Why the World is Running Out of Pilots

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Animation by Josh Sherrington
Sound by Graham Haerther (www.Haerther.net)
Thumbnail by Simon Buckmaster
Special thanks to Patreon supporters
Alec Watson, Andrew J Thom, Braam Snyman, Bryan Yip, Chris Allen, Chris Barker, Connor J Smith, Daddy Donald, Etienne Dechamps, Eyal Matsliah, Hank Green, Harry Hendel, James Hughes, James McIntosh, John & Becki, Johnston, Keith Bopp, Kelly J Knight, Ken Lee, KyQuan, Phong, manoj kasyap govindaraju, Plinio Correa, Qui Le, Robin Pulkkinen, Sheldon Zhao, Simen Nerleir, Tim Robinson
Cathay Pacific landing, Delta CRJ700, Delta a330 videos courtesy PDX Aviation
a320 cockpit shot courtesy Fly&Like w/Simulation and Aviation
a321 cockpit landing shot courtesy Cockpit View
Xiamin Airlines footage courtesy Schiphol Airport
Emirates a380 footage courtesy TK Spotting
Music by epidemicsound.com
Select footage courtesy the AP Archive

[@Wendoverproductions]

Hey all, a few people have had some questions about the break-down of costs for a ATP License at the beginning of this video so I thought I’d try to clear things up and show a few sources for the different components. College Cost: I misplaced the original source that lines up exactly with $133k but this statistic is about the same accounting for yearly growth. www.statista.com/statistics/238112/university-attendance-costs-in-the-united-states/ Private Pilots License: I said $8,000 in the video based off a source’s estimate. Looking at a random selection of flight schools’ estimates it could be even a little higher. Many have also pointed out that the vast majority of individuals can only apply with 40 hours flight time (a small minority of US pilots are trained under Title 14 of federal code part 141 which allow them to apply with 35 hours.) While I was choosing to use the lowest numbers for training as to not sensationalize the cost numbers (it’s sensational enough as it is) I probably should have done the math for 40 hours (maybe even more as many need more hours to gain the skills needed) to get a more average estimate. $9,950: www.illinoisaviation.com/flight-training/private-pilot-141/ $8,123: www.stcharlesflyingservice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/CostEstimateToAdvance.pdf $7944: www.flyhafc.com $9500: www.executiveflighttraining.com/Private_Pilot_License.html Instrument Rating: The way I presented this bit was definitely confusing. The $900 I mentioned was accounting for the ground training and then I wrapped the hours needed for an instrument rating into the additional hours needed for a commercial pilots license (215/210.) Commercial Pilots License: From the comments I’ve read nobody really disagrees with the estimate I put for the overall CPL cost but here’s the source I used anyways. $80,000: www.l3airlineacademy.com/us-career-programs/pilot-training-cost

[@markferbert52]

Wendover Productions there is a school near me I believe the classes are free

[@donnyyario1726]

I am in the middle of earning my commercial license with about 130 hours flight time at a part 141 school where I also earned my instrument rating and so far, I've put about $26,000 into those ratings including ground. I did my private at a part 61 school and that ended up costing around $8,000-$9,000.

[@guillermojrboy3292]

Wish there was a skillshare for being a pilot.

[@r3poman671]

Wendover Productions National average for the US on getting your Private Pilot License is about 70 hours. Let me give you a more realistic break down of what it costs to get your license as I am currently enrolled in a Part 141 Flight program. Private Pilot License: $12,500 Instrument Rating: $10,500 Commercial: $23,000 Certified Flight Instructor: $6,000 Certified Flight Instructor Instrument: $5,000 Multi-Engine Rating: $7,000 Which adds up to a grand total of: $64,000 Accounting for insterest rates we'll throw in another $15,000 leaving us at $79,000 not including college cost. The first number initially given is not bad considering ATP flight schools has a fast track program that brings you from 0 flight hours all the way to a CFI in as little as 1 year. If you ask me how I know this? Its because I attend a college that is 141 certified and fly out of a flight school that is also 141 certified so I have the break down of what my actual flight training cost is.

[@cerealbobkiller]

64 000 + 15 000 = 79 000

[@Ubersnuber]

Lufthansa and Emirates got it right. Give aspiring pilots their education for free, and they’ll work exclusively for you for a set amount of years. Everyone wins.

[@cdreid9999]

that's how trucking works. Still cant keep up with the demand but without those programs youd be starving in the cold because this country would have shut down

[@subhamshaw1204]

But what if they went on a strike for pay raise, 2 years after joining as a pilot.

[@emilioflies4909]

yeah well, they only take locals.

[@AL.farmlife]

Only local people have that option!not anybody else!

[@Simon-rz3mf]

The education is only free, if Lufthansa decide to hire you.

[@vasiavisilievic1873]

I like how the corporations always talk about the shortage of workers, but never about shortage of good salaries.

[@knecht6974]

Its because most of them only function on the exploitation of workers and would cease to exist otherwise (which isnt a bad thing either)

[@windrose5988]

@@knecht6974 Please explain in detail how it would be a good thing for companies to stop existing without an alternative means through which to replace the services they give?

[@knecht6974]

@@windrose5988 If your company can only exist through the exploitation of workers and youd suddenly need to stop, someone else paying their employees fairly will take your place and serve the demand. Not hard.

[@gromm93]

Except in this case, it's literally that potential employees have to be rich to even get in the door.

[@knecht6974]

@@gromm93 So? Why do I care? If you cannot produce your product without exploiting people then you cannot produce your product. Wether or not that relys on slaves or criminally bad conditions, pay, or hours, I dont care. Either fix it or make room for someone else willing to fix it.

[@pilotshazma]

airlines: we’re running out of pilots also airlines: we need 1500 hrs and we will give you salary w/ 20% of what you’ve spent to be a pilot

[@Adam-vc6bp]

Do you want them to only have to fly 500 hours, increasing the chance of you going on vacation but dying on the plane ride there because the pilot wasn’t experienced enough?

[@daeganpatterson9630]

1500 hrs is an FAA minimum

[@techhelpportalextras3007]

That's an FAA requirement

[@noonedude101]

The 1500 hour requirement is what drove wages to livable levels. Before that requirement was put in place, basically anybody could become a pilot, and they did because it's a relatively easy and cool job. That's why you had 16 year old working at McDonald's making more money than Regional airline pilots. They call it the Lost decade for a reason. And I don't think that hour requirement went far enough! I wish they require 500 hours of multi-engine time on top of it, and really drive wages through the roof! The only people who complain about the 1500 hour requirement are the people who don't have 1500 hours and don't know what it was like before that requirement existed. High barriers-to-entry are the only thing keeping Regional airline pilots out of poverty. Literally.

[@jeffreypierson2064]

I am a Commercial, Multi-Engine Instrument Pilot, with 1500 hours and can't afford to take a flying job.

[@ENCHANTMEN_]

Airline: "man, why can't we hire any pilots???" Pilots: "fucking pay us" Airline: "it's mystery, I guess we'll never know"

[@ahmedelsleet8542]

Ew

[@xizang3815]

Why have all the pilots called in sick? Just because we threatened to fire them if they don't submit to allowing deadly Covid toxins injected into them?

[@Sedna063]

@@xizang3815 Deadly covid toxins can be countered with a vaccination...

[@GravitySpace24601]

Capitalism: It’s Everywhere!

[@AidanMclaren]

@@Sedna063 Can't tell if shill, or just plain stupid. It's a hoax, you idiot.

[@Monosekist]

“Unfilled by 2020” well, here we are.

[@tl5606]

The Automaticist 1600 across the board is pretty believable, if not unbelievably low. The USAF (I know not an airline) has a pilot shortage of 800-1200 so I can believe that all domestic airlines combined could easily add up to an on paper shortage of 1600 or so.

[@cameronwebb7073]

And bankruptcy!

[@solarsatan9000]

well we dont need the pilots

[@geterhero]

Kind of a blessing in disguise given current... Affairs. Less people working means less layoffs... Hopefully 🤷‍♀️

[@JohnyScissors]

@@solarsatan9000 Not right now but we will when this is all over

[@gbhm2568]

hey i spent like a quarter of my life, and spent 250k on education. how much is my pay? Airline: McCdonalds pilot: visible confusion

[@menji6332]

@Danish Mahmood Khan Average pay is not starting pay.

[@mcmb8254]

Menji there are a lot of idiots around here in the comments section who don’t realize that starting pay doesn’t equal average pay and they keep saying “I know people who make 100k a year” and they obviously don’t respect the fact that they had to go through financial hell and tons of stress to get to that point in their lives

[@valeriec.2096]

@Danish Mahmood Khan The point is that starting pay does not equal average pay, and that pilots have to go through financial hell to get to those points. It's also essentially frustrating to pay thousands for education and training just to get paid the average salary of a McDonalds worker for a couple of years.

[@allenh1137]

@Danish Mahmood Khan But you called the channel fake news? Essentially arguing that point? Also kind of ironic calling other people idiots when you use "your" instead of "you're".

[@valeriec.2096]

@Danish Mahmood Khan And then proceeded to say experienced pilots make about 300k. Adding the part about the pilots pay makes it seem like that's the reason for the channel being "fake news."

[@syncmonism]

This is one of the last jobs we should be underpaying or undertraining people for. The stupidity of corporate executives continues to amaze me.

[@StreetDrilla]

greed*

[@alphacentauri1760]

This is a highly automated job. A lot of people want to fly. The job is desired even if wage is low because getting to fly those expensive planes and get paid is already attractive enough. This is supply and demand not stupidly.

[@lCynique]

@@alphacentauri1760 Clearly supply and demand issue when there is not enough pilots for job you claim is desired :)

[@alphacentauri1760]

@@lCynique The shortage of pilots is low compared to many other industries. Due to the imbalance of information between airlines and employees, airlines can use this to get a very favorable price.

