The Regional Airlines and Professionalism

The Regional Airlines and Professionalism within the aviation industry.

Currently, there are many debates regarding the problems within the regional airline industry. One of those issues has to do with pilot shortage in the industry. On one side there are people who believe that there is not a pilot shortage. These people believe there are plenty of pilots in the United States willing to fly but they are unwilling to work in these jobs because the pay is not good enough. On the other side of the spectrum there are people who believe the pilot shortage is real and is due to retirement within the industry and fewer people willing to make being a professional pilot in a regional airline their profession. Both sides spark much controversy and debate. I will look at both sides of the argument.

The first side I will look at is those who believe there isn’t a pilot shortage within the industry. The Air Line Pilots association has stated that “…there is no shortage of individuals qualified or interested in becoming qualified to fly airliners (2016). However, there is absolutely a shortage of individuals willing to assume responsibilities of an airline pilot for the compensation currently being offered (2016).” The Air Line Pilots Association is suggesting that the pilot shortage is not within the entire industry but simply in the regional airlines. The ALPA organization believes that the regional industry has failed to catch up with the current times with large time and money investments in flight training with low starting pay (2016). The reason for the low salaries is regional airlines rely on getting deals with major carriers. By lowering their costs with things like pilot salaries, they can get substantially better deals with the major carriers (Fitzpatrick 2016). The Air Line Pilots Association states that the major airlines have no trouble finding pilots because the pay is substantially better than the regionals. On that same note many regional carriers have started to catch on to this idea by increasing starting pay and adding sign on bonuses (“The coming U.S. pilot shortage is real” n.d.).

The other side of the argument is that the pilot shortage is a very real situation. The University of North Dakota did a study that predicted there to be a pilot shortage of 15,000 by the year 2026 (Shangenstein, Sasso 2016). Some of these reasons are the mandatory requirement age in the airlines is 65 and the requirement of first officers having1500 flight hours with an airline transport certificate (Shangenstein, Sasso 2016). Pilots used to be able to get a job as a first officer at a regional airline with only a few hundred hours prior to accidents like Colgan Flight 3407 (Fitzpatrick 2016). According to Mary Schlangenstein, major carriers use the regionals and other smaller operators as a “pipeline” for training (2016). With more and more pilots hitting this retirement age, airlines must look at the younger generation coming into aviation. At the University of North Dakota, flight training can cost upwards of $64,500 (Shangenstein, Sasso 2016). This cost doesn’t even figure in the cost of tuition at the four-year school. That being said, people might be unwilling to cough up the money required for education knowing that the starting pilot salaries at many regionals is less than $30,000 (ALPA n.d.). Also, it takes an incredible amount of time and hard work to get to those jobs that pay better. 

Overall, I think pilot shortage is a very real thing given that many studies have been done to conclude that the shortage is going to get worse over the next few years. The shortage is definitely due to a variety of reasons. I think that when people realize the low starting salaries at regionals, they might be unwilling to pay for flight training. Also, given my own flight training, I have seen many people put in debt and have trouble financially with flight training.

With the new regulations, regional airlines are definitely concerned with their hiring pool.  They are concerned because there are less and less pilots entering the regional airline industry.  As I stated above, the lack of pilots entering these jobs has largely to do with the training expenses and low pay at the regionals (Shangenstein, Sasso 2016). The 1500-hour requirement has put a huge roadblock in many peoples dream of flying for a living. Going to an accredited university where you can get a restricted ATP which would require 500 less hours would be one way pilots can get experience much quicker. On top of that, the regional airlines need to simply pay more to get more pilots interested (“The coming U.S. pilot shortage is real” n.d.). Another aspect that could be looked at is the act of using flight hours to reflect flight experiences.  Dr. Dann Macchiarella is a dean of the College of Aviation Studies at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and he has stated “Hours can reflect experience, but they’re not a good yardstick to measure pilots’ abilities (Fitzpatrick 2016).” I think this makes a lot of sense in that someone flying in and around the same airports everyday as a flight instructor will not have the experience of flying long cross countries from point A to point B. These same pilots are not always subjected to the same conditions a pilot flying a high performance aircraft would be facing.

There are many associations out there that represent different parts of the industry. The Regional Airline Association (RAA n.d.) is an association that supports regional airlines. Their website says, “RAA provides a unified voice of advocacy for North American regional airlines aimed at promoting a safe, reliable, and robust regional airline industry.” The Professional Aviation Maintenance Association (PAMA n.d.) is an association that represents aviation maintenance technicians. There are many associations that represent aviation managements. One example is the American Association of Airport Executives (AAAE). On their website page AAAE states its purpose is “…representing thousands of airport management personnel at public use commercial and general aviation airports (AAAE (n.d.).”

