[blackwasp]

Paints a very grim picture of the state of things in the airline industry. Because, if pilots are not working, imagine the number support staff not working.

More than half of the world's airline pilots are no longer flying for a living, according to a worldwide survey highlighting how the Covid-19 pandemic has devastated the profession.
The Pilot Survey 2021, by aviation recruitment firm Goose and publisher FlightGlobal, showed just 43% of pilots remain in their job. The October poll covered almost 2,600 flight crew worldwide.

While vaccinations remain aviation's great hope for a recovery, infection flareups and mutant variants of the virus have dashed prospects for a steady return of scheduled services.

The International Air Transport Association has said flying may not return to pre-pandemic levels until 2024, putting a lengthy strain on the pilot profession

In the survey, 30% of respondents described themselves as unemployed and 17% said they were furloughed. Another 6% still work in aviation but in a non-flying role, and 4% had switched to a different industry altogether.

Of the regions represented in the survey, the U.S. was least hardest hit, with 20% of pilots unemployed. China had the largest group of furloughed pilots at 24%. In a sign of some optimism, almost three-quarters of pilots expect the industry to fully recover in one to three years.

Source

[catchjyoti]

Here is a BBC article on how pilots have been forced to change their careers completely.

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-55803244

[libranof1987]

I follow a few pilots on social media and by the looks of it (and very obviously), flying time has significantly reduced for pilots and cabin crew. Their pages are mostly filled with domestic updates than of their flying.

Just open FlightRadar24 and you'll see that both, international and domestic travel, across the world is a fraction of what it was same time last year.

Terribly hit, it seems, is Canada. A handful of Canadian pilots regularly post about initiatives that their union is running, just short of begging for Govt. intervention and bail-out of the Canadian aviation industry.

Perhaps members working with the aviation industry in India might help us with how the situation here is.

[Jeroen]

I know quite a few pilots in Europe and the USA and they are all in the same boat. In addition some of the younger pilots also carry a heavy financial burden. Many pilots pay for their own initial training. The cost could be up to a few hundred thousand dollars.

Very often banks were very happy to lend you the money as a loan or even as a mortgage. Some carriers take over your pilot loan when you join them. But for many it is something that is a heavy burden for the first 10-15 years of being a pilot.

It is not that easy to find a different job as a pilot. Certainly a well paying job becomes a real challenge. Yes, pilots have some great skills that could be useful outside the cockpit, but then again, they have very little experience outside the cockpit. Good to see some employers recognising what pilots could bring to other industries as mentioned in the BBC article. But I think it is the exception, not the the norm.

Here is a very different story from Australia, where Airbus A380 pilots have become bus drivers!

https://onemileatatime.com/qantas-pilots-bus-drivers/

Jeroen

[R2_d2]

One of my friend is an air traffic controller and has to go work only twice a week due to reduced load now.

[landcruiser123]

Very tough times and interesting times too. I know for a fact that there'll be a lot of pent up demand for flights (on some routes) after vaccinations. But yeah, business travel might not fully recover at all.

Originally Posted by libranof1987

Terribly hit, it seems, is Canada.

My guess is that there are many small-time pilots in Canada who connect remote communities (often with no road access) and they are struggling due to lack to tourism and travel by the locals.

Originally Posted by Jeroen

It is not that easy to find a different job as a pilot. Certainly a well paying job becomes a real challenge. Yes, pilots have some great skills that could be useful outside the cockpit..

You make a very good point. Re-skilling is something that will become more important in the coming decades.

Military persons & Pilots are trained to take on extremely challenging tasks under intense pressure. I guess employers & the government should realize that such people have excellent judgement skills & ability to think straight under pressure. I'm sure their soft skills can be made use in many industries.

Wonder whether some pilots can be called as consultants to launch drone projects? Can they also serve some underserved communities?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epYiIMl4W4U

[SnS_12]

In India the likes of Indigo first fired the training staff as new hiring had been completely put on hold. The worst hit would be the ones who had just joined the industry after spending a huge sum on their studies/training and have a huge loan on their head with no job or worst the ones who are still studying/learning to fly knowing the fact that once they are done with their course they might have to take up a different job all together just to survive.

Emirates, which was considered one of the best pay masters had to let go a huge part of their workforce just to curtail the rising costs. The aircrews salary mostly consists of flying hours and with no flights I heard some cabin crews in Emirates were just drawing US $500 a month which is just not enough to even survive in Dubai and hence had to go back to their home country.