[@orthogainz]

@@alphacentauri1760 You're that type of guy who thinks he knows something of economy just because you watched the Wolf of Wall street. Man get you a$$ out the here f00l. Go play with some legos you little sack of 💩

[@listen1st267]

2019: oh no! Impending pilot shortage! 2020: tens of thousands of pilots furloughed in the US

[@Briggie]

Yeah that is the catch of working in aviation. It is the first industry hit of anything bad happens.

[@zimph6846]

2021 here :) I’m pretty sure training is gonna be free a few year

[@alexm566]

Christmas 2021: Canceling everything due to pilot shortage.

[@kennethkho7165]

i love your choice of words

[@edwink1467]

2022: Huge pilot shortage! $100K sign-on bonus for new pilots! Double or even triple pay for regional airlines pilot! Huge pay increase across the board!

[@wetpossum]

It's not a pilot shortage, it's a pay shortage.

[@ZacH-jj2ef]

wetpossum also how strict the pilot medical is

[@cameronbohlke6684]

Tbh the pay actually is still some of the best you can get some airline pay 100k a year and if you are a experienced pilot it can be up to 343k a year

[@jokerofmorocco]

The issue is cost as if you pay pilots more tickets would be more expensive

[@StevenJohnson737]

Why is everyone still clinging to this base level thinking quote. So if it’s one thing it can’t be the other right? There was a pilot pay shortage; there is also a pilot shortage.

[@Samuraid77]

@@jokerofmorocco only because airlines refuse to take the loss in profit. It wouldn't cost more if they could live with seeing a loss of profit but once a company has reached a high they never want to come down. Even if that means going out of buisness because of the refusal to take the profit loss even though it keeps the buisness alive, which doesnt make sense but its happened many times before.

[@ciri151]

Becoming a pilot has been my dream job since I was a child, But it's just near impossible because of the cost. It's ridiculous...

[@LilKidAttacker]

Slash Le Pew unless you live in Los Angeles you kidding yourself dude. I’m paying my way right now.

[@xxlegoteenxx]

The starting pay is much improved. Regionals now start around 45-65k. Plus delta has a way to go to the commercial airlines quicker. If you are interested DM me and I can tell you more. My point is, it’s better than you think and there are a lot of options.

[@jedwards81]

xxlegoteenxx can you give me more info on the delta flight school?

[@skie6282]

Saw another comment saying join the airforce for the training and experience cause its nearly free!

[@itzthedude971]

billipine fred You can literally pay flight schools for like 40-80 bucks to fly for a few hours. It's that cheap.

[@j.gardner4811]

Before covid hit United airline had over 10,000 applications from fully trained and qualified pilots to fill 30 seats in their training class. Delta had over 14,000 applications. Truth be told the pilot shortage has been seriously over exaggerated. It’s really more of a pay shortage. How the airline treat their pilots goes a long ways too. Highest paying flying jobs are not running out of applicants. Low paying position have struggled to find and ‘keep’ pilots. I spent $83,000 on my flight training. Took me 3 years to pay off that debt. I would do it again in a heartbeat. Flying at 30,000ft navigating around around thunderstorms and shooting a CAT II approach in the dead of night is a thrilling adventure. By far my favorite place I flew into was Cuba.

[@ReallyGuy858]

Meanwhile I went the opposite route and wouldn't change it. (controller)

[@xxxkingahmed1375]

did u go to atp

[@j.gardner4811]

Yeah, I went to ATP flight school. I strongly recommend not going there.

[@mikoajtokar5846]

@@j.gardner4811 why not?

[@j.gardner4811]

@@mikoajtokar5846 checkride failures stay on your record for life and too many failures will be detrimental to your career. Not only have I witnessed ATP instructors push students into checkrides before they were ready, but I was forced to do it or they would drop me from their program. My advice is to look into schools with a low failure rate on checkrides. Instructors at ATP are under a lot of pressure to just get you through the program and most of them don’t care if you’re ready or not. When you hit the flight hours allotted by the school for training then it’s checkride time. Doesn’t matter if you’re actually ready or not. I unfortunately failed a handful of checkrides as I required a little more training. Other students have been though the same program and did just fine. Unfortunately, ATP wasn’t the right fit for me but has been great for others. Your experience may be vastly different than my experience. But at the location I went to on average students would fail three checkrides before they finished the program. Some DPE in our area refuse to do any checkrides at ATP because of their subpar training.

[@jakelyons4312]

The world is running out of passengers

[@MrUmeabdullah1]

yes, thanks to coronavirus

[@Aakash_Goswami1]

thanks to China

[@joksizantos7520]

thanks

[@MrJustin1855]

CCP bent the whole world over and didn’t even buy us dinner/drinks first. In fact they stole the food off our plates bc we let them to enrich a few at the expense of the rest. All this metaphor doesn’t excuse the reality the CCP needs to be held to account, and one could make the case this was a act of war even if it’s the result of incompetence. I draw a distinction between the CCP and the general population of regular Chinese people. Although the majority of the Chinese population is likely loyal to the CCP regime/CCP ideology I don’t view the individual as evil, but just a pawn in a oppressive evil system with little agency in the situation. The same is probably espoused about the USA by the CCP equivalent propaganda apparatus. I am definitely biased, but with the relative free flow of information the internet provides, beyond standard social media outlets, I am confident in saying the western system is morally, financially, and humanly positive. THE CCP SHOULD HAVE BEEN STRANGLED IN THE CRIB! Unfortunately the USSR and USA were locked in a expensive and dangerous pissing match that facilitated it maturation into the most serious threat to western society and ideology presently

[@devesha]

@@MrJustin1855 nobody asked

[@leokimvideo]

Ever since Microsoft stop doing Flight Simulator people have stopped becoming pilots. Its thats simple and can be explained in a few seconds.

[@SKAOG21]

@Chicha 17 r/woosh

[@nutsackmania]

This is hilarious

[@scarpaz]

You seem to be very confused. Microsoft FS has been purchased by Lockheed who now seels it under the name of Prepar3d.

[@Josh-xy4no]

Chicha 17 lol it’s a joke chill

[@JohnNNJ]

Chicha 17, the idea that a "game" does have that much influence is the only ridiculous one. The DOD and Army started that a long time ago. In fact, I believe is is much more difficult to even become a tanker now, if you cannot pass the simulators. It is all pretty sad, since it starts to exclude what might be some of the best people, because there is a huge difference between a simulator and real life. Regardless, the desire and competence to do a thing usually comes from whatever media is promoting it when people are young.

[@utkarshg.bharti9714]

$30,000 a year? That's a joke right? That's less than $3,000 a month. That is ridiculous by US standards!

[@MeMe-rc6sf]

Some pilots earn 400,000 dollars a year , probably the ones who have like 18000 flight hours with a A380

[@garymanning8920]

It is true I worked for NWA. 911 was used as a labor busting excuse. I saw it happen.

[@BumpyJones]

Ya thats not right the average salary is actually a lot more than that with most making over 100k a year

[@jonesjones7057]

@@BumpyJones starting pay not average pay. I made $23000 my first year at a regional airline flying a CRJ200 in 2000.

[@patrickmcdonald2242]

this is just not the case anymore; envoy, sky west, Mesa and so much more are offering $60,000+ for pilots

[@gowthamnyshadham5889]

The title should be, "Why the US is running out of pilots."

[@jeffbenton6183]

I was thinking that watching the first part of the video, but then he kept bringing up how many foreign airlines are affected by this trend. It seems as if the US supplies so many of the world's pilots, that our education cost crisis is affecting the entire world's pool of pilot recruits.

[@30anvz28]

This doesn’t add up with what I know. I know ONE pilot. He flys an airbus 300. He gets paid $285/flight hour. Once the engine is turning, until the airplane touches the ground.

[@finn3721]

and the ae

[@aferotorrington1909]

Pshh the U.S. is the world

[@EriniusT]

@@jeffbenton6183 or the costs to entry could be very high in other countries as well

[@expiredpilot2448]

Another reason for the shortage is the FAA. I was already admitted into flight school but was denied my medical certification due to very minor ADHD. I had neurological testing done and the neurologist said I'd be fit to fly and the FAA still denied me.

[@SpiderMez]

Same here

[@benlieberman26]

Any update on your situation? I was diagnosed with adhd as a kid but haven’t taken meds for it in many years. Did they deny you because you were still taking medication?

[@expiredpilot2448]

@@benlieberman26 I would never tell you to lie on a federal form. But I will say that if you aren't taking any medication for it then why even tell anyone about it at all........

[@benlieberman26]

@@expiredpilot2448 because it ADHD itself isn’t allowed. doesn’t matter if you’re on medication or not. If you lie on your medical, and they find out any time in the future, your life is ruined.

[@Patriotalliance]

I've been a pilot for my entire career. I try and discourage people asking about getting into the career field for several reasons. There is the financial cost obviously, but there is also a very high personal cost. You are away from your family a great deal of the time. You miss birthdays, holidays and many other special occasions. The divorce rate among pilots are of the highest of any other group. I'm one of the lucky ones who has remained married. It's not all about just the cost of training...Good luck

[@tcmusicrecords]

Being a pilot was my childhood dream, and I enrolled in college in order to obtain an aeronautical engineering degree and get my licenses after. However as I proceeded in college, I thought about what you said and my pilot dream slowly started to drifted away. I graduated college as a mechanical engineer last summer and probably gonna work in mining sector and your post definitely confirmed that I made the right choice.

[@Hedgeflexlfz]

@@tcmusicrecords I'm still pushing towards becoming a pilot. There is a shortage right now, to a certain degree.

[@ppumpkin3282]

What you say is true. However, if you get seniority with a major airline, you can pick your schedule. You may have to put in 40 hours a month which you can do with two round trips to Beijing - then you have most of the month free. So don't have a family until you've reached seniority with a good airline.

[@benjaminodinakaHOODKIZK]

Patriotalliance that’s why you stay out of relationship or even having kids because you not gonna be there

[@takeit1229]

My best friend completed Pilot school and is now working as a Firefighter/Medic. The cost is definitely prohibitive, but once he got engaged he basically gave up the dream. Great points in this post, a lot of what he says stopped him from pursuing it as a profession.

