OU Preparing Pilots Amidst the Looming Shortage

There is a shortage of pilots in America, and the source of the problem is two-fold.

Robert Meltzer, a professional pilot senior from Frisco, Texas explained one side of the problem, "The mandatory retirement age for an airline pilot is age 65. And since all those 'Baby Boomers' are reaching that age they are going to be retiring soon. And they are all at the major airlines, meaning American, Delta, those kinds of carriers. . . they are going to be moving on and the regional captains are going to be moving up. So it's going to be opening up a large pool of available pilot slots in the regional carriers."

While that problem is tangible there are many facts backing this up. The Boeing Company projects there will be 30,000 more planes in the sky and upwards of 466,600 pilots will be needed to fly the planes. In Canada and the U.S. alone, they have estimated there will be a need of about 97,000 pilots within the next two decades.

In 2010, legislation passed the pilot-safety bill that required pilots to have at least 1500 hours of flying hours before they can hired by aircraft carriers. The previous required mark was 250 hours. However, this rule will not be required to be followed until year 2013.

This is clearly a marked difference for piloting schools around the U.S. where 250 hours is the accepted minimum for graduation. While that is still the case, most pilots will now be at the regional carriers for longer than ever before. Bloomberg Business Week reported that these changes might raise the cost for hiring pilots to national carriers because more experienced pilots demand more money generally.

That leads to the next problem, money. From the beginning of the process at the flight schools, to the national carriers, costs will be higher than ever. Coupling that with the demand for pilots and the weak economy at the moment, there is a problem.

Meltzer presented a different argument when considering this problem, "I can say that OU is one of the cheapest schools you can learn how to fly at. We run about $135 an hour for a Warrior Flight, which is our primary training aircraft... If you go somewhere else, it could be upwards of $150-160 an hour." He continued, "It's really just trying to get the word out there to have people enthused about joining and flying... because if you 're really that passionate about flying, you're going to find any means necessary to be able to do it."

The Cutting Edge News found that the majority of pilots, who entered the field over thirty years ago, have taken significant pay cuts when transferring from one carrier to another. In fact, some of the pilots are being paid at entry-level wages after having flown for over thirty years.

Likewise, the desire for young pilots who are hearing about these trends is waning. Over the past few years the FAA experienced a decline of about 13-percent of the student pilots getting their certificates. The decline was a little under 10,000 students from 2006-2008 average to 2009.

In 1964, when we were experiencing a pilot shortage the outlook was very positive. TIME Magazine wrote, "The pay is high, and can become skyhigh. Pilots who handle the large jets begin at $6,000 to $6,720 the first year, then soar to some $35,000, plus many benefits, by the ninth year–for 85 airborne hours a month."

But with two years left before legislation comes into action, there are many questions that need to be answered.