Shortage of Pilots in the USA and How Next Generations Aviation Professional Could Help
Our insatiable demand to travel by air is on the rise. We travel by air for distances where we buses and rails were the norm a few decades ago. Research states that over the coming 2 years, we will need more than 87 new pilots to fly a plane every day to meet the public’s demand.
The figures are overwhelming, but this is not all. Keeping in mind the age bracket of the current crop of pilots, we may see more than 40 percent of all pilots for the major carriers retiring within the COMING 10 YEARS.
We do not mean to send the future generation into a state of frenzy, but the best way to tackle such a problem is to realize that you have one. We may have one of the most thriving economies in the world, but the USA today is faced by a massive shortage of pilots.
The Problem Has Started
If you were waiting for the future to see whether a shortage really transpires, news coming in from Horizon Air has confirmed that they cancelled 6 percent of their flights – amounting to almost 300 – because they currently face a shortage of pilots. If this is the way airlines tackle the problem, we will soon face a dead end, where the demand for air travel will be met with limited response, and prices will surge up to all-time highs.
The solution to this problem now stands in the hand of all the next generation aviation professionals. The passion they show towards aviation is what will dictate the future of aviation in the days to come. Many aviation programs targeted towards the youth, like WMFA, promise a solution towards this problem by providing an influx of pilots to match the rising demand for air travel and the high number of retiring pilots.
Benefits of Youth Aviation Programs
Besides providing a solution to the problem of pilot shortage in the future, youth aviation promise a lot of other benefits as well. A few of these benefits worth mentioning are:
Youth Aviation Programs build on the passion that most kids have towards aviation and instill the much needed motivation to inspire them further. Building a career in aviation is not child’s play and requires a lot of persistence and perseverance. By showing the benefits of aviation, aviation programs let children now how they can benefit from a career in this field.
Strike when the iron is hot. One thing that Youth Aviation Programs do is to strike when the iron is hot and there is a high passion in a youngster with regards to aviation. Instead of being motivated because of money and other intrinsic factors, kids are motivated by the sheer force of their passion.
So with that said, there is no doubt that the golden age of aviation is picking up again and ready for new recruits, the question that remains is "What are you waiting for?" Let's Fly.
LET'S GET IN TOUCH!
Miguel del Rosario | WMFA Editor
miguel@pistonfly.com