[@Maserati7200]

Airlines: Help, we’re running out of pilots! Reasonable person: why not pay entry level pilots a decent salary to attract people to the industry? Airlines: No u

[@MEGASTUNNER118]

Hahaha this is the best comment😂😂😂

[@KaitouKaiju]

Profit margins! Stock prices! Some other number on a spreadsheet! Come work for free, please!

[@yasminbarry7941]

Exactly: start offering decent salaries, intead of going for profit, profit, profit.....And you'll get pilot, even on regional airlines.

[@dragoon17c]

@Nathan Jay 10 years ago it was USD 20,000 for a new entry regional airline pilot

[@yasminbarry7941]

@Nathan Jay : Wow.....Thanks for clarifying. Now I can see why there is such a need for pilots around the world.....

[@matthewmoser1284]

As a Commercial Motor Vehicle driver, this video actually gave me flashbacks of my own experience getting my CDL and becoming a truck driver. While getting a CDL is immensely cheaper and faster than getting a Commercial Pilots License, the experience between the two is eerily similar. For a start, like the Lufthansa pilots I had my formal education subsidized by a trucking company on the condition that I work for that company for 6 months. I saw this as no problem because it meant I had a guaranteed job. But like the airline industry, trucking (and CMV drivers at large) has a unacknowledged shortage of drivers. And yet despite that, base pay has dropped significantly over the last few decades. There are some efforts to improve job satisfaction, but overall the industry refuses to address the core issue: pay. Couple that with a decrease in glamor and pride in being a CMV driver, just like with pilots, and you have an industry that is VERY concerned about its aging workforce. Among other suggestions is to increase automation, again, with significant backlash. Its interesting to me to see another industry sharing so many of the problems as my own.

[@ethanstump]

you mean most industries? these are global problems with global solutions. pay has stagnated across most industries, with an aging population, and a hesitance towards automation. not to mention ever increasing regulations and debt. it's clearly unsustainable, and it's only a matter of time till it collapses. from what i've heard, MIT has it pegged at 2040 in 1960, and someone recently rechecked the calculations in 2020, and said we are still on track.

[@bettigio]

Pilot shortage? Corona virus: “SAY NO MORE!!!”

[@andyc9902]

Hey I have a business proposition for you legit

[@bettigio]

@@andyc9902 As long as it's aviation, I'm all ears👍

[@bettigio]

@BITSHOT Earn? I'm unemployed since June 2020 :(

[@boratbruno4947]

Does GTA flight missions count as flight hours? Cuz that shit is hard, touch the water and you are dead! Not even Sully could have landed it!

[@jojo_svfx]

borat bruno awe shit, here we go again

[@zEternus]

I play infinite flight

[@StackableGoldMC]

XD

[@SVSky]

Stupid shits.

[@PoxyBear]

San Andreas Flight School = Arrrrrrrrrrrrrgh!

[@josephpaterson8274]

Wendover Productions doing a video about aviation? Never heard of such madness.

[@SaschaWagner]

lol just wanted say something similar, but couldn't be better than this

[@willtheprodigy3819]

You people say this every single video. It's not funny anymore.

[@imfrommanndame]

This is how he finances his training.

[@pedrotomas5666]

If you dont like move on

[@madhumenon]

I know! There's a first time for everything.

[@cormacrohda319]

The prices at the beginning are on the low side, I've found that 140 will cover a aircraft for an hour, you also pay for a CFI, and 900 for the instrument rating is also on the low end

[@planefreak747]

As a student pilot I can second that I pay 1K out of pocket every 2 weeks 500 hours cross country 100 hours night flight 75 hours IFR type rating 250 minimum pic to get your atp

[@tinashetogara4710]

The cost of training is absurd... That's why

[@scottishguy399]

Tinashe Togara just go in the Air Force for free then after go into the commercial airliners

[@tunderhed]

SCOTTISH GUY If it was that easy everyone would do it. Joining the Air Force doesn’t guarantee you’ll even fly let alone get your ATPL

[@willtheprodigy3819]

@@scottishguy399 most people going in to fly planes don't get the chance. There are very few spots available and lots of applicants. It's also extremely difficult and fast paced, and the burnout is high.

[@abk2256]

SCOTTISH GUY getting into the airforce is also extremely hard, and here in Australia after you complete the compulsory 3 year university degree, you have to still serve another 11.5 years locked into the force

[@JohnSmith-ox3gy]

Too bat it is not quite that easy, you are missing alot of steps on the way there.

[@barkman708]

As a young pilot, I can confidently vouch for the information stated in the video. One thing I would disagree on is the starting salary. $30,000 is a misleading number. I don't believe any airline based in the US, would have the audacity to pay such low salaries. Research indicated the starting salary ranges between 40-50k with a sign on bonus of around 10-20k in the first year. Even though it's not much at the beginning, the end game is always worth the debt and poor salaries. Also, it looks like I'm going to China soon.

[@campkira]

Hope itvwork out well for u. Bonus is tricky.

[@sweetcindy4564]

what was your starting salary?

[@movax20h]

50-60k $ for first two years, is still pretty lowish. If you can reach 100k$ in 5-6 years, that is good I guess, and it means there is reasonable path to good salary.

[@kjw7815]

Even that amount is too low. Operate a crane and to start make $100K then get up in the area of $200K as an employee. Now if you own and operate a crane that number doubles or even triples.

[@splitt3r]

Even $40-$50k starting is bullshit for a job that requires so much training. I make more than that as an ASM at Walmart and that doesn't even require a degree, just a year of hard work and another year or two supervising minimum wage workers.

[@josephculbertson1108]

Hey, I wanted to say thank you for bringing attention to this first and foremost. There are a couple things that need correcting unfortunately. I'm a commercial pilot, CFI, and CFII. The hour requirements for those licenses are actually way higher, and so is the cost. For example Private Pilot is 40 hrs minimum, and usually takes way more hours to get a student pilot proficient. Instrument ratings are very important to have, but require 150 hrs, and don't allow you to fly for compensation or hire. You need Commercial license to get paid to fly. There are exceptions if the training is done via a part 141 flight school, but on average the cost for those schools is much higher than the alternative. You are right about the pay though. Entry level flight instructors only make about $20.00 per hour (in the air) which if you've worked all day and only flew three hours it comes out to $60.00 before taxes. Entry level for the airlines is usually between 35k - 50k to start out, and you really don't make decent money until making it tot he majors (Delta, United, Southwest, etc.) Overall the mean cost of becoming an airline pilot is about 200k if you include the degree.

[@feeltoofree]

This channel is amazing, wish I could find a similar channel but for boats and ships

[@Leonardokite]

Supply and demand....time to pay the pilots what they're worth if they are going to attract new pilots.

[@firepower7017]

Leonardokite If teachers who loved doing their job never get that attention than no way will pilots be paid more. I mean pilots are one of those passion jobs. And what makes them horrible as that they get horribly underpaid but people still love their job and cannot just find another skill to partake. I mean just why punish the people who worked their hardest?

[@Coolsomeone234]

Too expensive

[@firepower7017]

Chicha 17 Yes but in how they are criminally underpaid. I mean people don't look for jobs that won't give them a life they want so they just overlook it. I mean I know teachers don't risk themselves as much as pilots but I mean it was the only comparison I know of a job being criminally underpaid. Also I mean like High school to college I mean I doubt you need much to become a elementary or middle school teacher.

[@Leonardokite]

Someone 234 Certainly having airplanes on the ground and routes unfulfilled is not very cost-effective compared to paying enough to attract new pilots. Noticed they said the Chinese airlines pilots did quite well. I expect they don’t have any shortage of pilots. The thing with pilots is it takes three things. One, the adventurous desire to become a pilot and fly. Two, the capital to fund the learning process or join the Air Force. Three, you have to also have a relatively decent level of intelligence to understand and run all the systems on an airplane along with the flying aspect and navigation. Not to mention communicating with air traffic control and ground control. Nothing like being a teacher.

[@scottjohnson9799]

@Chicha 17 It's an apt comparison. They are both professions that people enter simply for the love of the work itself. The downside of this is that they accept terrible wages and working conditions because of their passion for the work. As a result wages and working conditions end up worse than the process of normal supply and demand would create.

[@notacupofmytea4499]

Them :Requires tons of money to become a pilot Also them : there is shortage of pilots

[@chrisp7110]

Yeah. Its the same with being a Doctor too. It Costs a lot of money and a lot of years, so they stack up student loans quick that needs to be paid off. I met doctors who have a lifetime worth of student loans, its like by the time it is all paid off, they would be 80 yr old.

[@notacupofmytea4499]

@@chrisp7110 i agree ,but if a student gets a very good rank in competitive exams they wont require much money to study in a medical institute . So it depends on their efforts and rank

[@mustarastas88]

Education should be free, yes.

[@somethingelse9228]

@@notacupofmytea4499 Your rank in competitive exams depends on many variables apart from hard-work. The biggest factor is the amount of money you could spend on tutions and extra classes for that exams, the amount of time you have to study, access to resources etc

[@notacupofmytea4499]

@@somethingelse9228 I have friends who have cracked exams like NEET without any coaching it all depends on ones passion to achieve something , I also know people who had literally nothing (poverty) but they cracked exams by studying in free libraries so that's that ,yet again I agree everybody's situations are different .

[@thepilotguy3752]

This video didn’t age well...

[@soulsearcher7077]

Wh- Oh lol

[@pranav3848]

how so? Pilot shortage still exists and the bar for entry is still extremely expensive

[@farhanmohamed7893]

@@pranav3848 Many pilots lost their jobs

[@pranav3848]

@@farhanmohamed7893 It's temporary. When flights resume back to normal there still wouldn't be enough pilots to fly them

[@RM-el3gw]

@@pranav3848 the industry will obviously contract. Not only because people will likely be less interested to fly because of corona etc (look at the drop in traffic post 9/11 for example) but also because the global economy literally shrunk. If there's ever a shortage again, it'll be many years down the road. So probably still not a good time to become a pilot, sadly.

