Guess what....pilot shortage is looming

Thanks for the post... my students are few and far between and rent seems harder and harder to scrape up. I needed some good news! :clap:
 


How the h*ll is there a shortage when there are thousands of pilots out of work and airlines are still furloughing? I find it incredibly hard to believe this mess when it's always reps from "major flight schools" who discuss the "shortage." I'm an AGI/IGI/CFI/CFII/MEI with nearly 500 hrs TT and I've not been able to find an instructing job at all in NC, SC, GA, or FL. I for one am tired of hearing about this "shortage." It makes it seem like there won't be enough pilots around when there are thousands of instructors salivating at the mouth for a chance to fly right seat for a regional airline. These flight schools just want to make it seem like the airlines won't be able to find enough pilots so they can increase their school enrollments... what a load of crap.
 
Lets just believe it and be happy! I'll take any good news these days even if it comes from Delta Connections.
 
Wow. What a ridiculous article. I can say there IS a shortage....of student pilots.

After I received close to 200 resumes in 3 days for a possible CFI job with the company I work for, I am truly scared for our industry! There is definitely not a pilot shortage. Especially when 50% of the applicants have 5000+ hours!!!!!
 
It makes it seem like there won't be enough pilots around when there are thousands of instructors salivating at the mouth for a chance to fly right seat for a regional airline

Thats the problem right there. Those instructors just passing through have a tough time finding work. The career CFI's I know are still booked solid and for a reason. I understand that CFIing is a way to build time and thats ok. But when tough times hit it is those guys that hurt the most. The guys who instruct for a career tend to stay busy even in these times because quality does matter. And it seems that most career guys teach in owner owned airplanes not flight school so they aren't competing with every struggling CFI for airline students. Airplane owners are willing to pay more for experience versus a guy just building time.
 
all the guys on furlough will reach 65 before hiring starts again, and THEN there will be a pilot shortage.

:insane:
 
One of my friends just got hired at the local FBO last week, he now has 7 students.
 
Oh KEWL!!!!

I have never seen a post like this before!

AOPA is trying to garner enthusiasm for GA. This is one tactic.
 
AOPA at it again.

Whatever.

Got two "renewal" notices in the mail this afternoon actually. I'll pass, as I have since I canceled my membership back in the summer of 08.
 
While I do think AOPA sends up way to much paper junk mail I do beleive they do a decent job at getting the word out. I would like to see more national tv ads though. That would be more effective then the paper products sent to people who are or used to be member who probally support their views already. I would like to see them try to reach the general population better.
 
While I do think AOPA sends up way to much paper junk mail I do beleive they do a decent job at getting the word out. I would like to see more national tv ads though. That would be more effective then the paper products sent to people who are or used to be member who probally support their views already. I would like to see them try to reach the general population better.

Of which, Alliance for Aviation Across America - which I'm a member of - has done far more to build support and knowledge within the general populace than AOPA has.

Although, AOPA is a member of AAAA, the work of informing the general populace has been far more effective coming from the other group membership entities within Alliance.
 
what is Alliance for Aviation Across America ? never heard of it but i am interested... is there a website?
 
AOPA at it again.

Whatever.

Got two "renewal" notices in the mail this afternoon actually. I'll pass, as I have since I canceled my membership back in the summer of 08.

I actually agree with you for once :beer:

Hello ,
Thanks for contacting AOPA's Pilot Information Center! I am sorry you disagree with our decisions in marketing. I will forward this along to our supervisor for review. I do apologize and I can assure you that your mail will stop as long as you simply request it.
Best regards,
, Aviation Technical Specialist
AOPA Government Affairs -- Pilot Information Center
Tel: 800.872.2672 or 301.695.2000
Web: www.aopa.org
http://www.aopa.org/summit/

--- Original Message Below ---
To whom it may concern,
I will not be renewing my AOPA membership. The reason I am not renewing my
membership? Just one: Junk Mail. I simply cannot believe my dues even pay
for the unbelievable amounts of mail you send me asking me to renew, even
when I was a member already.
Perhaps some day, when you STOP wasting so much money on spamming your own
members, I will consider becoming a member of what once was a great
organization.
 
I actually agree with you for once :beer:

Awe. . .

I've made the same comments before, but then I'm promptly reminded that I'm an anti-GA zealot.

No, perhaps I just would rather an organization I'm a member of not waste so much paper, all for the sake of gaining membership.

Further, AOPA has a huge membership retention problem, otherwise they wouldn't continue to send out the spam every three months.

Winter of last year they wouldn't stop calling my damn house, my house! Of which, I never provided the phone number to. Go figure that one out. Number is unlisted and not in any phonebook I'm aware of, yet they somehow got it. . .anyway. . .after about 10 or 15 calls over four days I finally answered the phone.

Sure enough, AOPA, asking me to renew for $35 a year the free magazine choice and an AOPA hat. Gee thanks. When I told the guy on the phone I wasn't going to renew, as I hadn't renewed since I terminated my membership 6 months prior, he was like "Oh, well. . .we'd really like you to come back as a member."

Well guess what, I said no and asked them to stop sending me crap in the mail.

If AOPA wasn't having membership retention issues, then I shouldn't keep seeing membership "renewals" (which this is no renewal. . .I terminated my membership, I didn't put it on "hold.") in the mail, nor hear anyone else getting the unwanted garbage arriving in the mailbox.
 
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