Demand for Pilots Expected to Soar

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Demand for Pilots Expected to Soar by Michael Zaporzan

Air travel has become more popular and prevalent than ever before. To keep up with increasing demand from the public, airlines will be expanding their fleets and flight offerings which means the need for key staff, especially trained pilots, is going to skyrocket.

Boeing alone is planning on adding 39,620 aircrafts to their global fleet by 2035, an initiative valued at $5.9 trillion. According to a forecast by Boeing Co., this will require recruiting some 617,000 pilots, or 30,850 pilots a year for the next two decades, to keep pace with these new planes on order.

On top of that, carriers will be working against the clock as they struggle to replace pilots entering retirement, staff up to comply with stricter federal limits on duty hours, and fulfill staff needs for new routes to Cuba and Latin America.

Boeing predicts there will be the need for 1,12,000 new pilots in North America over the next 20 years. Furthermore, they see some 1,04,000 aviators required for Europe as travel continues to grow between countries on the continent.

As China overtakes North American as the largest travel market, the Asia-Pacific region is expected to account for about 40% of total new hires. And the Middle East is forecasted to need 58,000 pilots over the two decades, about 2,000 fewer than Boeing forecast a year ago. Flying within the Middle East region is changing as countries shift away from very large aircraft likeAirbus’s A380 superjumbo towards smaller models.

The life of a pilot isn’t easy, but if you’re already in the field or looking to get into it in the coming years, it’s an especially good time for the industry.

Challenges When Flying Abroad

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You always hear about the hassles that are seemingly inherent to travel. Vacationers, notorious for voicing even the most interesting complaints, often do have every right to be annoyed. Traveling to different countries, with different policies, customs, and languages can be difficult, even for those whose job it is to get you there. Of course, you would figure that experience pilots and flight staff have done this one too many times for it to be a hassle but you would be quite surprised. They have to deal with the usual drawn-out paperwork, ramp checks, which can get more time consuming, for example, if you deal with SAFA, the European equivalent of the FAA and Transport Canada. Of course, there are also differences in flight rules that may depend on where you are flying into. On top of keeping all of this in mind, your flight’s crew have other concerns as well.

No matter how many times a similar obstacle is encountered when flying abroad, even highly experienced pilots like Ron Rapp find themselves exclaiming, “What a country!”

Below are some of the other hurdles that pilots and their flight staff encounter time and time again:

Problems with Visas: Different destinations, different Visa policies. And sometimes those policies are enough to leave you dumbfounded. A licensed pilot missing their flight because of Visa holdups? Insane. Not being allowed entry, even when all the paperwork checks out, because you just recently flew in from a country that your destination is not on friendly terms with? Now that can get annoying.

Customs can be a problem anywhere: This is usually what travelers dread the most. It can be a slow process and different countries also do it differently. But perhaps going through Customs in the United States is the worst. In fact, even U.S. Customs agents have had trouble going through U.S. Customs. Think about that for a bit. Diplomatic passports, active Immigration and Customs Enforcement credentials, and yet they too can be delayed enough while having to go through U.S. Customs.

Handlers abroad: International travel often requires the use of handlers on the ground who can lead pilots and the aircrews through anything unfamiliar or act as the middleman when language barriers present themselves. While this is essential when needed, getting paired with a handler who is not so good at their job can slow down processes and even become costly.

Speaking of costly: Aircrews used to flying in North America may not be entirely familiar with the expenses associated with flying into other countries. As per a story shared by Ron Rapp about a pilot he used to fly with: “In Geneva, an Italian pilot with whom I used to fly reported paying more than $1,000 to have a bag of ice delivered to the aircraft.”

Preparation and working with trustworthy third parties clearly goes a long way for those that make your next flight possible.

Also, a bit more on ramp checks, check out the video below for some quick advice on what NOT to do during a ramp check:

How Special Mission Aircraft Have Changed Our World

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Have you ever noticed a funny-looking aircraft and wondered what its purpose was? Most people’s first thoughts are something like “government” or “military,” but there are countless fascinating nuances that go into the creation and use of special mission aircraft. They might be packed with sensors and pods, or they might not even fly the same way a normal business jet flies. No matter what they do, these aircraft help aviation and science make progress. So it’s no wonder an environmental research aircraft recently caught pilot Ron Rapp’s eye.

HIAPER (High-performance Instrumented Airborne Platform for Environmental Research) aircraft in flight (DI01481)

NOAA Gulfstream V

Rapp writes on his blog that he saw a colorful NOAA Gulfstream V while on an assignment in Hawaii and found out that it was a “High-performance Instrumented Airborne Platform for Environmental Research,” known more simply as HIAPER. Because it was supported by the National Center for Atmospheric Research and because it was a Gulfstream aircraft, Rapp concluded that HIAPER was supposed to gather data on storm systems brewing in the area at the time.

The Gulfstream has high altitude capability and is able to drop tools that measure factors like temperature, pressure, humidity and wind as they fall into storms in oceanic areas. This is integral to predicting landfall accuracy.

I see Rapp’s post on special mission aircraft as covering two main categories (besides transporting people and supplies, of course): nature and space. From tracking the weather to eradicating harmful fruit flies from the environment (the latter of which Rapp did by dropping sterile files onto land while hand-flying modified U-21As at low altitudes), special mission aircraft help us modify our natural environment for the better.

And as for space? Special mission aircraft are the best thing we’ve got for simulating spacecraft. Heavily modified Gulfstream II jets (pictured below) were actually used by NASA in Space Shuttle simulations for decades. Now this is what I meant when I said some aircraft even fly differently: both Spey engines on the jets ran in reverse at 92% N2 to match the steepness of the shuttle’s descent!

Shuttle Landing Simulator - NASA

NASA – Gulfstream II

Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA)

Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA)

Beyond simulation, Rapp notes his recent experience with the pilot of a Boeing 747 (NASA – SOFIA) (pictured above) that contained a huge space telescope in its tail– no small feat considering the telescope had to be exposed to open air while the cabin remained pressurized. And yet it worked, showing how vital special mission aircraft are for accessing not just spots here on Earth, but up and beyond.