Comments on: Low CFI Birthrate & Graying Population Adding to Teacher Shortage

By: Aerotrekking Back to Coffin Corner - Jetwhine: Aviation Buzz and Bold Opinion

Aerotrekking Back to Coffin Corner - Jetwhine: Aviation Buzz and Bold Opinion — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 15:49:54 +0000

[...] has surfaced in many conversations, including those that have followed several past posts, Low CFI Birthrate & Graying Population Adding to Teacher Shortage and Cessna Pilot Centers May be GA’s Last Hope for Reversing Pilot Population Decline. [...]

By: Scott

Scott — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 14:23:51 +0000

The supply and demand forces acting on CFIs and the people they teach to fly is a small part of the larger changes going on in aviation. In its second century, powered flight seems to be dividing into three separte pipelines: military, transportation (airline, corporate, and personal-business), and recreation.

The military has always had its own self-contained training program, and back it the day it was the leading source of airline pilots.

When the supply of discharged military trained pilots didn’t meet commercial demands, the collegiate aviation programs stepped up, and they are where pilots seeking a career get their start.

General avaiation, natrually, has contributed to the carreer pool, but it is where most of the recreational and personal-business flyers earned their wings. These pilots represent the greatest percentage of pilots (based on FAA flight-time figures) and are what give GA its economies of scale.

They are the supply–and the demand–depending on the goods and services being dicussed, but they have to be considered in the context of the bigger picture. There has not been a shift in training from FBOs to collegiate programs, there has been a separation based on the students’ aviation aspirations. There is still a need for good CFIs at FBOs to training those who want to fly for fun or personal business transportation. (Thanks for the reminder that airline pilots often don’t use their CFI because they don’t want to, but because external forces prohibit it.)

In the end, no matter where they teach, the CFI shortage is just one part of the larger problem facing aviation today. Solving this problem is not something we can do by focusing on our slice of it at the expense of all others. From ultralight pilots to globe-girdling airlines, aviation is commercial organism fighting for survival in a world of rapidly diminishing resources. Each aspect of flying is an “organ” that contributes to the health of the whole, and a weakness that affects the organ also affects organism.

By: geraldz

geraldz — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 20:44:16 +0000

Don’t worry, Scott. With the avalanche of furloughs coming soon to an airline near you there will be a resurgence of flight instructors. And with the price of avgas, perhaps more flight schools will purchase light-sport aircraft.

As you may be aware, anyone working for a part 121 carrier is limited in the number of commercial flying hours per month. This is why I (and other folks who follow the rules) don’t teach “on the side.” My airline specifically forbids any outside flying “for compensation or reward . . . .”

By: Bill Palmer

Bill Palmer — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 15:14:20 +0000

Is this a supply and demand issue?
There’s no point in having a lot of CFIs if there are not the numbers of students to be able to support them, and we know those numbers are down.
If there is also a shift in training from local airports to universities that puts the demand for FBO based CFIs even lower.
It’s great that guys like Max can keep a full schedule and charge $80 an hour at the same time. I doubt if a lot of the young student population can afford that.