[srini1785]

Noob question alert: Is there some requirements that say that pilots who don't have current flying experience need to be re evaluated before flying again?. What does our DGCA say regarding this ?.

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by srini1785

Noob question alert: Is there some requirements that say that pilots who don't have current flying experience need to be re evaluated before flying again?. What does our DGCA say regarding this ?.

I cant comment on DGCA requirements, there might be some differences. We have some commercial pilots on the forum and I am sure they know every last detail of what it takes to stay current.

Just from my own (dated) experience: As a pilot you have several different “currency” requirements. Roughly speaking there are three different groups:

1) Medical
2) General
3) Specific

1) medical
Every pilot needs a current medical certificate. Depending on what kind of pilot license you have and what kind of flight operation you are involved there are different classes. Most commercial pilot would have what the FAA calls a Class A medical certificate. Which is the most stringent and also the one with the shortest expiration date. The validity is partly depending on the age of the pilot and the kind of flight operation. In practice for most pilots it will mean they will have to undergo a full medical examination.

2) General 3) Specific
Most pilots hold multiple ratings and certificates. Some can be generic or more general, such as an IFR (Instrument Flight Rules) or for instance a certain type rating.

On all these certification come with limited validity. So every so often you have to take a test and show the appropriate levels of airmanship. In addition, to stay current within the validity period you might also have to conduct certain types of flight operations on a regular basis.

E.g. for me to keep my IFR rating current I had to comply with the following:

To remain instrument current, the regulation requires that within the preceding 6 calendar months from the month of the flight, a person perform and log at least; 6 instrument approaches, holding procedures and tasks, and intercepting and tracking courses through the use of navigational electronic systems

My currency requirements were based on my being a Private pilot and not a “commercial pilot”. So a lot less stringent; but let me quote a bit of verbatim from the rules:

According to the rules, no person may act as a pilot in command of an aircraft carrying passengers or of an aircraft certificated for more than one pilot flight crewmember unless that person has made at least three takeoffs and three landings within the preceding 90 days, and the person acted as the sole manipulator of the flight controls; and the required takeoffs and landings were performed in an aircraft of the same category, class and type (if a type rating is required); and, if the aircraft to be flown is an airplane with a tailwheel, the takeoffs and landings must have been made to a full stop in an airplane with a tailwheel.

So staying current for any pilot needs quite a bit of understanding of what the rules are! I am not quite sure these days, but I believe that for most “commercial pilots” (i.e. the pilots operating the big planes) all currency check will be rolled into one. So they tend to have to do a check ride, usually on a simulator, every 6-9 months, where all appropriate checks are done.

For some there might be some special flight operations checks and endorsement. E.g. there are some airports that require special certification. And only pilots frequenting that airport will need to have it.

The biggest challenge is going to be to get all the pilots up to speed again. By and large one could say that the whole of the certification and currency regime is designed for aviators who fly a lot or at least regularly. And most pilots and experts will tell you that if you stick to the minimum flight requirements you might be legally current, but not necessarily really safe. So to a large extend we are entering unchartered terotority. We have never experience a situation where virtually all pilots have not flown for such an extended period of time.

If a pilot had been ill for say 6-9 month, in the past he/she would have to build up currency/do all the test etc. And most carriers would ensure he/she would fly for the first 2-3 months with some real experienced pilots. But everybody has been sitting idle. I am not sure if carriers are still training and maintaining some level of currency on for instance simulators?

Would be great is one of our resident commercial pilots could expand a bit on this.

Jeroen

[docsr]

A real coincidence, this interesting story appeared in a news feed just a few minutes ago, relating to senior Qantas pilots in Sydney-quite heartwarming and melancholy at the same time. A truly 'new' world!

https://youtu.be/ZewomnhhbiE

[kutts]

Being part of the airline industry albeit on the software side I can see the huge difference in operations. It's really tough for all and there are millions of people working on auxillary services related to the travel industry.

Restarting is not easy. Just like Jeroen said, pilots and cabin crew will have to go through qualification recertification. Easier said than done with very few aircraft in the air. Same applies for aircraft. You cannot just take an aircraft from the covers and start flying it in couple of hours. Most airlines try to rotate aircraft to keep them operationally ready. It's not efficient since ideally you would want to use minimum aircraft flying. It's a tough balance.

[hdus001]

Airline traffic is so low these days, Sydney International airport now lets General Aviation planes land there.

Here's us from last week. I'm on the left seat, and have 2 friends along, they are pilots too.:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBq7k-PCm64