AIPA prez & comments in the Oz - 
Via the Oz:
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Via the Oz:
Quote:Careers in aviation industry losing appeal as training costs soar
- MARK SEDGWICK
· 12:00AM APRIL 26, 2019
· 45 COMMENTS
Aviation should be an attractive industry for young Australians to join. Aspiring pilots should be able to look forward to a rewarding career, including making a decent return on the significant upfront investment required to fund their flying training.
And yet the number of Australians learning to fly continues to drop. Globally, airlines are growing at a faster pace than ever but the number of qualified pilots with the experience to fly large commercial passenger aircraft isn’t keeping up with demand.
Forecasts suggest the US airline industry will need an additional 50,000 pilots by 2026 in order to cater for retirements, attrition and growth. So far, the shortage of US pilots has provided an opportunity for some young Australians to find work with US regional airlines.
There they can gain experience and increase their flying hours to allow them to move to a major international carrier or perhaps return home to Australia to work.
US pilot unions say they are not opposed to foreign pilots joining regional airlines as long as they are paid on the same terms and conditions as American pilots.
Likewise in Australia, there has been a fear that even the limited use of foreign pilots could be used to lower the terms and conditions of employment in aviation.
There is a systemic issue here. Young pilots cannot be mentored and trained without experienced pilots and you cannot retain experienced pilots without competitive salaries, terms and conditions.
It’s clear the aviation industry needs co-ordinated government support with better targeted programs for training and wider support for regional aviation.
Last year the government was lobbied to reinstate employment visa privileges for foreign pilots, having previously removed them from the skilled occupation list in 2017. However, the lure of permanent Australian residency as an incentive to an employment contract should not be used to replace adequate employment terms and conditions. The aim should be to attract and retain Australians.
At the same time there is a need for government to consider the air transport needs of the bush. Regional and rural operators are under increasing cost pressures and the industry needs government assistance to ensure air services continue. That should include efforts to reduce industry costs including pilot training.
Qantas and Virgin Australia understand they could be facing future pilot shortages, announcing their own pilot academies in Toowoomba and Tamworth. The regional carriers have had similar programs for some years now.
Yet there is no co-ordinated approach to these training programs even where the regional and main line carriers are both owned by the same parent company. By training pilots and employing them at the outset in the airlines’ respective regional operations and providing a pathway through to progressively larger aircraft, the major local players would benefit from a “cradle to grave” approach that should aid significantly in pilot retention.
What pilots want to see is better government support for flying training and recognition that aviation is a major artery of regional Australia that needs a more co-ordinated approach. Without a viable regional aviation industry, Australia could see even more young pilots leaving the country for better opportunities overseas.
Mark Sedgwick is president of the Australian and International Pilots Association.
arlys
It might do well, for all to remember 89. Without Pilots, this country slowly grinds to a halt. Business goes broke, so do resorts, caterers, mail, newspapers, fuel providers, airline staff, taxis, and Uber, transport trucks, medical supplies, and on it goes. Our country is just to big, to survive without aircraft. No pilot wants to destroy his/her country, we all saw the pain that came from 89, so it’s essential to get this fixed, Australian Pilots, for Australian Airlines and GA, and help for future Australian youngsters to get into the business, with assistance from the Govt. If you help Uni students with finance to get a degree, then you can help young pilots, to get on the flight deck. The country depends on it.
Ben
An industry ripe for disruption
Peter
We dont need more input from the government. Casa has already destroyed the general aviation breeding pool of excellence and experience in pilot traiming through self serving over regulation. We dont need career trained airline pilots at the pointy end, we need pilots who actually know how to fly.
Niels
Sadly, technology has long overcome the need for pilots needing to know how to fly. Automation has largely killed this off.
John
The problem is caused by the regulations imposed on GA and the large cost of learning to fly and GA in general .
Gregg
What pilots want to see is better government support for flying training
As long as that Government support involves better visa provisions which support the industry and not government funding. Taxpayers shouldn't have to pay anything for this. Getting into a flying job has always been a hard slog that initially pays stuff all, in large part driven by the fun of it i.e. you can accept a low wage if the job is brilliant and there are heaps of others out there who will do it for that wage if you don't. Plus there is a chance of huge salaries later if things go well. I remember while flying a cross-country navex the young instructor looked down and told me he was working on that rural highway below us the day previous....doing what I asked...lollipop man he said. And then there was the small training school Chief Pilot quitting (thereby cancelling my scheduled training flight), moving to WA and boasting about a much better paid job he had landed which paid $60K.
Steve M
I began flying training in 1994, and completed the theory phase at TAFE in 1996 for my commercial pilots licence. Unfortunately due to the high cost of accumulating hours I had to give up on my dream. No bank would loan me money to pay for hours and no family to back me. The Only options were airlines where I didn’t meet their requirements but used to tutor a lot of their candidates for cash. I would so love to work in aviation, I have spent now close to 20 years in a career that I hate. I still would like to be able to eat however.