Professionalism

One topic that comes to mind after watching the documentary “Flying Cheap” is professionalism in the workplace. Before I talk about the idea of professionalism in the documentary I will first discuss what I think professionalism is. In my opinion, professionalism is having the skills and knowledge required to perform your job successfully. I think part of professionalism has to do with the way you dress and act while performing your job also. That being said I think in order to act professionally, one must dress appropriately for the job, come to work on time, ready to go, having the appropriate mindset starting the job and in a healthy condition which allows one to perform at optimal performance. According to Chris Joseph (n.d.), some key characteristics of professionalism include appearance, reliability, competence, ethics, and demeanor.

I think the documentary “Flying Cheap” illustrated many instances of a lack of professionalism. The first one that comes to mind is the first officer came into work sick and fatigued (Young 2010). The FAA created the mnemonic “IMSAFE” to help pilots determine if they are fit to fly. Illness and fatigue are two of the factors in that list (Matheson 2013). Therefore, just looking at these facts I believe there was a lack of professionalism because she was not fit to fly that day and not in the appropriate shape to fly. Another instance where Colgan illustrated a lack of professionalism was management asking a pilot employee to act as a check airman for an aircraft he wasn’t even rated for (Young 2010). The pilot didn’t have the experience required to even perform this job optimally and with the highest degree of safety in mind.

I think first year starting paying is definitely a contributing factor for a lack of professionalism based on the documentary. The documentary shows parts of the lifestyle of the regional airline pilot. One aspect they showed was the crash pads that the pilots stay in because they can’t afford a place to themselves (Young 2010). There are several people living in a small apartment. On top of that, the first officer in the Colgan accident didn’t take a sick day because she couldn’t afford the expense of a hotel (Young 2010).

I think it is very important to maintain and even expand your level of professionalism once you get a job. There are a few ways I plan to expand my level of professionalism after being employed. One specific way is by attending safety seminars that are posted online. On FAASafety.gov you can sign up to receive notifications about local TFR’s in the area. When safety seminars are in your area within a defined mile radius it will alert you with an email. For example, there is a safety seminar in the area that explains the new Airmen Certificate Standards. Another way I can expand my level of professionalism is by keeping track of what went well and what needs work during a flight. I can use this on myself and future students I may have while flight instructing. This will allow me to make myself a better pilot. Those who don’t set goals on making things better often fall into the category of doing the minimum. In order to be more professional you must go above the minimum to make yourself a better employee and thus a better pilot.

AAAE. (n.d.). About AAAE. Retrieved September 30, 2016, from http://www.aaae.org/aaae/AAAEMBR/About_AAAE/AAAEMemberResponsive/About_AAAE/About_AAAE.aspx?hkey=17fa23bc-bfe6-4589-9c8b-c362c1e7c303

ALPA. (2016, August 23). Regional airline managements must create a job people want. Retrieved September 30, 2016, from http://www.alpa.org/news-and-events/Blog/2016/08/23/regional-airline-managements-must-create-a-job-people-want

Fitzpatrick, A. (2016, March 23). Here's the Major Crisis the Airlines Are Facing Now. Retrieved September 30, 2016, from http://time.com/4257940/pilot-shortage/

Joseph, C. (n.d.). 10 Characteristics of professionalism. Retrieved September 30, 2016, from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/10-characteristics-professionalism-708.html

Matheson, C. (2003, July 13). Risk management for pilots. Retrieved September 30, 2016, from http://www.avweb.com/news/safety/185320-1.html

PAMA. (n.d.). PAMA - Home. Retrieved September 30, 2016, from http://pama.wildapricot.org/

RAA. (n.d.). Regional Airline Association. Retrieved September 30, 2016, from http://www.raa.org/

Shangenstein, M., & Sasso, M. (2016, June 29). Shrinking pool of future pilots keeps major airlines on edge. Retrieved September 30, 2016, from http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-06-29/shrinking-pool-of-future-pilots-keeps-major-airlines-on-edge

The coming U.S. pilot shortage is real. (2015, February 16). Retrieved September 30, 2016, from http://aviationweek.com/commercial-aviation/coming-us-pilot-shortage-real

Young, R. (Writer). (2010, February 9). Flying cheap [Television series episode]. In Frontline. Boston, Massachusetts: PBS.