[@tomarmstrong1281]

I worked as a flying instructor in Europe on a good living wage with all benefits for many years. Our customers were large well known international airlines who recruited their own trainee pilots. The individual companies paid for all of their cadet pilots training costs and when qualified employed them as first officers on a reduced, but still good salary for approx three years to recoup their training costs. It always struck me as a win win situation.

[@amanvishwakarma7287]

No wonder Tom Cruise was smuggling cigars.

[@ianduke8596]

Hell fucking yeah ....American made😂😂

[@Dushkiboy0420]

😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@Moneylovingman]

They need to do one of two things 1. Pay the cost of training pilots 2. Instead of requiring college degrees, don’t.

[@alexlim1077]

nah, college degree should be a requirement.

[@ejcmoorhouse]

You could call it an apprenticeship

[@uFFFO]

If you (or they) don't even care to specify what kind of college degree you (or they) want the pilot to have, then what you (or they) are really asking for is an IQ+psych test to weed out the plebs. That is about 130k$ cut from the bar of entry.

[@RB-H]

alex lim No it shouldn’t, it’s not necessary.

[@tripjj8662]

instead: keep the private pilot/ratings the same but instead of going to 4 years, install a third seat in the cockpit for the student/ apprentice to watch an learn. No need for bullshit college when you can just learn on the job. plus pay minimum wage while doing so.

[@arnofulpius5204]

I really love the videos of aviation you make thank you!

[@dazgodbold]

This really needs a 2021 update

[@coolman2816]

Couple of notes as someone who is now entering a regional airline. 1st, an instrument rating costs way more than $900. That's a bare minimum, but no one ever gets it at that cost. $6000 is more realistic. 2nd, The cost for most pilots is actually closer to $150,000. They can do this because the additional flight time is usually bundled in with instrument and commercial training. The video seems to assume that commercial, instrument, and additional flying are all separate, but they are often done simultaneously. 3rd, the maximum flight time for airline pilots is actually 1,000 hours a year, not 900. I understand the confusion on this, since many airlines do advertise their pay assuming 900 a year, but blocks (The amount of time flying each month) usually end up around 85 per pilot per month. Otherwise this is a very accurate video. Just wanted to bring up a few things in case people were wondering.

[@marksman712]

last i checked the ICAO Regs and my own nations CAR's, it was 900 hours as a legal requirement with something like 80ish hours per month and so on divided, but ill admit its been...3 years since i actually looked at those regs as my training hasnt required me to be revising that level of regulations yet, still slowly marching toward PPL....oh the life of not having enough money to afford the $300/hr lessons

[@rfi-cryptolab4251]

Pay them more to start. $25k is a joke after you spend tens of thousands on training. Also the divorce rate is very high. Don't get married.

[@delltawnnorthri7459]

William pierce- why feminism is genocide KZbin that to understand why the divorce rate is high Also youtube: Europa the last battle So you know the bigger picture of not just feminism, but banking/media/ sjw stuff/ military indsutrial complex and more....

[@rfi-cryptolab4251]

@no name I feel the same way.

[@delltawnnorthri7459]

no name, that is wonderful advice if you want to destroy your own race. You are advocating to lower our numbers by ruining the union of marriage that has traditionally really helped bolster our numbers.

[@rentin5836]

25k a year is a wayyy off number, they make way more than that.

[@EpicMrBlack6869]

They can't though. That would drive up operating costs for the Airline, increasing ticket costs, further discouraging people from flying with Airlines who pay their staff more. Everybody loses in that situation. The industry will need some drastic changes rather rapidly if this solution is ever going to be fixed.

[@mrarnold96]

Oh my god! We are out of pilots. So let's make pilot school as expensive as $100k

[@SeniorPoteyto]

In my country if you want to become a pilot you can enroll in the national airlines' pilot course without going to college. You don't have to pay them anything. You sign a contract when you start the course which guarantees a job at that airline and they take the expenses out of a small portion of your salary each month. And it is one of the most high paying jobs in here. But the physical and mental health requirements are kind of high.

[@deltapapashootingexperience]

My recommendation for those wanting to fly as a career (I was an airline pilot and have about 10 years of airport ops / management experience). Don't bother with a college degree upon graduating from high school. Save your money and get your flight training done first from a reputable flight school where you ARE NOT paying for the entire flight training up front. You may realize in flight school that flying is not for you and you don't want to be stuck with debt. Once you complete your "zero to hero" flight training, get your flight instructor certifications and teach as a part time job while pursuing a college degree. This way you are getting paid to fly (as an instructor), you are building flight time to the magic 1500 hours, and you are getting a degree in something OTHER THAN AVIATION.

[@WarriorsfanDubnation]

Thank you for the advice sir, what are you doing for work now?

[@deltapapashootingexperience]

@@WarriorsfanDubnation besides teaching firearm safety part-time I work full time in private security. Unfortunately that's about the most I can tell you :-)

[@WarriorsfanDubnation]

Dan Pizzi Firearms Instructor well thank you for the advice, I’m am 21 and would like to be a pilot. I have a ppl and some college credits and that’s it. What made you stop being a commercial pilot?

[@deltapapashootingexperience]

@@WarriorsfanDubnation make no mistake I still try to stay current with my BFR and Instrument Proficiency. I love flying too much to ever just quit cold turkey. I'm not going to discuss the specifics in public forum but I will say that my priorities in life changed as I got older. I would much rather settle in one location then have to relocate every couple months or couple years depending on and Airlines needs. A lot of regionals do not allow first-year commuting so relocation is a necessity ( and expensive too).

[@redryder1146]

That is really good advice

[@antsolja]

to me the solution seems simple, its the massive upfront cost of becoming a pilot in the first place thats discouraging people, airlines should be subsidizing promising students to encourage more people to become pilots

[@OryAlle]

Or just drop the silly requirement for a degree, that's the main killer. Perhaps have a specialized 1-year course on flying planes instead.

[@dick2829]

its a scam

[@Expung3d_]

OryzivorousAllegory airlines should be more focused on actual flight experience and knowledge on subjects rather than college. I'm currently a student pilot and it's a killer to go to college and flight school at the same time because both are expensive

[@MrUmeabdullah1]

seems like a good idea to me, I have heard that the Canadian Armed forces subsidize students too

[@jeffbenton6183]

@@MrUmeabdullah1 USAF pilots have their educations subsidized too (or at least they did throughout the Cold War; I'm pretty sure the practice is still in place)

[@oldwiseoul]

Props to the cockpit officials and crew official....that is why we have to have a nice smile and spirit for these folks.

[@wrongnumberz]

0:37 Wendover I never knew you weigh 300 LBS

[@darkshadowsx5949]

Starting pay as low as $30,000 a year? and 200k in debt? you better off working at a Walmart or something full time. that's pretty off putting.

[@Legohaiden]

actually that's 100% false. To be a "military" pilot you need to be an officer... to be a military officer you MUST have a 4yr degree and be lucky enough to be selected for officers training (intense weeding out process) or serve as an enlisted and go through the ranks and get college classes on the go (this can take as long as 8-12yrs). Then your just a nobody butter bar... you must then continue learning and serving until you become an O3, now you can start flying for real, no more training, no more trainer aircraft, you can fly real jets / airplanes. but.... sadly... Civilian standards are radically different... so you will STILL need to go back to school once you get out, and do more training to get a Civilian Pilots commercial licence. How do I know all this? I was an Air Traffic Controller in the Navy. you are welcome.

[@NVE]

some commercial pilots actually make less than that

[@Richard_Nickerson]

Denis Laberge Yes, but then you're a member of the military. Not everyone wants to be. Not everyone agrees with their country's military policy or actions or however you want to put it. Not everyone is capable of joining the military either.

[@LegoSwordViedos]

HAHA yeah mary some slut who wil then divorce you take everything you got and then the military will rob your paycheck at gun point. Wow you are so smart. I feel so safe with idiots like this defending me.

[@JohnDoe-yi9rm]

@Denis Laberge But you have to kill people based on lies and in violation of international law. I got my ATP but I had to bomb a wedding.

[@jmh4ggg]

1:44 9ft tall 300lb 3 year old toddler pilot with jaundice disease...hell yeah...i'm riding that plane

[@zsac18]

aliens confirmed

[@ikonikian475]

LMFAO omg i almost spit out my venti carmel frappuccino with non fat coconut milk exactly 2 1/2 cups of sugar with 4 chocolate drizzles, 6 1/2 pump of caramel drizzle, 3 expresso shots mixed in, extra whip cream, as well as birthday cake pop mixed in with a bit of strawberries on top, chocolate chips, coconut flakes, pump of vanilla, one pump of hazelnut, banana slices mixed in, chocolate shavings coating the bottom, cinnamon dolce and just a pinch of matcha powder

[@notsolegalciv2761]

jmh4ggg 108cm is actually around 3ft7.

[@MMMmyshawarma]

It's a US "license", 108 inches.

[@jamesavery6671]

hahaha well spotted lolz

[@karthickv4166]

Thank you for this vital information for younger aspirants to become civil pilot sir :)

[@boomerix]

I once was thinking about becoming a Pilot. It kind of is a dream job, flying out of passion and get paid for it. When I looked at how expensive it is to get a pilot license, especially for big commercial planes and saw how bad working conditions can be.....yeah I'll stay in IT. Maybe one day I am going to get a license for smaller planes and do sight seeing tours for tourists as a side gig. (I wouldn't even mind flying Antonov AN-2's and fly people and cargo to remote hard to reach areas. Sadly that's not really something you can do if you want to have a stable family life. I'd prefer to spend time with my kids, even if flying cargo to a little Air Strip in the middle of a Jungle sounds more adventurous...)

