Jetwhine

Aviation buzz and bold opinion

Pilot Shortage

Where Airline Pilots Stand in Labor Statistics

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alpGiven the recent reports of job growth and the enduring discussions about pilot shortages, I moseyed over to the Bureau of Labor Statistics to see which occupations are ascending and which are in decline and where airline pilots show up on that spectrum.

The good news is that airline pilots are not on the list of Fastest Declining Occupations. Topping this list of 30 occupations  is “fallers,” you know, the people who cut down trees. By 2022 their numbers are expected to decline 43.3 percent. And there doesn’t seem to be much future at the post office, either. Postal clerks, mail sorters/processors, mail carriers, and postmasters and mail superintendents all made the list the changes ranging from 31.8 to 24.2 percent.

The bad news is that airline pilots aren’t on the list of the 30 Fastest Growing Occupations. By 2022 the number of industrial-organizational psychologists is expected to grow by 53.4 percent. Of the remaining 29 occupations, 20 of them are in medical fields from physical and occupational therapists to nurse practitioners, audiologists, genetic counselors, and a selection of aides and assistants. Substance abuse and behavioral disorder counselors are expected to grow by 31.4 percent.

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Another Pilot Shortage — Really?

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Boeing released its periodic Pilot & Technician Outlook at Farnborough on July 11. In hours the global media started producing stories of future doom because of the shortage and said that the new pilots trained over the next 20 years would be less qualified.

Are you serious? Really? You’re telling me that America’s starving flight training industry could not  properly educate 23,025 pilots a year—a number that would meet the annual worldwide quota—to ATP standards? And of that number, North America needs only 3,450 new professional pilots a year. I searched the report and couldn’t find how many went to Canada and how many would fly in the United States.

Why is that no one seems to look past the big number: Boeing forecasts a global need for 460,500 pilots over the next 20 years. Apply some middle school math and you get the annual needs 23,025 and 3,450. What should be more disconcerting is that North America’s need for 69,000 more pilots is only 15 percent of the global total and roughly a third of Asia’s need for aviators.

Here’s an idea: Rather than our collective wringing of hands over a shortage that doesn’t exist, let’s figure out how we can incorporate language instructors into flight training faculties so schools can meet the needs of those who need the most pilots, and so pilots who don’t speak those Asian languages might have a shot at a job. — Scott