1500

At the beginning of the year we discussed how the 1500-hour rule could be affecting the pilot and what should be done. I stated my position in opposition to the 1500-hour rule, stating there has been no evidence that the increased ATP minimums have increased the safety for 121 carriers. The 1500-hour rule was a rush job by the FAA to show the public that more ‘experienced,’ pilots were at the controls. Also included was that pay increases would help with the pilot shortage. This is what I also believe is not the case. But for the purpose of this different view, I will make the argument that the 1500-hour rule has helped improve safety at the 121 carriers that the pay increase has brought back pilots.

On February 12, 2009 a Colgan DHC8-400 crashed in Buffalo, New York, killing all on board and one person in a house. After this crash the media started to dig deeper into aviation regulations. One thing they found was that in order to fly for a regional airline, all you needed was 250 hours TT and a commercial multi engine rating (FAA, 2013). Once this was broadcasted, outrage ensued stating that was insufficient time, to be able to fly for the airlines. This intern began a movement to increase safety at the airlines. One of these changes included an increase in the number of hours required for first officers at the airlines. This change would become the 1500-hour rule. And since this rule became public regulation, no one has died as a result (on a US carrier) to an airline accident (Yanofsky, 2018).

This is very difficult to type because there is 0 evidence that the 1500-hour rule helped. Now I will argue against it again. Along with the 1500-hour rule came a string of changes to the 121 world, including new flight duty and rest regulations introduced in 2011 and new training requirements in 2012. Again the 1500-hour rule took effect in 2013, four years after the Colgan crash. In that time span, not one death was recorded due to an airline crash.  In fact, both of the pilots in the Colgan crash had more than 1500 hours. The captain had over 3,000 hours and the first officer had over 2,200 hours. This negates the 1500-hour rule people are talking about. It now takes about an extra 1,200 hours, from graduation of a part 61 school to make it to the airlines. That’s almost over two years of flying somewhere else, before going to the airlines.

The pilot shortage talk wouldn’t be complete without talking about money. Money does talk, and the regional airlines have been under paying their pilots for years and years. In 2012 the average pilot salary per year was $22,500 (Zillman, 2014). That’s how much I made as a Line Tech while still living at home. These regional pilots were still trying to pay off their student loans and trying to afford rent and other life costs. Now pilots are earning around $60,000 in their first year. This is a false narrative though. In reality, pilots are still making more then they were six years ago but not by much. The $60,000 first year pay includes the hourly scale and bonuses. After the first year, those bonuses go away, and the pilot reverts back to making $35,000 - $40,000 per year. Until about the third year when most are eligible to upgrade to captain. This trend does not look like its slowing down. The regionals are making it look more appealing to work for them with the high first year pay only in turn to decrease your pay in the second year. And not every pilot can receive the maximum number of bonuses.

The pilot shortage is a real deal that is and will affect the aviation industry in the future. But there is hope. Just recently, the amount of pilots has grown over the past year tremendously. Since 2010 the number of pilots has decreased from 627,588 to 584,362. Over a 40,000 decrease in pilots. But in 2017 the US saw its first growth in eight years. In 2017, the amount of pilots increased by about 25,000. Almost all of that came from the student pilot sector with an increase of over 21,000. This could mean many things, but I see it as a huge positive in the US aviation market.

References

E. (2018, April 19). Pilot Career Compensation. Retrieved April 20, 2018, from https://www.envoyair.com/pilot-career-compensation/

F. (2014, September 19). Press Release – FAA Boosts Aviation Safety with New Pilot Qualification Standards. Retrieved April 17, 2018, from https://www.faa.gov/news/press_releases/news_story.cfm?newsId=14838

Yanofsky, D. (2018, April 18). The first US passenger airline with an accidental death since 2009 is Southwest Airlines. Retrieved April 20, 2018, from https://qz.com/1254971/southwest-flight-wn1380-is-the-first-fatal-us-passenger-airline-accident-since-2009/