[@MrJazer12]

My Dad is a pretty senior pilot at FeDex, so I always saw him having an awesome life from my perspective as a young dude. So I tried the route, went to flight school for a while and realized my mistake. You’ve gotta love flying, I just couldn’t come out of school with close to 300 in debt. Anyway my point I’m trying to get to for you young guys who think it would be awesome is think about why you want to do it. The only day dream I had about my future was telling people at my highschool reunion I was a pilot. I think that’s a pretty bullshit day dream. Hope that makes sense guys, try following a debt free route where your day dream just involves you and not made for people who you hope to show. It’s a lonely road, and I respect the insane ones who can give up the life I think I need. Then they go fly the machine. Just couldn’t be a path for me. Thanks for reading

[@davidwalz94]

Your dream is to tell other people you are a pilot? My nigga you got issues. I hope the irony of your avatar choice isnt lost on you.

[@jeriljm6331]

Me too bro! I have that shallow/petty dream too. But for me it's becoming an architect. Heck, I even finish studying and earned the degree, but I regret not choosing something else I really like. edit for typo

[@camerongrant317]

@@davidwalz94 I guess your day dreams involve you being a shit head

[@rosen9425]

David Scheindlin You have no idea how prevalent that type of thinking is. When reality strikes those types of people become predatory and dangerous and will not hesitate to walk over bodies to reach the "status high" again; no matter how flawed or rotten their world view has become. Look at Dan Peña the billionaire. Sacrificed a lot to be successful and rich. But his demeanor is something else, some sort of darkness with all that ruthless exterior. Much of what he did sounds to stem from spite.

[@josefstalin9068]

Honestly, I don’t care. For me, it would be worth the insane cost. Flying a plane has been the only job I’ve ever wanted. I’ll do what it takes to get there no matter the cost.

[@konyeeast168]

Because regional airlines are unwilling to pay competitive wages. There isn't a shortage of pilots, but a shortage of good-paying pilot jobs.

[@gamingtime9716]

Remember when Henry Ford invented the middle class, thus a vast consumer base, by paying his workers a meaningful wage? Big Business doesn't.

[@hexadecimal5236]

This is exactly correct, on $30k its impossible even to pay the debt.

[@yeahiprotest]

So true - that quote “it’s hard to find good help” - well it’s equally hard to find good employers

[@infiltr80r]

Then move from the US and stop complaining. Europe and Middle East are full of well paying pilot jobs. If you can only work for regional airlines, why is that?

[@konyeeast168]

Except a robot can't do a pilot's job. Yea planes are highly-automated nowadays but they can't troubleshoot themselves without a pilot. Are you saying a computer could've landed on the Hudson saving all 155 people on-board?

[@cletus2199]

In 2023 I will have had 6 years of military service with my PPL and IFR ratings and an associates degree in Unmanned Aircraft Sciences. I plan on attending a 4 year Professional Pilot degree program at Purdue or UND and do a career pathway with one of the big dogs (hopefully cargo). Even with the GI Bill covering tuition to get my BS, I'll still have to come up with about $68k for flight training. Is it ridiculously expensive? Yes Could I become a UAV pilot in the civilian world and make $100k/yr starting? Yes But I know that I won't be content with myself until I am getting paid at FL300. If you want it, you'll make a plan, and execute. Be aware of the numbers, but if you REALLY want it, don't let the numbers scare you. You got this. Good luck to all the future aviators of this planet!

[@oldfreddyfrenchfry1]

Lots of airline pilots are retired military who don’t have any of the financial challenges the young civilian aviator has. I’m surprised that wasn’t mentioned. Almost every retired military pilot I’ve grown up around then went on to the airlines. I grew up in an Air Force family, in Air Force heavy churches all my life.

[@disabledman8697]

pilots: We don't want to work for such low wages Airlines: Let's hire women to do it lmao

[@khyro498]

The problem with being a pilot in general is the pay and the stressful lifestyle, i don't think that Women will be willing to invest their time and effort to becoming a pilot with crappy pay and excessive work hours.

[@mazenmady1136]

We all know women can’t drive

[@Omega0850]

Makes no sense on many levels... except if he hates women... ;-)

[@ImGerald]

lol yeah I caught that "hire more females" suggestion in there as well 😂

[@Criomorph]

@@Omega0850 Theoretically: accept less competent pilots for less pay and play it off as "being progressive" then bash anyone that criticizes the choice as a misogynist. Practically: hire no one because women won't accept the higher stress, higher hours and low pay. As a general rule, women will accept lower paying but also lower stress jobs before any high stress jobs but the ones that do accept high stress jobs will do so only for higher pay than their male counterparts.

[@tumdeax]

Why the world is running out of pilots? Because you can make $500K a flight for the Sinaloa Cartel!

[@user-tq2cf7cz5b]

$500,000??? Really?

[@tumdeax]

@@user-tq2cf7cz5b 500K USD minimum. Back in the 80's a pilot made 3 or 5 million for 300 kilos. That was almost 35 years ago too. Look up here on youtube "Mickey Munday cocaine".

[@CloudDayLight]

@@user-tq2cf7cz5b lol he's talking about a drug cartel. U can make millions flying a cessna

[@CloudDayLight]

@darklordster tbh u most likely won't get caught. U can take a jet to Colombia. Get "signed to a cartel" and fly cocaine from thier to a private island in the Bahamas and then u fly q Cessna from there to us mainland and ship it off. The fact is they aren't allowed to search you aircraft. You can easily make 1-2 mil in a day. Sure you might go to jail. But the chances are extremely slim.

[@foty8679]

@@CloudDayLight Why arent they allowed to search your aircraft?

[@jonahbutterfield5792]

you also need a CFI licenese, and a multi engine rating, and a IFR rating. all of which combine to 60-80k for all of them.

[@mccannfamily28]

My brother-in-law flies for sky west. He lives in Colorado, but his home base is somewhere out east (forget where) so he has to fly out there the day before and stay in a hotel, THEN he actually works

[@YuzuruA]

Tell this to my uber driver who studied years to become a pilot...

[@Donnie-sg2cj]

Yuzuru A Tell him what? There’s still a shortage whether you know one random guy or not

[@chrisp7110]

I feel bad for our society because Uber is a shit pay job. He should work t Starbucks

[@AnyutaVAmerike]

Lil D I don’t think that that’s what he meant

[@finchhawthorne1302]

I feel like “my Uber driver said” is the new “my uncle said”.

[@t-bone9239]

@@chrisp7110 tbh Uber is a good option imo. It’s not available in my country but I could be a nice side job because you can set your own schedule

[@rtrThanos]

When I called my local flight school and they told me how much it would cost, I remember saying “If I had that kind of money, I wouldn’t be looking for a new career path.” Looking into it more after hearing the ridiculous requirements, i was stunned to hear about pilot flop-houses, a pilot that only made $16,000 their first year at a regional airline, and a pilot that actually PAID an airline to fly a cargo plane so they could build up hours. Yeah you’ll have a shortage if your only recruits are willing to incur massive debt, or are already so rich that they don’t care about money.

[@atenas80525]

QUESTION - I always heard that to fly a commercial jet required 10,000 flight time - which was only possible in the military. I don't recall hearing the military mentioned one time. That used to be the major conduit for pilots - other than crop dusting. Almost every pilot was a veteran - that is where they were trained. What are the implications of reduced military spending/voluntary enlistment on the pilot numbers?

[@hourglassproductions7517]

Coming from someone who is in college with an aerospace major and is in the process of becoming a pilot, the upfront costs are truly terrifying to looks at. It is roughly 15k for my private license through the school, and that’s excluding every single other class I have to take for my major. Another contribution to the lack of pilots, especially here, is how competitive the program here is, as in to get into the program and be eligible to get your license through the school, you must have a minimum of a 3.0, but they prioritize the kids with higher gpa’s first. The kids that don’t have that will either go to an external school, or completely change their major since they either can’t go through the school and all the flight programs here are completely overloaded due to people not being able to go through the school, so I feel part of the problem of a pilot shortage is the overall scarcity of actual flight schools, and the places that do have one have more or less have total control over the prices their students pay.

[@maxsmodels]

Mr. Wendover, That was a pretty good report but as an airline pilot recruiter I need to add a little flourish. We get plenty of qualified applicants (on paper at least) but at the interviews personality issues often arise. I cannot go into details but it is fair to say that there are some technically qualified people that you do not want on property. Also, many countries actually train pilots from the ground up (Germany, Japan, China) just like the military. The day of the single pilot cockpit is coming and will likely start with freight operators. In 10-15 years, it may slowly gravitate to passenger operations. We can thank the advances in UAVs for that. You are correct in your assessment of economics. The costs of operating an airline are insane. One empty flight can wipe out the profit of 5 full ones (depending on your revenue scheme). The reduction in both the size of military aviation and general aviation has produced a two-pronged attack on the airlines. When I became a pilot, you spent at least 5 years at a regional airline (but often 8+) with your last 3-5 years as a type rated captain/pilot in command (PIC) before getting picked up at a major airline. Now your upgrade in 6 months to a year and are often recruited in about 2-3 years. The increasing training expenses have caused some regional airlines to offer cash retention bonuses. When I tried to break in in the early 90s, ‘commuter’ airlines wanted you to pay between $7,500-$13,000+ to cover the cost of your training and the interview consisted of the check clearing. Since I refused (and didn't have the money regardless) my career was stalled for some years. That all ended after the Valujet crash in Florida in 1996. After that the FAA made all scheduled carriers operate under CFR part 121 instead of the much looser CFR part 135 that commuter airlines had operated under before. Training programs went from a week to a month and the associated costs soared with them. Now pilots were not so cheap. Understand that a new hire first officer is essentially doing an apprenticeship and is aware that the pay off is down the road. They key is to get in as early as you can to maximize earnings on the more lucrative back end. I still fly and I love it but that is me. Most folks are just trying to earn as good a living as they can and business is trying to maximize profits. Hopefully they can all exist in the overlap of the Venn diagram. Cheers, Captain Max

[@bruderrudiger9574]

Aye aye captain

[@spectator3272]

Thank you for your insights.

