New Rules Would Let Airlines Hire Co-Pilots With Less Experience
September 02 2016 - 9:00AM
Dow Jones News
U.S. airlines would be able to hire new pilots with far less
cockpit experience than currently required under a proposal aimed
at addressing a staffing shortage that is likely to rekindle a
debate over aviation safety.
Certain military pilots with as little as 500 hours of flying
experience would be allowed to become commercial co-pilots,
according to people familiar with the details, compared with the
mandatory at least 750 hours required today. That is already down
sharply from the minimum of 1,500 hours set for typical
non-military pilots in 2013.
The proposal comes from a joint industry-labor group created by
the Federal Aviation Administration to help it draft new
regulations amid worries by the airline industry that there aren't
enough pilots to keep up with demand. None of the recommendations
have been released, and further details are expected to remain
confidential until top FAA officials decide how to proceed.
Co-pilots, who are sometimes called first officers, without a
military background or an academic degree related to aviation would
still need at least 1,500 hours of total flight time to be eligible
to be hired by carriers, said the people familiar with the panel's
proposals. The committee, which includes representatives of pilots,
airlines and passengers, didn't recommend any changes for
requirements to fly as a captain. Captains need 1,500 hours among
other requirements, but airlines usually require more flight time
for them than federal minimums.
The proposals reflect escalating pressures many commuter
carriers face in attracting and keeping enough pilots under
existing regulations. Despite increased salaries and the
introduction of signing and retention bonuses at some carriers,
commuter airlines remain particularly vulnerable to pilot staffing
shortfalls.
Some commuter operations worry they aren't attracting the
overall quality of applicants they would like, while others fret
about the impact of larger carriers hiring away commuter pilots
with incentives that include higher pay and more-secure career
advancement prospects. Larger U.S. airlines, meanwhile, confront
their own staffing issues with the impending retirements of tens of
thousands of senior pilots over the next decade.
Industry initiatives so far "haven't fixed the basic problem,
just mitigated and probably delayed the worst consequences of the
pilot shortage," said Roger Cohen, former president of the Regional
Airline Association, the leading trade association representing
commuter operators. The group, which has been battling to change
existing standards for years, declined to comment on the new
recommendations.
An FAA spokeswoman said only that officials were reviewing the
proposals.
The panel's report follows earlier safety enhancements imposed
by Congress and the FAA in the wake of the high-profile crash of a
Colgan Air turboprop in 2009 near Buffalo, N.Y. Investigators
determined that the captain had a spotty training record and
responded incorrectly to automated cockpit warnings.
Confronting pressure from lawmakers, outside safety critics and
families of the more than four dozen victims who died in the crash,
FAA officials in 2013 announced regulations raising experience and
training requirements. Instead of what had been the mandatory
minimum of 250 hours flight time for first officers, the agency
adopted a sliding scale from 750 to 1,500 hours, depending on
military and educational background.
Since then, commuter carriers in particular have chafed under
the requirements, arguing that attaining the 1,500-hour or even
750-hour threshold poses often insurmountable financial and other
obstacles for many prospective applicants. So the FAA convened the
panel to explore possible alternative paths with lower entry
barriers.
Some agency critics contend the number of hours spent behind the
controls of an aircraft, by itself, doesn't guarantee quality
training. Other safety advocates, including pilot-union leaders,
stress that routine mentoring of new hires by veteran captains is
essential to safety.
"We have found no evidence that high time [experience] makes
better pilots" when they are first hired, Paul Kolisch, a senior
training official at Delta Air Lines Inc.'s Endeavor Air commuter
arm, said during a safety conference last year.
The FAA asked the latest panel to study potential adjustments
within the framework of previous congressional mandates. The group
of experts, for example, didn't look at changing current
requirements that all co-pilots must be trained and tested on the
specific aircraft model they fly.
Write to Andy Pasztor at andy.pasztor@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 02, 2016 08:45 ET (12:45 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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