Poll: What Do You Think Is The Reason For Current Airline Chaos?

It’s not just one thing.

DEMAND is a driver–it’s not unique to the airline industry–look at all of the “supply chain shortages” in almost every industry. There is more demand for nearly every position in the industry. It’s not unique to the airline industry–it is rampant in the GA side of the industry as well.

Couple that with the lack of new pilots (but ESPECIALLY mechanics!) throughout the aviation industry.

From the government side, failure to replace ATC controllers fast enough to even keep up with known attrition times–let alone increasing demand.

Airline mismanagement was clearly the proximate cause, but the government’s absurd, hysterical over-reaction to the COVID pandemic left airline executives, really all business planners, floundering in the dark. Predictions that lockdowns and restrictions would last for many years, or of tens of millions of deaths, made it impossible for them to plan intelligently. Failure to cut costs drastically could lead to insolvency, but cutting staff and selling off aircraft could (and in the end did) lead to shortages and disruptions. They chose excessive caution, and we are paying the price.

American pilot training is killing pilots. Nothing is done correctly. We now have children teaching children… and it is just a waiting game riding around in Cessnas until they can get a slot to be trained how to be a pilot in an airline situation.
All pilots need to be trained not to crash. Name one maneuver a commercial pilot should know that a private pilot shouldn’t know… all those maneuvers teach energy management. Something every pilot should be taught.
If this was taught… to every pilot… loss of control crashes would likely become rare.
There should be a single pilot certificate… the general public that jumps into a plane doesn’t care what type pilot you are… they just want to get down safely.
I agree with the federal judge… the FAA can not decide what ‘commercial’ means. Commercial is a legal term, and should be treated as a regulatory test, not a flight test.
Hours for being hired… should be up to the employer, not anyone else. They end up retraining or ‘instructing’ these 172 instructors…
If the general public knew that every instructors needed more instruction they would shake their heads in confusion.
Experience should always be judged by the employer… not the government.
Again… a pilot, is a pilot, is a pilot… don’t crash. That is your only mission and should be the only certificate.
Each aircraft should be an instructor sign off. The EU got that right.