[@SuperFatcat8]

maxsmodels are you a recruiter for the regionals? My experience with it is “do they have a pulse?” Then the job is yours. I sure hope we keep it 2 man for as long as possible.

[@noscopesallowed8128]

So where do you get in touch with an airline recruiter? I've got a few questions.

[@iambiggus]

Interesting insights to a job I knew nothing about, thank you. Clear skies to you sir.

[@seporokey]

The awful starting pay and working conditions are why I left the pilot track. I got my private pilot's license and a degree in computer science. After graduating, I could either get a programmer job that starts at 75K or become a flight instructor making barely above minimum wage. Edit: Also, there's a lot of competition from ex-military pilots. They have a lot of hours, less debt, and military training.

[@Coaljet]

Exactly. Computer science, engineering...there are other options that are more rewarding out of the gate.

[@marksman712]

Ok this must be a US only thing...no where else in the world are military pilots favoured so heavily, because they dont tend to make as good a civilian pilot as someone who was trained on the civilian pathway, like they have crashed planes cos in an incident they react as if they are flying a KC-30 and not a 777 filled with pax. But US market for airlines sucks anyway, id have recommended moving international to build your hours.

[@lacuccaracha610]

AI.... artificial intelligence will replace pilots..and there are trains underground that go about Mach 3..so those will eventually make it to the surface.

[@marksman712]

itll be a long time indeed before people trust a computer to fly them somewhere, without human oversight and override

[@justaguyinashed]

Yeah, that's horrible pay for that line. Sounds like you can use that private license as a hobby or freelance. There's a lot of rich people who hire private pilots as well.

[@robertoguy]

The route United cut was not to Willard, IL but to Willard Airport serving Champaign and Urbana, IL which is where the University of Illinois is located.

[@guardianeifie]

One of the things that US airlines have also traditionally done is recruited pilots who flew in the military. (Other nations' airlines can do this too, but they have much smaller numbers of veteran pilots to recruit this way.) Recruitment of veterans as they leave the military works because a veteran doesn't emerge from service in crippling debt. Rather, they typically emerge from service with a large sum of cash in their pocket. This is because many are sent on tours of duty overseas that end shortly before the end of their enlistment period (or extend past the end of their enlistment period in which case their enlistment period is extended to cover the entire deployment). A veteran will often emerge from service with plenty of cash reserves because they were severely limited in how they could spend money while overseas, and then can enter straight into service as an airline pilot without all the college, private pilot's license, commercial pilot's license, flight school, or plane rentals. The US military is extremely air-focused, far more than any other military in the world. The US Air Force is the world's largest air force, followed by the second place US Navy and fourth place US Army. The US military has thousands of pilots that fly everything from small fighter jets to massive cargo aircraft. This eliminates basically all of those expensive steps that pilots have to go through to become commercial airliner pilots -- a USAF veteran who served as a pilot will emerge from his six year tour of duty with all the flight hours necessary to immediately enter service as a pilot of a commercial airliner. The problem airlines are running into now is how much drone warfare the US does now. Drone pilots are not airplane pilots and cannot be easily converted into airliner pilots. A drone pilot would emerge from the military and maybe get a job flying those FBI drones like the ones whose footage we saw in the Kyle Rittenhouse trial, but would not be able to fly an airliner. The phasing out of many strike aircraft pilots in favor of drone operators is reducing the number of trained, airline-ready pilots emerging from the military.

[@austinformedude]

There isn't a pilot shortage. There is a shortage of pilots who will fly for nothing! The Carriers think that all of these Pilots will jump at the "privilege" to fly one of their jets and that they will be willing to do it for almost free. They are right.. but the pilots also HAVE BILLS TO PAY! Mainly student loans. Slowly, it is getting better.

[@manofausagain]

Brandon Wright spot on. Or they want to make you casual or give you your roster 2 weeks in advance. All about a flexible work force apparently. Garbage.

[@koninkrijkdernederlanden8711]

I think people also remember the horror stories about the airline industry a few years ago. Pilots were having negative wages, because pilot schools just dumped too many pilots into the industry. If pilot schools are having a flexibel numerus fixus to get the right amount of pilots at the right time, the airline industry wouldn't have such a bad image right now.

[@malikg5285]

There is a pilot shortage they need about 250k-265k new pilots in the next 10 years and there are so many old pilots retiring because they have to retire at 65.

[@butterflysrage]

Exactly, labor is like any commodity... when demand is high and supply is low, the market value is high. If a company doesn’t want to pay market value for a commodity, they have to either offer more or do without.

[@DrWhom]

True. Zero hour contracts.

[@toddles9]

I'm a high school teacher in Australia. At our school, we offer aviation as an optional subject in the 10th grade. For those who choose it, they end up getting their solo pilot's license to complete the course. It costs extra money on top of school fees, but it means they are qualified to fly a plane before they leave school. This gives them a huge leg up when it comes to applying for commercial pilot licences.

[@zeehee1231]

toddles9 what school is that? my school didn't offer that

[@cityraildude]

Where? I live in Australia and never heard of that

[@skol2142]

My school (in the US) offers a similar curriculum in 11th/12th grade.

[@dachuckbuck669]

What the hell? Schools have that?

[@tpgskyfaris]

isn't qantas offered scholarship for a their's cadet pilot?

[@justinrees2400]

the pay is high enough in my opinion, but I think federal regulations are suffocating. Airlines could offer some better training and pay a low wage for some years

[@MegaJelly]

So, I have some things to say on this video that I think are worth mentioning. Technically you don't need a college degree you can go to a part 141 school to get a restricted ATP certified by the FAA for by a syllabus which are more expensive but you get 1500 hours and able to get an ATP at 21. ATP are paid for by airlines and you can't get your ATP without them. Next is that if you go to a part 61 school where it's not FAA approved syllabus you have to be 23 and have 2500 hours of flight time. Next I think That the barrier of entry is critical beacuse aviation and being a pilot is mainly decision making skills and you need those 1500 hours to beable hone your skills of making decisions. So it's alot more complex then just being like "lol lower barrier to entry" also math and physics are general general concepts like bournullies principle and newtons 3rd law and general mathematics are now adays done on an sporties E6B and other flight computer software. Pilots are there to manage the aircraft and the crew. Also United and higher paying airlines pay like 250,000 a year which isn't bad... also you mentioned how must china's pilots are foreign that and they have a problem, and truth is they do have a problem beacuse they don't have pilot schools, Asian countries send all their people here to get their license I know this beaxuse international students make up 40 or so percent of the aviation program at my part 141 school. Also the cost of entry into aviation is insanely higher then you said, if you have any questions hit me up or if anyone in comments has questions I'm almost done with my pilot training so I can answer anything anyone wants to ask.

[@pirahna432]

I never took physics, and I’m not great at math, and I fly 767’s. Really you just need to be able to multiply, add, and subtract. Nobody is doing complex equations in the cockpit.

[@relentless5321]

+pirahna432, don't you have to be good geometry too?

[@pirahna432]

relentless5321 No

[@relentless5321]

+pirahna432, But you still need to some geometry?

[@pirahna432]

relentless5321 Not even a tiny bit. What do you think a pilot would need geometry for?

[@relentless5321]

+pirahna432, I've seen and read about becoming a pilot and that they need to know geometry for navigation

[@Cherokee140Driver]

The best advice I ever received was "If you want to be a pilot, find a great job and fly for fun, not for work." I've watched a good friend go through three marriages, missing his children's milestones, being gone for months at a time, going completely broke, all chasing that left seat in a wide body. I skipped Spartan in Tulsa, went to school for IT, got a great job, bought my own plane and fly when I want to.

[@cargopilot747]

Cherokee 140, you did it right. I got out of flying years ago because of the low pay, starting over at the bottom when one carrier went out of business, and being gone all the time. Fly for fun instead, and travel for vacations, not work.

[@berly9397]

Cherokee140Driver , Can you contribute to organizations that save animals, since you are rich? Also contribute to organizations that try to end animal testing. I take buses and I give money to organizations and rescue cats. I'm sure you can do something.

[@fabianmartinez4964]

Berly what kind of self centered and selfish mindset is this you’re toxic as hell even if you try to help animals.

[@parimal7528]

That's ok from individual perspective & I agree to it. But unless entry barriers are not reduced, this issue will continue. Imagine the training cost for pilot is 40% of now, so many people would become pilots, fly for say around 10 years & then either continue or do some other job. This will ensure rotation of employees takes place & people will also have multiple careers to choose from. In India, lot of flight schools have started but unfortunately, for becoming commercial pilots on narrow body like A320s or B737s or wide bodies, one goes to US or Australia. Indian airlines like Indigo have tie-up with flight schools in New Zealand. So unless this infrastructure is created locally, entry costs will remain high. This is a vicious circle which led to what you did. All global airlines should come together to work out plan for cheaper pilot training. This will ensure pilots can work on lower salary, which in turn means lower ticket prices for pax &/or more profit for airlines. Pilot training is more of an iphone. Unless you bring in likes of Samsung, Xiaomi etc. more pool of pilots will be difficult.

[@berly9397]

@@fabianmartinez4964 Helping animals is toxic? You seem to be an illogical person. Humans have made this world toxic, including pollution from planes, eating a meat based died, and torturing them in Labs. I wish I had more money to save them. When ever I talk to a wealthy person I ask them to do something useful with their money. Not only will you save animals, it will made you feel great and you'll have better Karma.

[@guepion]

Hi ! I think having one pilot in the cockpit is near impossible because if something goes wrong if the pilot only is handling the issue, he might be too focus to alert flight attendants and passengers while if they are two in the cockpit the pilot will focus on the issue and the copilot will manage tower flight attendants and passenegers. That's my opinion.

[@ryanjager9677]

This video crushed my dreams

[@hehddhdh6583]

Same Ryan

[@ryanjager9677]

@@hehddhdh6583 I have since decided to continue with a pilot carrier and I am in flight school for my PPL right now, it is still possible!

