The industry “needs to have direct involvement in student enrollment,” according to Lovelace. Unless the system changes, “there probably will be a shortage very shortly.” Some aviation experts believe U.S. carriers should follow the lead of European and Asian countries in promoting airline-sponsored selection and training of future pilots from the start. Germany’s Deutsche Lufthansa runs its own basic training program, turning candidates without any flying experience into newly minted co-pilots in less than two years. Compared with traditional training, there is greater emphasis on simulator sessions focused on skills needed to fly twin-engine jets rather than total hours aloft. The airline and the student pilots split the cost, with graduates guaranteed a job at Lufthansa. Since 2009, the latest version of the program has produced 350 first officers. From the beginning, “you are teaching young pilots exactly what they need to do when they are flying the big jets,” said Captain Matthias Kippenberg of Lufthansa. The training is much more tailored to the specific demands of flying big jets than the skills U.S. student pilots typically get: flying single-engine, propeller planes from small airports to build hours in their logbooks. In China, where aviation is booming and there is a limited pool of trained pilots, some airlines are taking the same approach. Many of the new Chinese aviators sitting behind the controls of big passenger jets have substantially less than the congressionally imposed 1,500 hours of minimum flight time confronting U.S. pilots.
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But such programs have failed to gain traction in this country, even though concerns about pilot shortages are prompting debate about embracing new strategies. U.S. airlines, which are only marginally profitable, spend heavily on training and retraining the aviators they already employ. Carriers, however, are reluctant to invest in training pilot candidates, given the crush of other financial obligations facing the industry. Moreover, many regulators are wary of making major extensive changes in light of record low accident rates in this country. According to acting FAA chief Michael Huerta, the agency already is working on “the most significant overhaul of crew training” since the early 1990s. U.S. regional airlines—likely to be hurt the most by pilot shortages—seem more willing to experiment. Scott Foose, senior vice president of the Regional Airline Association, told an international safety conference in Cleveland in June that in order to assure an adequate supply of pilots, “everything needs to be on the table.” O Susan Carey and Jack Nicas contributed to this article. Reprinted by permission of The Wall Street Journal, Copyright © (2012) Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide. License number 3045481471936. For more information, contact MAE Editor Laural Hobbes at laural@kmimediagroup.com or search our online archives for related stories at www.mae-kmi.com.
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