Posts Tagged ‘pilot careers’

Start Your Flight Training Now: Massive Pilot Shortage Looming

Wednesday, June 22nd, 2011
Pilots Needed: DHC-8-402Q "Dash-8"

Pilots Needed: DHC-8-402Q "Dash-8" - photo copyright Brandon Farris, Tail Shots Photography

Airline pilots rank right up there in respected professions with doctors, police officers, and firemen. Commercial pilots enjoy some fantastic pay and benefits as they progress in their jobs. They also get to fly to some pretty fabulous worldwide destinations, and get paid for it at the same time. In recent years, the airline industry has not been hiring very many new pilots. In part due to skyrocketing fuel costs and a weakened global economy, fresh fliers have not had much success landing pilot jobs. Instead, they have chosen to switch gears and search for openings elsewhere, such as in the computer and technology sector.

All of that is about to change dramatically. On the horizon, a surge of unprecedented magnitude is flowing straight for airline companies all around the world. In one extreme example, airplane manufacturer Boeing has forecasted that they will require almost half a million new pilots in the next 18 years. Flight schools would be wise to anticipate this need and begin to offer more classes. At least in the US, many commercial pilots are approaching the mandatory retirement age of 65. There currently aren’t enough pilot training programs to fill the expanding need.

The shortage of pilots getting ready to strike the industry is unparalleled in scope. Never before has there been a coming hiring boom of this size. Those individuals now or shortly beginning a pilot training program will have immense opportunity in front of them, whether it is at a regional airline or as a transoceanic passenger pilot. Typically, when an individual leaves flight training and enters the industry as a pilot, they have a large debt-to-income ratio. All that could change, based on the future shortage of qualified pilots.

Another lesser reason for the pilot shortage is a new change to safety rules. Now, pilots must have more flight training time (1500 flight hours) in order to be hired by carriers. Going along with increased weekly rest times and mandatory rest between flights, stricter flight training standards for all cockpit crew personnel are also new requirements. Signed into law in August 2010, and combined with the other factors building toward a pilot shortage, now is a great time for new commercial pilots to be graduating from flight school.

Source: USA Today
Learn more on the new flight training and safety law

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American Eagle Hires Fourteen ATP Graduates

Thursday, April 8th, 2010
By Airline Transport Pilots Staff

Screen shot 2010-04-08 at 4.52.38 PMARLINGTON, Texas – April 6, 2010 – Fourteen ATP flight instructors and graduates from ATP’s Airline Career Pilot Program receive First Officer position class dates with American Eagle. ATP extends congratulations and thanks to the 14 CFIs who recently interviewed and received job offers with American Eagle, one of the nation’s largest regional airlines.
“ATP graduates have a proven track record with American Eagle, and we’re glad ATP is in a position to assist with their pilot recruitment needs as hiring increases,” said Jim Koziarski, ATP’s Vice President of Flight Operations. “With Regional Jet Standards Certification, over a thousand hours total time, and hundreds of hours multi-engine experience, these are highly qualified pilot candidates.”
American Eagle anticipates steady demand for pilot hiring through 2010 and beyond. In an open letter to ATP, American Eagle
explains the driving forces behind their pilot recruiting goals:
improved fleet utilization, delivery of additional aircraft, attrition, end of “Age 65” rule effectiveness, and potential flight crew duty time regulation changes. Read the positive industry outlook in the letter on ATP’s website at ATPFlightSchool.com/eagle.
Regional airlines appreciate the structured experience that pilots receive in the ATP system, starting with their primary flight training and extending through the critical phase of building experience as flight instructors. With the recent increase in regional airline pilot hiring, ATP is also hiring more flight instructors from the Airline Career Pilot Program. ATP has already hired nearly 40 CFIs in 2010.
In 1984 ATP pioneered cost-efficient, accelerated, multi-engine flight training with an emphasis on pilot
career development. Today, ATP’s Airline Training Programs prepare graduates for airline pilot and corporate pilot careers with nationwide flight experience in the largest, multi-engine training fleet. Advanced jet training
transitions these pilots from light twins to modern regional jets in CRJ-200 flight training devices. With thousands of graduates who have completed airline training on time and on budget, airlines come to ATP first to meet their demand for pilots. ATP flies over 6,000 hours to provide more than 300 FAA pilot certifications each month at 24 locations nationwide.

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Pilot Careers Set to Recover – Best Time to Start Training is Now

Saturday, November 28th, 2009
By Kyle Garrett, AviationSchoolsOnline.com

For those who have not given up the dream of becoming a professional pilot, now may be the best time ever to begin flight training. 2009 will most likely go down in history as being the worst year to be looking for a flying job with the airlines, freight companies, fractional operators and charter outfits. According to an article in Plane & Pilot Magazine, December 2009 issue, only 30 pilots have been hired by these aviation segments this year, making it by far the worst hiring year since 1975, when 175 pilots were hired. So what’s the good news?

Airline jobs set to recover in future

Airline jobs set to recover in future

The professional pilot job market has bottomed out, and the only place to go is up. There’s a trifecta brewing that could make aviation jobs boom again; the FAA predicts that worldwide airline passenger travel is estimated to grow at 7% per year through 2015; a large number of older pilots are set to retire after getting an extension on their careers from the new mandatory retirement age of 65, up from 60; according to the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), global air traffic will triple between 2009 and 2034. All of these factors point to a huge recovery in aviation, and that means the demand for pilots will increase.

Earning an FAA certified pilot certificate may require more training in the future. If you’re interested in flying for a living, the time to start is now. Pilots starting training today could be faced with tougher hiring standards: a proposed new requirement to posses an Airline Transport Pilot (ATP) certificate for eligibility to fly for airlines (up from just a Commercial certificate), new safety management systems training (SMS), and increased simulator training standards just to name a few.

The bottom line – the future looks bright for professional pilots, but the best time to start that future is today. A good way to begin exploring your options is to contact flight academies and universities.

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