[@Valor_73737]

As a retired airline pilot I am so thankful I got in the game in the 1960s! What I feel was the golden age of airline flying! The transition from piston to turbine engines was in full swing, it was a proud profession, and we were respected. Now, with the current dog and pony show with airport security and other things I wouldn't go that route. It also doesn't help that we have to retire at a government mandated age when at the top of our game whether or not we are still able to cut it!

[@robynhay2069]

Ron Fillmore Whats the retirement age cut off? Im curious? In the USA?

[@Valor_73737]

@@robynhay2069 It was the 60th birthday when I had to hang it up. Was for years! Now it is 65! Still a government mandated "one size fits all" arbitrary age! In a nation where age discrimination is supposed to be illegal! Ha!

[@airplanegeek893]

If the government doesn’t force you to retire, younger aspiring pilots would never be able to get to those big salaries senior pilots get. Be happy you got yours and keep the ball rolling. I say this respectfully.

[@Valor_73737]

@@airplanegeek893This is supposed to be America where we the people decide when and how we retire! For the government to make that decision violates liberties and I resent the hell out of that! That is NOT freedom! I also doubt YOU would like it if the government forced YOU to retire at the top of YOUR game so younger aspiring whatever could take YOUR place! One thing I learned, experience and good judgement go hand in hand! They are both critical in flying ANY aircraft, especially those with hundreds of passengers! There is much to be said for years of experience in ANY profession particularly where lives are at stake! There is also another factor you are obviously unaware of! We have to take a physical each 6 months and a simulator check ride each 6 months and at least 1 route check ride from the FAA each year plus at least 1 route check each year by a company check airman. There is NO profession more closely monitored for ability! I have seen pilots in their 30s bust their physicals AND check rides! I have seen older pilots no longer able to cut the mustard and older pilots who could perform rings around younger pilots. If and when I reached the point I could no longer pass the physical or the check rides I would have no beef about retiring because of that! But to have the damned government arbitrarily make that call really ticks me off! I have seen years of combined experience in the cockpit of over 20 years and as low as 6-8 years during expansions! In a merger I found myself with years of pilot in command experience flying co-pilot for newly checked out captains with a fraction of my experience and hours! My beef is the government's one size fits all BS!

[@chendaforest]

@@Valor_73737 A pilots license is a privilege, not a right.

[@samgreenblatt7074]

We're running out of pilots because 21 of them formed a band.

[@RamenFuel7700]

Good one Xp

[@dsasad1010]

Lol

[@lukecole6203]

Actually 21 pilots died if you’ve ever seen all my sons.

[@the.abhiram.r]

basic

[@martijndevis]

you sir you sir win comment of the day award (lets bring that shit back)

[@msw0629]

2020. We are witnessing history. Something to share with our kids when we grow old.

[@aviationdesigner0016]

Anyone paid attention to the license in 0:38 ? The man was born in 2015, Eyes are yellow, Hair is grey, Weight is 300, Height is 108 and the license was issued in 2018 !??!!

[@fdfischer]

As somebody who wants to go to flight school but is bogged down by bureaucracy and cost, I say they need to find a way to bump up Regional pilot pay and lower flight school costs

[@p51mustang24]

They can start by lowering the university costs. There's no reason they can't compress the degree down to 15 courses / 18 months. Nearly half of a college degree is gen-ed courses that aren't needed.

[@p51mustang24]

That would require a massive overhaul of how the entire country's university system works, which is greatly needed but will face intense resistance from entrenched interests.

[@Barstid]

True. GenEd courses are huge moneymakers for universities. Usually taught by grad students who are nominally supervised by a professor, they earn loads of tuition money for little wages. Grad students aren't paid squat. The books for GenEd are also a racket, as are college books everywhere. Why do they need new math books for 101 courses every year? Geometry hasn't changed since Pythagoras. The books could be given for free on digital media. They could use trig books from 1955, for crying out loud. Universities are loving student debt. The more they can load on them the better for the schools. "Professional educators" claim GenEd is necessary to create a "well rounded" student. So are mandatory classes outside of their field. Hogwash. It is all designed to gain money for the university to overpay professors and to look good for research money. And don't get me started on the tenure shakedown. If the university president's job is not guaranteed, then neither should be any professor's.

[@FlagFlyingHigh3]

As someone who likes the idea of bakery, I too would like some cake and eat it too

[@eilois]

Totally wrong, i read on some article that in Indonesia we have a lot of cheap private flight school and state owned flight school, then overproduced pilot which lead to a lot of unemployed pilot

[@zxvadcsfbh]

My dad was a pilot with Ansett Airlines before 9/11. After Ansetts 2001 collapse and Virgin's snapping up most of their workforce, dad ended up working for smaller commercial charter lines and eventually worked as a check and training pilot. Throughout this entire time he was making under 50 thousand AUD a year while supporting me and my 3 brothers. Note, he never had the experience to captain jetliners and would only be able to have gotten co-pilot roles or captaincy on freight or private charter flights. Eventually he hung up his wings in the mid 2000s and now works as a SAR co-coordinator in the aviation monitoring and co-ordination team. He now makes about 130,000 AUD a year working 12 hours shifts 3-4 days a week and enjoys his work-life balance but also regrets no longer flying. Even today, he's unsure if he would even consider returning to fly due to how much less he would be making. He knows how bad the industry shortage is and thinks that airlines need to introduce drastic measures to sponsor or contribute towards pilots training costs or face massive shortages in the next two decades.

[@cobiegaming]

What about Jetstar tho? He's correct, and both Qantas, Rex, and Virgin are doing things to help curb the shortage.

[@zxvadcsfbh]

Jetstar came much much after Ansetts colaps

[@zxvadcsfbh]

They weren't a thing until 2003 and then weren't prominent until just before my dad left flying for good.

[@muhammadizzhakimbinramli3431]

So with the skills you need to fly a plane... You can use those skills to get a job where you don't fly planes?

[@cobiegaming]

Muhammad Ramli yes, in terms of soft skills and experience “on the ground”

[@busyboysonedollarcircus6601]

i arrived at the same conclusion first year of flight school. you basically have to be willing to live out of a trash can to become a commercial pilot. it was a full load of school for an aviation degree plus 5am self starter wakeup to sign the clipboard 15 miles up the road to get a plane (much later in the day of course). this was '01 so 9/11 went off one month in, darkening the outlook further. i had enough hrs to almost test for p. pilot and hung it up

[@epicjamaicanjokes8279]

So I'm absolutely certain that that multicolored plane closer to the start of the video was that of Trent Palmer. Informative video.

[@Mr.McWatson]

Wait a god damn minute- how does recruiting women with the same shitty wages solve anything? It's just ensuring airlines don't have to pay their younger pilots more

[@JacenHawk]

It broadens the pool of pilots so they can theoretically attract the same % with the same ssshitty wage, and have more pilot.

[@Shagva]

Corporations including airlines rarely care about providing a decent wage for workers. They're more interested in cutting any corner possible to increase quarterly profits.

[@Bankable2790]

Now apply this same logic to all industries. Getting women in the workforce was always about profit, not “liberation”/“freedom”

[@MidnightSt]

you can do huge media campaigns prodding women to become pilots, and nobody will bat an eye, because huge media campaigns prodding women to go into this or that occupation are normal. if you did the same for men, or non-gendered, feminist establishment would cry sexism.

[@a_dreamer8612]

@@_Ekaros oh boy another feminist who misinterprets the wage gap

[@SkillsWithPhil]

@1:01 The Certification Number on the license is 4 8 15 16 23 42 which were common recurring numbers in TV series Lost. Pretty neat.

[@flyinryan7773]

also the person weighs 300 pounds

[@edups5854]

Did not expect to find Skills With Phil here but cool

[@MR5er1]

Oh hi Phil

[@sushisushi7077]

@@flyinryan7773 and also 3 years old with grey hair

[@eustache_dauger]

With yellow eyes

[@addison7376]

An updated version, especially due to COVID, would be awesome!

[@ASAviation]

At 8:19, United ended service to Champaign-Urbana, Illinois. The airport name is Willard, not the city. Also CMI is central Illinois, not southwest as shown in the video. Couldn’t resist pointing that out as someone living here 😂 but yes, losing UA was rough. We have American here and they’re successful, but we miss that competition.

[@Reav00]

in eu I finished my pilot licence by 2011, Looked for a job for a year, got one interview where they selected 2 people from the 'preferred' school instead (;read 10000 per student under the table money I discovered later by working in said company as a CCM) Out of 21 people in my year at the flight school that passed, 3 people have jobs, one guy a norwegian his family had connections with norweigian company, 2nd guy paid for 'line training' basicaly paying 200k+ to have a right seat on a cargo plane or some such for 500 hours experience, he works in hong kong now, 3rd guy his father got him into iberia regional in spain as his father is also a pilot, he got that after 6 years waiting. 18 other people do not work for commercial companies, some went instructor route, I have met other would be pilots who finished more recently and none of them got a job either. In europe things are very bad. If you talk to people how to get a guaranteed job, they talk about the 200k line training, or going down and working in africa. As of now I doubt ill ever work as a pilot, even if i am qualified. It's too corrupt. Big companies in any industry are shit yeah ok but in aviation it really seems they take the piss. What's sad is my story is a common one.

[@CockatooDude]

Have you thought about looking for a pilot job in China? That might be easier to get into.

[@raatti]

He said he wants to fly, not hit the ground ;-)

[@willymakeit5172]

That is about the way the industry works. Now I don't even ride as a passenger, fuck the airlines.

[@CockatooDude]

+Willy Makeit I admire your commitment, but are you seriously going to get across the Atlantic by ship?

[@Jonathan-zj6to]

nah dawg cross the atlantic by zeppelin, way safer.

[@JGuy97]

So basically, this shortage of American pilots is the fault of airline companies refusing to pay their pilots enough to make the initial investment worth it.

