If the Navy taught me one thing, it’s that shameless self-promotion is the best, if not only, way to advance in your field and life. Sometimes you just have to put aside the pre-programmed societal inhibitions. Sometimes you have to do what is deemed taboo, in order to succeed in a corporate, oligarchic, born into it or not society. In case those of you fortunate enough to be reading this didn’t already know: hard work, intelligence, and ability no longer mean a fraction of what they once did.
Continue reading for parts One, Two, and Three of “Shameless: The Great American Pilot Shortage”
Part One: The Problem In a Nut Shell
Have you heard of the Great American Pilot Shortage? Most likely you haven’t, and that’s not ok. Most people don’t even realize there is a problem. I will tell you that there is a problem, a very real problem that is growing more and more rapidly. The problem and potentially disastrous future of aviation in America, is a multi-faceted one. Most of all, it’s a problem that requires immediate attention.
It turns out that the long past boom of the aviation industry in America created the largest flight training network in the world. America is the world’s destination for flight school. As a matter of fact, an overwhelming majority of all flight students in America are foreign, and will return to their home country to fly when their training is complete. Only a fraction of the successful student pilots trained in America will remain in America to fly.
As of 2008 the FAA was forced to extend the mandatory retirement age from 60 to 65, to try and slow the inevitable pilot shortage. It’s obvious that the FAA cannot extend the retirement age forever, and the last thing any of us need is a rash of pilots stroking out in the cockpit. Boeing has been estimating for a while now that a half million Pilots will be needed over the next 20 years. I would go safely out on limb and say that in today’s economy, coupled with today’s society, that estimate is extremely understated.
As of today, neither the FAA nor any of the airlines in America have made any attempts at solving this problem, aside from the very lax attempt at delaying the inevitable by extending the mandatory retirement age of pilots. Much like the Banks before the first of what will likely end up being multiple bailouts, they are aware of the problem. They most likely plan on watching the industry collapse, so that the American taxpayer will be forced to bail them out of the catastrophic mess they have created.
Part Two: Where Will Our Pilots Come From?
When we think of a pilot, what do we see? Most likely, you see an older gentleman in uniform flying you to your destination, whether it is for business, pleasure or both. There are also all of the easily forgettable pilots that everyday citizens will never see, like freight pilots that are responsible for the shipment of goods, both domestically and internationally.
In 2012, economic activity attributed to civil aviation-related goods and services totaled $1.5 trillion, generating 11.8 million jobs with $459.4 billion in earnings. Aviation contributed 5.4 percent to GDP, the value-added measure of overall U.S. economic activity.
-FAA.GOV
The problem here is that one does not simply become a pilot. There are many steps in this process that go far further than most careers. In all actuality, the career pilot is most comparable to doctors and engineers as far as education, time invested, and skill set involved.
Training:
-A commercial pilot must complete multiple phases of training and receive multiple FAA certificates. These include, but are not limited to:
-Private/Sport Certificate
-Instrument Rating
-Nation Wide Cross-Country Flying
-Multi-Engine Rating
-Commercial Rating
-Certified Flight Instructor Rating
You may be asking yourself, why would a pilot need to become a Certified Flight Instructor if they already have their Commercial Pilots Certificate? It turns out, that a commercial Pilots Certificate is all but meaningless without a predetermined amount of flight hours in various multi-engine aircraft. To be exact, a minimum 1,500 multi-engine flight hours are needed. The best and most efficient way to do this is to spend at least 18 months teaching others to fly.
To this day ATP remains to be the fastest way to achieve the required certificates, and flight hours needed to begin a career as commercial or freight pilot. At 6 months for flight school, and a guaranteed job as a CFI, ATP has streamlined the process.
Education:
- In order to utilize the 2 years (at a minimum) of flight training and flight hour accumulation, the would-be pilot is also required to have at the very least, a four year Bachelors Degree.
Time and Money:
-We now know that in order for a pilot to make a career, they must have a minimum of 4 years higher education and two years of flying. That’s a total of 6 years of study, training, and experience before a would-be pilot can even begin his career.
-The average cost of a 4-year bachelors degree in the United States is $46,272. The cost of completing the program at ATP (the only school that will allow a student to complete the pilot requirements in under 2 years) is between $70,000 and $80,000. That’s a combined total of $126,272, conservatively speaking.
These figures are eye opening enough, for most of us, without the knowledge of how long it takes to earn an above poverty level wage as a pilot. During the several years of developing the flight hours required to become a career pilot, most pilots are very lucky to earn over $2,000 a month. At $24,000 a year, that is not enough to pay the bills, let alone begin to cover the over 6 figures of student debt.
Once the would-be pilot has earned his wings, so to speak, he can apply to fly for airlines, and thus begin his career. Unfortunately the pay does jump at all from there. It actually declines. The average starting salary of an airline pilot is only $21,000 a year, that’s less than a certified flight instructor. Not only are pilots that are upwards of $130,000 in debt forced to work long grueling hours for poverty wages, they are forced to take a pay cut when progressing their career. Check out this Bloomberg article covering this quickly growing problem in America. Just please try to keep in mind, that these pilots, are the people keeping you alive for hours on end at 30,000 feet.
Part Three: Shameless Self Promotion
In today’s economy, and social structure, which happens to correlate with a mass of upcoming mandatory pilot retirements, unless you are independently wealthy, and have a desire to fly, accompanied with you or your parents 6 figure salary, you will not become a pilot.
With the knowledge you’ve gained so far, ask yourself, who in their right mind would want to become a pilot? I do. I have wanted to fly, and fly professionally, for as long as I can remember. In 2007 I joined the US Navy, and have since become a veteran and full time student. If it were not for the VA’s Post 9/11 GI Bill, I would have struggled to, if been able to at all, pay for my bachelors degree. After I have completed flight training, if that turns out to be possible, I will have less than a year of studies left before completing my bachelor’s degree. I will be well on my way to being a beneficial member of our society, with real goals of making a positive difference in our country.
Shame is a word that does not quite justify the feelings I initially had about creating a gofundme page. I, like the most of us, have been pre-programmed by our society and culture to believe that asking for help financially is taboo, or lowly. Even with the knowledge of our economy, society, and oligarchic state, I still felt in some way that it was a pathetic endeavor to crowd source my own education. It was not until reading the many educational success stories on the gofundme site, and receiving a healthy push from my close friends and family to go forward with it, that I decided to take the dive into crowd sourcing.
Shameless Self Promotion; that’s what my journey has brought me to. There is no shame in doing what you must, in a society that leaves few to no other options. Please take a look at this page to see a more detailed picture of my current situation, and please donate if you can. Please Share my GoFundMe page with your friends and family and please share this article. My journey thus far has been a labor of love, and will continue to be far after I have reached my goals. Reform in this country will never cease to be a necessity, as it is the foundation for progress and success. I will continue to be a voice for reform in the aviation industry and the many other areas in need, long after I have met my current goals, or even in the personally devastating event that I don’t.