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In an internet article published by CBC News in November, the
ongoing pilot shortage is described as a “looming crisis.” “While
airlines are filling their planes with passengers, the struggle to keep their pilots in the cockpits is a deepening crisis in the gobal air travel business,” the CBC writes.
Drawing attention to estimates recently released by the
International Civil Aviation Organization, the CBC
notes that a minimum of 15,000 new pilots will be needed
every year in the next two decades if the industry is to have
any chance of keeping pace. “Canada and the U.S. will
need at least 60,000 new pilots by 2020.”
CBC: Global pilot shortage a looming crisis in Canada
“CBC workplace specialist Frank Koller said baby boom pilots are also retiring quickly, and that the airline industry has still not recovered pilots who left after the economic turmoil immediately following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the U.S.” writes the CBC.
“He said some airlines, such as Air Canada Jazz, are trying to curb the pilot shortage by taking young pilots fresh out of flight school and mentoring them on the job in the cockpits. Although there are safety concerns, Koller noted that it's been done for years in Europe.”
Langley Flying School Chief Flying Instructor Dave Parry says the pinch is being felt now by many Canadian operators, especially with regard to entry-level pilot candidates. “The hiring of new pilot graduates, especially in the last year or so, has never been seen since the 60s I think,” says Parry. “For the first time in Canada,” says Parry, “we are seeing fresh graduates move directly into larger turbo-prop flying jobs—they are skipping the “piston aircraft” phase in their careers, which traditionally provided the starter jobs, running courier and mail loads into regional airports.”
For local flying schools, Parry fears the pilot shortage could present an immediate staffing crisis. “Flight Instructors have traditionally been a popular draw for new commecial pilots as a means of kick-starting their flying careers,” says Parry, “but the word is now out that these guys can go directly into big and fast passenger-hauling aircraft.” “If we lose our ability to field Flight Instructors, the pilot training infrastructure could collaspe.”
Posted December 27, 2007
