“do you want to hire people that are good or those that are the best?”
I want to hire folks who do a good job at a marketable price. My dentist is not the finest. Under TRICARE, I haven’t seen an actual doctor since I retired...and since the base is shorthanded, even the PA I used to sometimes see has been replaced by a nurse (?) on the other end of a phone. The drivers in the cars around me could kill me, yet they have minimal skills. Most have never had any advanced driver training at a racing school, for example. I ride horses, and my horses were neither bred nor trained by the best to be the best, yet a bolting horse could kill me just as thoroughly as any airline pilot.
In most things, we expose ourselves to some level of danger and accept we are not getting the best. Since the old pilot standards had already resulted in an incredible safety record, why did we need to tighten it to the point almost no one can afford to learn to fly?
“Since the old pilot standards had already resulted in an incredible safety record, why did we need to tighten it to the point almost no one can afford to learn to fly?”
Excellent question. Here’s the answer: Regulations had little to do with safety. Government is rarely the answer. Airlines needed safe pilots because crashes are terribly expensive. Airline safety requirements far exceeded FAA safety requirements. However, as businesses get dumber and dumber along with all other businesses, their safety decisions suffer to the point they have been reduced to meeting only the minimum FAA regulations.
Basically, if given a choice between hiring a pilot with a basic commercial ticket versus hiring a guy that has an ATP, I'd pick the ATP because they are indeed safer. . .and with the glut of ATP-rated guys out there, they will work for the same pay on a commuter airlines as a basic commercial pilot.
The cost of learning to fly is way tooo high (thank you personal injury lawyers), so MOST major airline pilots received their training via the military. They don't pay to learn to fly, the get paid to learn to fly.
Average Joe civilian pilot pays his way to get a private ticket first. That cost will not go up if an ATP is required to fly commuter airlines. The Joe pilot will pay his way to earn a commercial and instructor ticket and from there fly short-hop deliveries in very small aircraft, instruct students. . .all geared toward logging hours and earning higher tickets, eventually earning an ATP.
Paying for an ATP out-right only happens if you are like a Saudi Prince with billions in the bank and can afford to pay the tab. So the "cost to learn to fly" will not go up because of the ATP requirement (the 1500hr requirement).