I was just wondering, how many people do you think are applying to commercial flight schools since 9/11? Not many, I bet.
Or how many pilots, or cabin crew members for that matter, have resigned?
I have no data to back this up, but the school where I fly has had its enrollment remain relatively unchanged. It was one of the three airports in the Washington area closed for three months after 9/11. I think many people in the area came back just to support a small business that had lost a large part of its income. However, they now have a glut of instructors for the number of students.
Pure speculation, but there probably haven’t been many resignations among airline pilots. They tend not to regard their jobs as that dangerous.
I’d understand if the student enrollment dropped off a little, considering the collective hit the airlines took after 9/11. The job market may not seem as good as it did before.
Interesting connection between your posts! I can see what av8rmike says: loyalty, plus the knowledge that the risk of attack is still less than that of mechanical failure or weather-related problems. But as flyboy says, the career is probably less appealing to someone starting out.
Thank you for your posts! But if anyone else wants to chime in…Johnny? Broomstick?
My local flight schools lost more students after the area steel mills tanked than after Sept 11. When the steel mills shut down people didn’t have money for lessons, but for the most part no one around here lost their income due to Sept 11.
In fact, in Oct-Nov of 2001 we had an Australian gent show up and earn his pilot license.
Got about the same number of wet-behind-the-ears starry-eyed airline pilot wannabees showing up for lessons and lineboy jobs.
Now, the three flight schools at Midway… I know two of them went down the toilet by late Oct 2001, and I don’t know if #3 is still around.
The flight schools that suffered worst were the ones closest in to the “enhanced Class B” airspace - New York, Chicago… and the DC area. The students from those that went under shifted to those still in business, so the schools that survived probably have the same business, if not exactly all the same faces as before.
Now, I hear Michigan enacted some draconian pre-lesson requirements recently, which will probably hurt their flights schools badly at best. I mean, why deal with fingerprinting and paying for background checks when you can just hop over to Ohio or Indiana and not have to deal with that? Ditto for any other state that throws a lot of obstacles between students and flight schools.
You called?
Personally, I’ve never really wanted to be an airline pilot. I’d rather teach people how to fly helicopters and do other fling-wing work. I even have a plan to make a small fortune in aviation. (First I’ll start with a large fortune…) So I didn’t think I had anything useful to add. (As if that’s stopped me before!)
It seems to me that all I was reading about a year ago was “Pilot shortage! We need to train more pilots!” After 9/11 there seemed to be a drop in demand, but from what I see in the magazines now it was only a temporary dip and we still need airline pilots. The trouble is that becoming an airline pilot without flying in the military is a very expensive undertaking. I think that the cost of training is more of a deterrent than anything else. As Broomstick mentioned, there will always be applicants.
One thing I’m curious about, Broomstick, is Michigan’s “darconian laws”. How can a state require background checks for a federal license?
Keep in mind I haven’t found a good cite for what I heard in passing… I will have to fill in the cracks with a little speculation.
Apparently this is the situation. The “security” hoopla is not for the federally issued license, it’s for obtaining flight instruction within the state itself, which is probably being justified as the flight schools are businesses within the state of Michigan.
I believe it involves a fingerprinting, state and federal background checks, and a final approval as to whether you are allowed the privilege of studying flight by some state official. All of this to be paid for by the pilot, of course. And I can’t imagine this would happen on the spot - probably make a 3-day wait for a firearm’s license look pretty quick.
I also gather that such checks would apply towards intro-rides and bienniel reviews.
As I said - I heard this in passing and do not have solid facts on it. If someone finds something solid on this please let me know.
Other states have tried passing or are attempting to pass similar legislation. Other states want to have all pilots register with the state and pay to be issued “state pilot ID cards”, which is essentially a state pilot license, which is of questionable legality given that the Feds are supposed to have jurisdiction. And, of course none of these numbnuts politicians seem to understand that pilot’s don’t just stay over their own state, we can fly to other places, even :eek: to other countries.
BTW - I have no desire to be a commercial pilot, either. I’m quite happy with being a private citizen enjoying a God’s eye view
Any airline pilot that quit because of 9/11, never should have become a pilot in the first place. If you don’t like to fly then it is understandable that there would seem to be a connection. If you love to fly (pilots do) then there is no reason to quit or not train for doing something that you love to do. I’d personally worry more about having an office in a tall building, but that’s just me.
You can find some statistics at the AOPA website, particularly year-to-year comparisons here. I thought that Flying Magazine used to carry monthly information about certificates, but it may actually be quarterly because I couldn’t find anything in June, 2002.
Here are some comparisons for 2000 and 2001 – and it appears that student starts may have been the only “certificate” area that was effected by 9/11:
**FAA Certificates**
2001 2000
------ -------
Student 87K 93K
Private 262K 252K
ATP 147K 142K
TOTAL 650K 626K
The number of active pilots in the U.S. peaked during the 1970s and has been declining. Since 1990, numbers are down about 10% and student starts have declined more dramatically. However, the number of Air Transport Pilots (ATPs) continue to grow and is at an all-time high.
To the original question, all military services reported dramatic increases in re-enlistment and re-entry by former pilots in the post 9/11 period.
As for general aviation, those of us who fly know first-hand the impact of the grounding of the entire American aircraft fleet after Sept. 11. All flights were prohibited for more than a week; then only IFR was allowed; then VFR – but with restrictions covering all of the major cities – and with several airports in Washington, DC kept closed entirely. Today most restrictions are gone, with 25 “temporary flight restriction” areas over important military facilities. But pilots have been reported for “suspicious” training maneuvers over stadiums, dams, power plants and other locations.
I go to school at Middle Tennessee State University, where we have a large Aerospace program.
Business at our flight school is better than ever. From what I have seen, we haven’t been affected at all by last September (in terms of enrollment).
Thanks, all! This is informative.
:::applause:::