Airlines: Lowering the Standard Is Never the Best Choice

Airlines are making a move to fill pilot ranks that to be honest, really do not make me want to run out and jump into a plane. As a matter of fact, they make me want to avoid them.

Faced with competition for pilots from overseas carriers and private companies, airlines including American Airlines (AMR), United (UAUA) and US Airways (LCC) have announced several measures to address the shortage.

• They are lowering the flight hour requirements for pilots from 1500 to 500, with only 50 of those hours in multi-engine planes.

• Raising the mandatory retirement age for pilots from 60 to 65.

• Partnering with flight schools to offer “accelerated” educational programs.

Now, correct me if I am wrong, but aren’t the most likely people to get into an accident in an automobile the young & inexperienced and the elderly? Is it really the best move to place those very demographics behind the wheel of a DC-10? Perhaps a better move to become more competitive when hiring would be to raise the starting salary from the $24,000 a year it sits at now? Essentially there is not really a shortage of pilots, just pilots that will work for that money when better money is available elsewhere.

When CVS (CVS) needed additional pharmacists in order to accomplish its expansion plan, they began a program that paid for schooling for applicants in return for a 5 year commitment after graduation. Is there anything stopping airlines from enacting a similar program?
Would you feel safe if CVS lowered the standards for those dispensing your medicine?

Admittedly the younger hires will be co-pilots, not pilots out of the gate but as the airlines continue to lower the experience requirement, these folks will eventually find themselves behind the controls with potentially thousands of hours less flying time than their predecessors had.

If we had a shortage of heart surgeons, would any of us be rushing to get in line for an operation from a doctor who was allowed to graduate with a GPA below 2.0 or only required to have 1 year rather than 3 of residency? Me neither.

The move to raise the retirement age alone is estimated to net 1,500 additional pilots in the first year alone. That means 1500 people who last year and this year were considered to have a skill set that the unstoppable aging process would have deteriorated to the point that it was no longer safe to have them pilot airlines.

Now, because we need more folks, we can just move the needle? I am sure the vast majority of these pilots, and let’s not forget, these folks will be pilots, not co-pilots, who will be just fine flying. But, if say 15 of them aren’t, isn’t that a huge problem? Lowering the standard to accomplish a goal is never the best choice, more often than not the results can be tragic…

Comments

[AirBoss:]

Bingo!

2007 Dec 20 07:49 AM

[AltantaBob:]

First off, its the regional airlines not the major airlines that are having this problem. And once again, the burden is at the traveling public. It's capitalism at work and they get what they pay for. The public doesn't want to pay more than $150 to go coast to coast so the airlines were forced to decimate pilot contracts over the last few years. Pensions were wiped out, pay cut over 50%, and benefits severely reduced. Now people are crying foul. The fact is that until they are willing to pay more for a ticket, this will be the byproduct.

2007 Dec 20 08:54 AM

[K Edwards:]

Interesting perspective, but you have it wrong and by attaching the tickers of US Airways, American and United to your article you have unjustly accused them. As a commercial airline pilot for a major US carrier with 21 years of military and commercial flying experience, I can speak with some authority on this subject. A major airline like those you so wrongly accused by will NEVER hire a pilot with 500 hours. These pilots are being hired by small feeder airlines or subsidiaries of the major airline. These newly minted pilots will be flying aircraft like the Beech 1900 or a small regional jet (somewhere between 19-50 seats), not a DC-10 as you stated. Besides, almost no one in the US passenger market operates the DC-10 anymore. It's been primarily relegated to 3rd world or cargo airlines.
Additionally, just because a pilot is hired by an airline doesn't mean that it's a slam dunk. It's usually 2-3 months of ground school, intensive simulator training and an FAA check ride before the new pilot even sits behind the controls of one of these small airliners. And even then it's more training in the aircraft under the tutelage of an instructor called a Check Airman before the new pilot gets to "fly the line".
While I admit, everyone inside and out of the industry would like to see more experience, a situation like what we see now has been used many times before as the number of available pilots has dried up. Many major US airlines once had "training academies" to help add pilots to an expanding roster. Many major non-US airlines still use this method to acquire pilots that have almost no flight experience at all where the general aviation or military flight training programs are not very robust.
You made a reference to heart surgeons and the experience levels needed to safely perform those duties. But every heart surgeon had a "first time" and required plenty of surgeries under the guidance of a more experienced surgeon during residency. You can look at the fact that these young men and women will be flying as co-pilots, not Captains, gaining valuable experience and thousands of hours of experience before being checked out as a Captain (which by also requires a separate, intensive training evolution regardless of experience) with their own aircraft and crew.
While it's certainly not a perfect system, there are many checks and balances in place to ensure safety in our air travel system, especially when it comes to training and qualifications of pilots, so please don't make a conclusion based and publish something based on one Wall Street Journal article.