Jim
Much of the problem lies with the bureaucracy . The traditional path for jet airline pilots was via General Aviation flying freight and charter work often for small regional operations . Certainly the work was hard ,pay not particularly good and often with an element of risk .This worked both ways for employer and employee . The business remained viable and the young pilot got their experience. Increasing regulation and the related costs is making the businesses that have provided the industry's base unviable.
The sad thing is that the flying schools now replacing the traditional route will never be able to provide the seat of the pants experience that is needed to make true airmanship , the sort that is needed when the computer aided flight deck fails . The irony is the bureaucratic push for safety for small operations potentially takes away safety in the large operations because of under trained pilots.
Grant
The re-introduction of cadet programs should be a priority. I am surprised however that there is not a single mention of Engineers in this article... CASA has destroyed the AME training pipeline and have no idea how to fix it. There answer was to recognise foreign licences and let them in to take what should have been Australian jobs. Meanwhile operators like QANTAS continue to offshore their maintenance at a cost to safety.
Peter
Casa destroyed engineering as a rewarding lifelong career by dumb skilling the qualification. Its now a pretty poor industry to be a victim of.
arlys
Not just Pilots, but Engineers. Neither can work without the other. Australian Aircraft Engineers are coveted by foreign airlines, because of their high standards, as are Pilots, which makes it sometimes hard to retain the best of the best. Both need to be trained by airlines, both should be on bonds, to keep them retained. The days of pilfering from the RAAF are over, as they are bonded as well. Flying Training is extremely expensive, and often parents have to remortgage, their homes, to get their budding Aviator off the ground, with no guarantee at the end of it. Flying Schools are closing due to ridiculous rules set by CASA, so the whole thing needs investigation re both Pilots and Engineers, as without either, we ain’t going nowhere.
Damien
Not much point going to the airforce, most aircraft trades are supplied by civilian contractors with minimal training.
DJD
Botswana O'Hooligan
Why would anyone be so silly to spend in excess of 100K, much more in some cases, and then work for years on a pittance of a salary for some operator who may or may not be shonky and then if extremely lucky get a job with an airline whereby he/she has to pay for their own endorsement on a Boeing or an Airbus and then start on a salary of about 40K? Most pilots aren't that lucky and wind up working for small operators instead of spending that 100K on a decent Uni degree or apprenticeship, getting a decent salary when qualified and be home most nights.
Peter
I totally agree.
Richard
Or, join the CFMEU...
JELG
Aviation in America is seen as an integral part of the US business economy and is supported and encouraged as such. The runway is considered one of the most important streets in town. Here it is rich men's toys. 35 years ago I abandoned Australia for flying training and moved to the States, eventually flying as a Captain for Delta. America is half the price with many times the opportunities.
Aviation does not need more government involvment. It needs less.
The Australian aviation industry is so overmanaged and regulated and convoluted and therefore expensive it is breathtaking in comparison to the US.
Build (or at least maintain) infrastructure, and let aviation businesses run their own show.
This country is MADE for aviation. The distances are huge, the weather great and the facilities, at least used to be, fantstic.
Chris
Aviation Industry is much more than pilots and it is in these other areas that Australia is very much lacking. In too many categories we have priced ourselves out of the market; major maintenance is sent overseas, not coming from overseas to Australia.
Our costs have risen such that the viable industry is becoming a shell. The small 'pocket' jobs in the inland and regional sectors have gone. Pilots are still recruited to a limited extent by the big airlines but all the other foundation aviation positions are disappearing.
David
Australia opted for a high wage high cost economy, however that was back in the days when we had cheap energy, hardly any on costs such as superannuation, payroll taxes and a myriad of other hidden government imposed costs and hence we had tariffs to protect us from the outside world. Things have changed dramatically from those days we still still have an expectation that we should get more and more for less effort and we are governed with the mentality that we are not in a globalised world, eventually things will change as we go further down the cost gurgler believe me the high wage high cost economy that we live in will have to adapt to a lower wage lower cost economy eventually.
Josh
Well it was CASA that destroyed pilot training in Australia - Just another useless incompetent waste of taxpayer dollars overpaid public service department to the collection.
Botswana O'Hooligan
Yairs, CASA should shoulder a bit of the blame, about 110% or 120% of it. A bloke who practiced as a solicitor and is also an airline captain opined that the CAO's and CAR's are written in legal speak that even he has trouble deciphering so what chance does an ordinary aviator have, or more to the point, a clerk in CASA who has no legal training.
Kevin
Also, when I started flying in the 1980's the CAR's were an A5 book of less than 200 pages. The CARs, CASRs and CAOs are now a small library.
Garry
All cost plus business is inefficient. Could you imagine an Airline having a Stand down where at Christmas all the employees , like in CASA, get to stay home on full pay and not have any Leave deducted.
Michael
The aviation industry is not just pilots. It does include maintenance engineers and other people required to make it viable. No incentive or encouragement there either.
Juliette
True, and the maintenance engineer situation is just as dire.
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