Student loans could help avert U.S. airline pilot shortage: union head

[Dexter]

I'm firmly in your last camp.

 

[jtrain609]

I'm firmly in your last camp.

Me too. Except it was shotgunning beers with the drumline and wondering how I got a D- in philosophy 100.

Though I guess the bigger question is how I later walked out with a philosophy degree.

 

[exneophyte]

My colleagues are telling me about these opportunities in their career field that offer "loan forgiveness"

Kind of like this?
This pimp helps his prostitutes pay off student debt

Owner Dennis Hof has more than 500 women working for him at his (legal) brothels in Nevada -- Bunny Ranch is just one of them. And he estimates that about 18% of them have college debt. He said student loans come up "every day in the interview process," and he's seen more and more college students applying to work for him. So Hof said he'd start matching payments the prostitutes make toward their student loans over the next two months. He's already helped a few workers he employs pay down their debt.

 

[tcco94]

Kind of like this?
This pimp helps his prostitutes pay off student debt

Oh maybe that's what they were referring to.... I also saw a video on YouTube about sugar daddy's and how lots of women use them for their student loans...

 

[scooter2525]

If you're absolutely positive that you can do anything in life, but have no academic wherewithal to back up your own hype and you like to complain, then you become a pilot.

New signature line.

 

[jtrain609]

New signature line.

I had a feeling that would happen, though I figured I'd end up in @Autothrust Blue's signature again.

 

[Autothrust Blue]

I had a feeling that would happen, though I figured I'd end up in @Autothrust Blue's signature again.

It's a good line.

I choose to do this. I don't "have" to.

 

[PhilosopherPilot]

Me too. Except it was shotgunning beers with the drumline and wondering how I got a D- in philosophy 100.

Though I guess the bigger question is how I later walked out with a philosophy degree.

Because philosophy is easy. It's a bunch of nerds sitting around and talking. Didn't you learn that?

 

[jtrain609]

Because philosophy is easy. It's a bunch of nerds sitting around and talking. Didn't you learn that?

When I was spending time studying Descartes in depth I think it was harder than law school.

 

[Boris Badenov]

Descartes. Hah! Kant? HEGEL? Amateur hack.

 

[milleR]

Machiavelli FTW

 

[jtrain609]

Descartes. Hah! Kant? HEGEL? Amateur hack.

Kant was in a race with Mill for being the most straight forward, commonsensical stuff I read in undergrad.

The French guys, on the other hand, were harder to wrap my head around. Probably because they were French.

 

[Polar742]

By Jeffrey Dastin


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The head of the world's largest pilots union urged the airline industry on Monday to find ways to alleviate the rising costs of aviators' schooling, saying a shortage of regional airline pilots looms in the United States.

The expensive education required to become a pilot, coupled with the low wages and benefits of entry-level jobs, is deterring the next generation of pilots from entering the profession, Tim Canoll, president of the Air Line Pilots Association, International (ALPA), said in an interview.

That could result in service cuts to small U.S. cities and hurt regional carriers where many commercial pilots get their start, such as Republic Airways Holdings Inc <RJET.O> and SkyWest Inc <SKYW.O>, which larger U.S. airlines contract to operate low-demand routes.

Republic said in July that a shortage of pilots and an ongoing labor dispute forced it to fly less than forecast, causing second-quarter income to fall 79 percent year-over-year. The company's share price has plunged.

Canoll said ALPA, which does not represent pilots at Republic, currently sees no shortage of available candidates for U.S. airlines including Republic. There were roughly two government-approved pilots for every aviator job in the United States in 2014, according to the union, which represents pilot groups at 31 U.S. and Canadian airlines.

But demand for pilots is expected to jump in the next decade as U.S. airlines add planes to their fleets and thousands of pilots retire. Hiring sprees by the likes of American Airlines Group Inc <AAL.O> and Delta Air Lines Inc <DAL.N> may mean regional carriers are hard-pressed to find new staff.

Canoll said corporate or government-backed loans could help students pay their way through flight school. He said large U.S. airlines could also promise pilots-in-training a job after they do a stint at one of the regional carriers.

Large U.S. airlines will have to pay the regional carriers more so those companies can offer competitive wages, he added. Otherwise, carriers such as American may have to take over the routes that regionals operate.

"We have to find a way to draw the picture for a young person" considering the pilot profession, Canoll said. "They’re just not going to do it for $22,000 a year," he said, referring to a current typical starting salary at a regional airline.

Informal talks on how to avert a shortage are under way among industry and government stakeholders, and a formal group may be on the horizon, he said.



(Reporting by Jeffrey Dastin; Editing by Frances Kerry)

Bruh.