2007 Dec 20 09:54 AM

[I Fly a CRJ:]

First of all, why would anyone want to go into this business today? It's bloody expensive to learn to fly. And for what? A Job that pays below poverty level. I am making less now than what I was making 7 years ago flying the same old RJ. The cost of living has skyrocketed. Airlines went into bankruptcy due to high fuel costs. The execs were too stupid to realize they had to raise their fares to offset the fuel costs. We were forced deep paycuts down our throats. Now airlines are profitable, the execs are lining their pockets and laughing at the labor groups who helped finance their greed through the bankruptcy court and deception. The bankruptcy courts are appointed judges by George Bush, who is also an anti union and pro management president. The judges are loyal Bush whackers, I meant backers. They allowed airlines to file motion 1113c's to throw out all labor agreements and the judges granted injunctions to keep the labor groups from self help (strike). Thus, the unions have ZERO bargaining power. Many see this and don't really want to get into the business. This business seems to be who can do it cheaper, and screw the quality of service. Ask United about one of their Express carriers.
I for one will no longer finance management's greed. As for the low time pilots I have to fly with, most of them actually do a pretty good job and seem more enthusiastic than some of those who have been around a while. 500 hours for an airline job? More power to you! I remember when I couldn't even find a flight instructor's job. TIMES HAVE CHANGED, if you can't deal with it, my advice would be find another line of work.

2007 Dec 20 11:10 AM

[User 132034:]

Nothing will change until all the employee groups grow up and stop fighting with each other and show management a UNITED front. The airline executives that have PHD's in BS cut you out and seperate just like a cowboy does to a herd of cattle.

2007 Dec 20 11:40 AM

[Dutchhollywood:]

Atlantabob is right on the money. American consumers have gotten what they want; lead painted toys, poison pet food, and cheap airfares.

2007 Dec 20 12:46 PM

[soaringeagle:]

I am a regional airline pilot that found this article a little lacking.
It appears that not a great deal of research was done going into creating this article. It is true yes this particular scenario is unfolding in the regional airline arena and NOT the Majors i.e. Northwest, Delta, American and so on.
To defend the "lower time" pilots being hired, Especially from Aviation schools, It is the exact opposite of a kid whom just received a drivers license. Everybody who went to school for 5 years and received at least 400 hours of training at a cost of tens of thousands of dollars to get a drivers license please raise your hand. Just what i thought, nobody.
There are 2 or maybe 3 at most regional airlines hiring pilots with far to little experience. The result is these new hires do NOT make it through FAA check flights and do NOT complete the training program at the airline and are fired. Airline training is very thorough and rigorous on top of the training already received. These airlines are not considered credible and are separate contract carriers hired by major airlines. Most regional airlines like the one i fly for have a very high standard and if it is not met you are simply fired and will not fly for them.
I understand the concern partially but before staking such claims you need to backup and research your argument. Maybe it startles and concerns me when i see you doing your job writing this article. Food for thought.

2007 Dec 20 01:33 PM

[FlyGurl:]

Dear Mr. Sullivan,
Apparently a 500 hour pilot is more qualified to fly a commercial airliner than you are to write a news editorial. Please get your facts straight sir.

2007 Dec 20 10:07 PM

[RJ Captain:]

Why is it always the people writing the news editorials on the airlines that have no idea what they are talking about. That seems to come standard. If you were thinking towards starting your career, why would you even consider becomming a pilot these days? When was the last time you saw a positive news piece on any airline? You're going to have to dig pretty far back, because the media only presents the problems to the public. There is rarely a "thank you" uttered from a single passenger as they deplane these days, let alone a "thank you" from the flying public for the THOUSANDS of flighs that takeoff and land safely. Mr. Sullivan you should be happy that someone is devoted to their job enough that they will take time away from their family to wake up at 330am body time to fly you safely to your destination while making a wage that, by IRS standards, is below the poverty line. By the way, that pilot waking up at 330am could have been in the cockpit 8 hours earlier and can work up to 16 hours in a day with multiple breaks during his/her schedule. Next time you fly and feel tired when you get to your destination, imagine how it might feel to be doing up to 7 flights a day, and getting $150 for your days work. America wants cheap airfares, this is what you get. FlyGurl is right, perhaps you might want to work on your research before posting an article, because frankly this one makes you sound like an idot.