[@joesanders8089]

But when it becomes a real problem they'll start to subsidise training for future employees. Without pilots they can't make money, so they'll have to do something if it becomes a real problem

[@honkie_kong1689]

It's the same problem as the trucking companies. Nobody wants to work for the going rate to be gone from home so much. The world today is much more family focused. You want to put somebody out away from home 28 days a year, you better make it worth it.

[@theninearemine8499]

Honkie_Kong Gaming Yeah, when I started trucking (20+ years ago) they paid $1.00 per mile, now they pay 0.45¢ per mile.

[@honkie_kong1689]

@@mangaka08 it's honestly the fault of greedy consumers. Or cheap consumers shall we say. Airlines just like trucking are dominated by the need to be as low cost as possible. In order to pay truckers/pilots more. They have to charge more. No company wants to be the first to raise rates. So they will hold out as long as possible. Until they start having failures in service. Trucking is a bit further ahead in this. They are losing loads and failing to make deliveries due to driver shortage. Now you see sign on bonuses and paid training. We are reaching the point where wages are going to have to go up.

[@skyserf]

It’s not only the initial investment. Even some pilots won’t encourage their children to enter aviation in today’s environment. Based on your time away from home and income other careers may be more rewarding.

[@OccupiedMuffins]

It’s crazy how companies in general will just try everything except pay more and improve working conditions.

[@Acc0rd79]

As someone actually building hours I can tell you it's a pain and you better have tons of cash or loans ready. I have had several instructors in well over 100k because they went to a flight academy before becoming an instructor. They have job offers left and right once they are almost at 1500 hours so they are gone as soon as they hit that magic number. My flight school alone has lost 6 instructors in less than a year. American pilots have a very hard time building 1500 hours while other countries don't demand as many hours. I know some will say it's for safety but when a kid with a college degree from an aviation school can go in at 1,000 hours but a kid with a degree or no degree from a non aviation school has to wait till 1500 hours....is that fair?? Maybe they need to drop the hours to 1,000 for all! Just my 2 cents but hey, I only have 400 something hours. I even sold one of my cars to buy an older plane to build hours in each week.

[@noonedude101]

Freight pilot here. Somehow your total number for the cost of school was correct, but your flight hour requirements were way off.

[@masculinitymonk]

TheAviator370 how many hours is it?

[@Afrimusican]

which freight company do you work for and what's it like? I want to get my CPL so I can fly freight or cargo. Please private message me or answer here I really want to know

[@fortisprocer966]

Also, at least in America, it's 40hrs to get a PPL, not 35. And I say America because that is what he based the college and flight school portion off of.

[@patrickinottawa27]

@@fortisprocer966 And that's a minimum of 40 hrs. If your instructor feel's you need more training in any particular area, that's more hours. In reality, it's more like 50 to 60 hrs on average.

[@fortisprocer966]

@@patrickinottawa27 I know, I'm at 46 hours and should have gotten my checkride by now but things keep coming up that's pushing me back. But, yea, for most people it's around that. Including myself now.

[@joelreimer7922]

Nice to see stuff like this coming out. As an aviation student, I really appreciate people drawing attention to this. One thing I feel could have been mentioned is that airlines have some of the lowest profit margins of any industry - not just because of pilot salaries, but also the extraordinarily high cost of jet fuel and maintenance. This last is thanks to all the media coverage, which causes organizations like the NTSB to mandate extremely high standards for aviation safety. Back to the first reason, that is the main reason why the 787 is so popular - at launch, it was about 20% more fuel efficient than the industry standard (according to Boeing) which saves airlines untold millions in fuel. I'd continue on, but I realized this is getting very long-winded. Thanks again for covering this!

[@goranarezendes543]

And that jet fuel is just normal deisel fuel...unless zoure in a cub. Then have fun with the carb.

[@varmanrajasekaran7900]

Hey, how has the last two years been as a trainee/new pilot? I’m just getting into the field and would love some input from someone who’s just got in. Thanks

[@iamlucap]

You cant get a restricted ATP at one thousand hours and you can fly with airlines such as United, Southwest, WestJet, Delta on regional routes to get the extra 500 to fly internationally but 1,000 for restricted ATP

[@lanxturn6161]

Glad this is more of an incentive to become one😎

[@Shloomy_Shloms]

I just think wtf do airlines need their pilots to have a college degree? I get the flight training but if they can get through flight training perfectly fine, the college degree is unnecessary. This comes from the 90s and 2000s when people wayyyyy overstated the importance of a college degree when you can just get specialized training for a lot of good paying jobs for a LOT less such as becoming a pilot

[@landayly4464]

I guess this is just for "social status"

[@jackh3570]

They only do in the us

[@jackh3570]

In the UK you only need 5 GCSEs which is nothing

[@akg_table]

If you're gonna fly 300 people around for 10 hours, you better have a degree. I don't want some self taught schmo flying my plane, and I speak as a guy who is self taught and degree-less. I want top shelf pilots when my life is at risk.

[@AirForceSO]

Skyace 95 having gone through flight training, a 4 year university, and have talked to senior pilots in the industry the answer is quite simple. Airliners are very complex machines which require a lot of knowledge to understand every one of their many systems, especially when those systems fail (because inevitably they will). The discipline you need to learn all of that content (plus the stress you will inevitably endure when something fails) and the fact that some of that content is tough to learn is the reason why airlines want a college degree. They want to see you have the discipline to put yourself through higher education and complete a degree that isn’t required by law to complete. College also tends to dive more in depth with a subject than high school ever does (I have a degree in micro bio and it was more in depth than any biology class you would learn in high school), which results in a tough set of classes and a lot of stress to complete. My point is college proves to the airlines you have the drive to get there, the discipline to learn complex concepts, and the stress management to think on the fly (no pun intended) when the flight environment inevitably goes wrong/changes. College shows the airline your character. Wouldn’t you want the pilot up front flying your plane to be intelligent and highly educated rather than some kid strait out of high school. I personally would.

[@EddyGurge]

I'm a bit surprised that you made no mention of retired military pilots. The only three commercial pilots I've ever personally known were all retired military.

[@billohsnap5418]

the military pilot training has a 1 problem you need to sign a contract that ensures you stay in the military for some years

[@EddyGurge]

True, but all the ones I know are in their 40's and retired from the military. Instead of debt, they have retirement pay. There's a lot of them.

[@Rich-MarsEco]

A little thing the Air Force won't tell you, is if we went into a full scale war right now, we dont have enough pilots to fly all our planes currently. And then there is the training and contracted years you need to stay so that 2 + 7=9 years, and depending on other factors up to 11 years. And most, theses days, leave right away into the private sector, so the military can't retain them, and obviously the airlines already have these people. I never went into the Air Force or Navy because i didn't wanna spend my 20s and early 30s without a life, in my opinion of what a life is. But even when they get out, they are over qualified in terms of information and they still need to learn the specific plane/s before they get the job. Which is at the cost of the person before they get the job anyways. Lots of cost, but honestly, there can be government help at accredited school, just like liberal or arts colleges. The entry wage from what i here is closer to a big city waiter (45-55k). Last time i looked.

[@justinoconnor3086]

My dads a pilot, he wasn’t in the military, though both my uncles were in the air force

[@abrown4835]

They were, the military essentially subsidized the aviation industry for decades. The aviation industry was born right after ww2 when pilots were plentiful. Now with each generation of military aircraft the amount of pilots needed has shrunk. Hence the shortage, the industry was never setup to train people up like a normal industry

[@tacos7263]

All the young pilots out their- well mom i guess im moving to china😂

[@hansandhispanzerfaust6236]

In my home screen right next to this video was a South China Morning Post video about a Filipino C-130 Hercules crashing.

[@sanho1988]

Does the flight simulator x hours count?

[@piranhapants7290]

avo No. you must be in the airplane. If it’s not physical it doesn’t count.

[@omarzaifulizan3064]

@@piranhapants7290 jokes...

[@BobKermanPlaysGames]

Well I told them I had 100 hours in that pod racing level in lego Star Wars. I was hired as a captain in less then a second

[@OmarTheAtheistAziz]

The hours in X-plane does count since 2018, IF, u play it in VR

[@marksman712]

simulator hours (real ones at a flight school, assessed by an instructor or monitored) do count in training but not towards flight hours, most airlines will have a required number of hours in different operations, your command time, your instrument time or some will want MECIR time (Multi Engine Commercial Instrument Rating) and simulator time. And during carrer flying simulator retraining will be a requirement to pass, couple times a year i think is the standard

[@sean-mi9ng]

Being a pilot from the 60's all the way up until the 90's was a prestigious occupation, it was comparable to that of a doctor or even better. Now a construction worker can easily earn more than a pilot! Unless you work for a major airline flying a large jet you aren't in very comfortable standing as a pilot. It is not just pilots that are suffering but most highly skilled occupations have been devalued in the past decade with the exception of doctors, certain engineers and lawyers.

[@juanmam.2113]

seany versace and politicians...

[@martindixon54]

Err... Politicians *aren't* highly skilled. Unless you count lying as a valuable occupational skill?

[@AAhmou]

@@martindixon54 As long as they're skilled enough to feed people with lies, they're doing a good job.

[@googlestealmydatapls5410]

which engineers do you believe still have value?

[@powerfiler]

Engineers that are more specialized (i.e. smaller fields) are more valued and thus make more money. Firmware engineers over Web developers, for example.

[@amenchoudhury8036]

Thank god I live in the UK,I'm a student pilot and payed 52k for my flight training and the starting salary for the airline I wanna join is 50k(easyjet) so I pretty much cover the costs in one year

[@Divide_et_impera_]

What is the name of this flight school, 52k (€/£/$?) for an ATPL Is value for money!

[@manny2640A]

Where did you get your flight training?

[@amenchoudhury8036]

@@Divide_et_impera_ ACS aviation

[@amenchoudhury8036]

@@manny2640A ACS Aviation

[@gamer_wingsyt4669]

@@amenchoudhury8036is it ok if i ask, are you now a pilot?