had some great tributes.

YOUR idea? I saw that movie, and my wife left the books lying around and I read 'em too. (Not too bad). I distinctly remember the feeling that I had seen it all before, in Northern Ontario about 25 years ago...

[planemikey]

The way I see things changing in the job market / economy is in a deflationary direction in terms of wages, benefits or hours worked ( per annum) in many fields of labor. In some cases jobs are disappearing altogether (Caterpillar , Heinz, Steel industry and Auto manufacturing from the Canadian landscape.) Industries ( wherever possible) are going to where it is cheaper to produce. . Our standard of living is eroding while our Debt per Capita is growing.

25$ per hour for an M2 with a q-400 endorsement and 10- 15 years experience and 6 years of apprenticeship will not cut it in cities like Calgary , Edmonton , Toronto or Vancouver . On the other side of the coin you have the government raising the cost of deductions , EI, CPP , income tax every year and the Utilities , fuel , insurance going up each month . Engineers were making that in 1995.

Yes aviation can be an exiting , fun and challenging industry to be working in but as we all can see by the enrollments in schools going down and the increased exits of skilled engineers fiscal facts are out weighing the Fun !