2007 Dec 21 10:10 AM

[dfloydr:]

I am not concerned about the change to age 65. My cousin has piloted just about anything that flies from an old Sopwith Camel to 707's and has some 23,000 hours of flight time in his log, mostly overseas. There he is allowed to fly until age 65 and I gather that that may be the rule for most foreign pilots.

As for US airline management? Well ... we can all see what wonders they have wrought.

About three years ago I wrote the presidents of the five major US lines pointing out the following calculation.

I added up all the US airline losses. I forget the exact total. Then I added up the number of passengers they reported to have carried that year. Dividing out those numbers I found that an increase of $7.57 per passenger would have wiped out the combined losses of all the major US air lines.

What kind of management does that suggest?

Unless the idea was to position themselves to trash their payrolls and reneg on their leasing deals. Well, they did both in a big way.

Then reading the next years' K-1's I noticed big bonuses all around for he front office. Hmmm ... ?

2007 Dec 21 04:08 PM

[Larry fly 777:]

Great article but just scratching the surface of the pilot shortage. In europe they just started the Multicrew Pilot License where a person with 200 hrs simulator time and only 30, yes 30, hours in an actual airplane to sit as a sort of pilot helper at a front control seat (the co-pilots) seat in an airliner. Not even a private pilots license!! How safe is that and the europe aviation community (ICAO) endorses that practice....

2008 Feb 23 03:51 PM

[avtraveler:]

This article was speaks of some very real issuses that the Regional Airlines are facing. I would like to correct the statement about "these oilts will be first officers and not at the controls". All airlines including regionals swap every other leg of flight betweent he Cptatin and First Officer flying. The first officer does fly every other flight. What would happen if the Captain became incapacitated? Demand for pilots, is picking up swiftly, both in the U.S. and around the world, predominantly in China and India. U.S. commercial air travel is anticipated to grow by 500,000, to 1.2 billion passengers by 2020, according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Domestically, airlines are progressively finding it more efficient to fly smaller planes, which mean more-frequent flights, requiring more pilots.
Many U.S. Regional Carriers are hiring “Low time” pilots at an escalating rate. Classes at the regional airlines are only 50 percent filled, and most airlines have lowered their minimums drastically to attract more pilots. Before 9/11, most airlines required at least 1,500 hours total time. Within the last year, minimums have plunged, and some regional airlines are hiring pilots with as little as 250 hours total time and a high school diploma. Some regional airlines are offering a finder's fee of up to $500 to pilots and employees who bring in a flight officer candidate. Many of these new hires are going to the right seat of CRJ’s or other regional jets. Not only is the “new hire” pilot moving up to an aircraft that is much more sophisticated than a typical training plane, the addition of a multi crew environment with flight attendants offers more complexity. There are a variety of views on how to address these training issues. Although there are several training issues to consider, we often overlook the crew concept. The U.S. does not require an MCC, (Multi Crew Coordination) course into their multi engine or commercial pilot completion standards.
Western Michigan University's, College of Aviation has educated aviation professionals since 1939 and offers complete academic degree programs leading to a bachelor's degree in three areas--aviation flight science, aviation management and maintenance technology. The college entered the international training arena in 1997 with a series of high-profile contracts with international carriers. In 2001, the college first brought its accelerated ab initio curriculum to the domestic airline industry through scholarship awards for training through Delta Air Lines.
WMU’s, College of Aviation, International Cabin Security Research Team is conducting preliminary research to investigate “the training needs for “new hire” regional airline pilots, in a changing environment”. The ultimate goal of the research will be to prepare pilots for success in the regional airline industry. The aim of the research will be focused on the investigation of fundamental flight attendant safety and security considerations, as they relate to the new hire pilot.
Although the research is in its preliminary phase, it could ultimately be used to improve success during the career of a regional airline pilot: the results garnered from such an investigation may potentially increase the effectiveness and reduce the cost involved in the current “wash out rate” in the regional airline industry, as well as enhance current curriculum for similar undergraduate aviation programs.

2008 Feb 24 08:54 AM