Bryan Bedford addresses House panel on pilot shortage

“The arbitrary nature of how the ultimate regulation was imposed, was codified, is not fulfilling the desires of the families of Colgan Flight 3407,” Bedford said. “It’s not building safety into the cockpit. In fact, I fear it’s pushing us in the other direction, where you may have less qualified guys – although qualified by statute – potentially coming into these cockpits. I think we do that at great risk.”
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This makes sense, but is mostly a deflection to distract from one of the other glaring problems: the airlines pay dirt, the skilled and qualified pilots apply elsewhere.
 
I'll just go finish school, and play the stock market. I enjoy flying for a living, but I'm also not stupid. This industry is broken enough as it is and I don't have the luxury of only having myself to think about... Bills, food, and a roof over my families head always come first.
 
Wonder why he kept assuming that people would just go up in 152's and burning holes in the sky all day long getting to 1500 hours. My assumption would be the increase in CFI applicants. Are there really all that many people would be willing to pay shell out that kind of cash?
 
Maurus said:
It may not even fix the problem short term. Who seriously wants to work till they are 70?
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The problem is that flying at the end of your career at a major is not really work. The guys who are in the 60s are generally either senior narrow body day trippers (show up at noon, do a Tampa turn, go home) or are doing 3 trips to Narita per month. Either way, they have the best schedule and biggest paychecks they've ever seen. What's the incentive to quit?
 
I hate to say it but to a point I agree with Bedford. 1,500 hour rule doesn't fix anything, only the airlines can fix the problem. A pilot that shouldn't be hired at 250 hours more than likely will still be the pilot that shouldn't be hired at 1,500 hours. Until the airlines start hiring the person And not the logbook the problem will never be fixed.
 
The 1500 hour rule fixed the same things as FAR 117. Amiright? :)

Was trying to explain the acclimated versus unacclimated rule when it comes to theaters and how a theater is the same as long as you're not more that 60 degrees of latitude (longitude? I forget).

Over beer.

Hilarity ensued.

(Yay! Two pilots couldn't recover a stalled airplane, WE DID SOMETHING!)
 
“The arbitrary nature of how the ultimate regulation was imposed, was codified, is not fulfilling the desires of the families of Colgan Flight 3407,” Bedford said. “It’s not building safety into the cockpit. In fact, I fear it’s pushing us in the other direction, where you may have less qualified guys – although qualified by statute – potentially coming into these cockpits. I think we do that at great risk.”

Eh, sorry I'm not buying this. Sure, there are some exceptions to the rule, but a 1500 hour pilot tends to be more experienced than a 250 hour pilot. To say that we aren't getting quality aviators anymore because of the 1500 hr requirement seems like a major stretch. Quantity, sure, but less quality?

I wonder if they (congress) have considered a middle ground, like adding a new certificate class for FO's... a copilot's license or something. Make the hour requirements 700 or something of the like. There is a huge gap between a 190 hour commercial certificate and a 1500 hour ATP.
 
Derg said:
The 1500 hour rule fixed the same things as FAR 117. Amiright? :)

Was trying to explain the acclimated versus unacclimated rule when it comes to theaters and how a theater is the same as long as you're not more that 60 degrees of latitude (longitude? I forget).

Over beer.

Hilarity ensued.

(Yay! Two pilots couldn't recover a stalled airplane, WE DID SOMETHING!)
Click to expand...

I, for one, love the new rest rules. When you're down in the meat grinder of a regional, they've been an absolute savior. Reduced rest and 16 hours of duty wasn't a limitation for the company, it was a goal.
 
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