Fueled by a booming economy, airliners everywhere are flying full. But as passenger lines grow longer, the lines of those who fly the jets and fix them are steadily shrinking. Air carriers are starting to awaken to a looming shortage of qualified pilots and technicians that has the potential to ground much of the airline industry.

As the world's largest university specializing in aviation and aerospace, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University has launched several initiatives to help ease the shortages and promote longterm solutions. They include direct-hire and training programs, a public information campaign, and plans to forecast and define future skill and training needs.

Good economy bad for recruiting
In this missing persons report, the chief culprit is a muscle-bound economy. More people can afford to fly more often, so airlines have been increasing their fleets and flights to meet the demand and match their rivals. Additional aircraft and flights, in turn, require more pilots to fly them and more technicians to keep them running.
The military, the traditional source of new commercial pilots, has shrunk since the end of the Cold War, and many of its pilots are leaving for higher-paying airline jobs, despite offers of up to $110,000 to reenlist. But even if they all were to quit, there would be airline jobs left unfilled. Many of the openings are being created as more pilots reach the mandatory retirement age of 60.

With a finite pool of qualified personnel to choose from, the major carriers are "skimming" pilots and technicians from the regionals, which are having the most trouble replacing those lured away by higher pay and better benefits.

Several additional factors contribute to the shortfall of technical experts who work on aircraft engines and airframes and keep the planes in the air. With a general unemployment rate of four percent, a skilled trades jobless rate of only two percent, and a smaller number of 20-24-year olds, fewer candidates are available for openings.

Some in the industry feel that an outdated image of technicians as ill-paid "wrench turners" deters young people from entering the field. "The description 'aviation maintenance,' which was widely used in the past, does not correctly portray this tremendously skilled field, which requires an extensive, diversified technical education," says Fred Mirgle, professor of aviation technology at Embry-Riddle.

Shortage hard to measure, but real
The record growth of the U.S. airline industry has hit the regional airlines the hardest, according to Embry-Riddle graduate Kit Darby (BAST'77), president of AIR Inc. The number of qualified candidates has dwindled, dropping to 5,000 in 1998 from 15,000 in 1996, he says, while the market for new pilots has been at record levels in recent years and shows no sign of slowing. "We're at a point where we're seeing 1,000-2,000 jobs every month," he says. Darby hesitates to call the situation a pilot shortage, however, claiming that most of the regionals' problems stem from an inability to train pilots fast enough to make up for the accelerating rate of attrition.

"Airlines have varied the standards to determine what 'qualified' is," Darby adds. "Due to a good pilot market and the Americans with Disabilities Act, pilots today are younger, older, taller, and fatter than they used to be. Twenty-five percent wouldn't have been hired 10-15 years ago because they don't have perfect vision."

"There is a pilot shortage," says Paul McDuffee, Embry-Riddle's vice president of aviation training and industry relations. "It's the magnitude of it that's in question." Based on data from The Canaan Group and its own surveys, the university projects that in the next decade the world's major airline industry will grow by 3.9 percent and need 11,469 new pilots annually. The estimate does not include regional carriers. McDuffee says Embry-Riddle has the capability to target and meet the training needs of 2.5 percent of the entire new pilot market.

Nationwide, 137,000 people are employed as aviation technicians. According to trade groups such as the Professional Aviation Maintenance Association and the National Air Transportation Association, the industry requires 10,000-12,000 additional specialists every year to replace retirees and fill new positions. Last year, however, only 7,400 new technicians
were certified, a 20-percent decrease from 1988. In order to keep their jets flying, the airlines need roughly two technicians for every pilot.

Embry-Riddle has a big stake in heading off the shortages. In any given year, more than 2,500 students on its residential campuses are pursuing a degree in aeronautical science, favored by professional pilots, the largest number enrolled in the nation at any university. An additional 550 are enrolled in aviation maintenance technology programs. The university produces more pilots and rated officers for the U.S. Air Force than any other non-military institution and more new employees for the major airlines than any other collegiate aviation program.

Training more pilots, faster
Since 1997, Embry-Riddle has created three fast-track programs designed to shrink the gap between a student's completion of an aeronautical science degree and employment on a flight crew. Attracting pilots has become an important concern for East Coast Flight Services, an executive charter service that is feeling the crunch as many of its pilots are lured away by larger airlines. To recover from the loss, the company is participating in one of the university's direct-hire programs.

The program is a valuable resource for the company, which is often in need of new talent. "When we anticipate a new position opening at East Coast Flight Services, we call Embry-Riddle because they share a special bond with their recent alumni," said Brenda Brown, vice president and general manager. "It has been our experience that they can always put us in touch with a candidate who meets or exceeds our time requirements. Many recent alumni start out in the right hand seat until they've accumulated enough hours to move into the pilot's seat."

To make the transition to the charter operation easier, plans are underway to install some of East Coast's equipment at the university to give potential pilots first-hand experience with their aircraft. Embry-Riddle has similar direct-hire partnerships with Atlantic Coast Airlines and Atlantic Southeast Airlines.

Partners in pilot training
The agreements were made possible by the 1997 opening of the Advanced Flight Simulation Center on the Daytona Beach campus, a joint venture with FlightSafety International (FSI). At the controls of Boeing 737-300 and Beech 1900D simulators, students in the direct-hire programs safely replicate advanced flight and recovery maneuvers, reducing the overall training time needed to land a pilot's job with the sponsoring carrier. The simulators also meet the training needs of pilots sent by Commutair, Continental, Delta, Mesa Air Group, Pan Am, Skyway Airlines, and other carriers. The university is also providing flight training services to non-U.S. carriers, including Saudi Arabian Airlines and Turkish Air, and to INAC, the Argentinian aviation academy. Negotiations are underway to develop professional pilot training programs in South Africa and several other countries.

As the demand for pilot training has grown, FSI has seen an increased utilization of its simulators, which are located at 51 sites worldwide. "In 1997, we trained approximately 50,000 pilots," says Beth Thornton, manager of the company's New Hire Program, headquartered in the university's simulation center. Her program, which evaluates and places new pilots with participating airlines, screened 1,189 candidates and placed 793 new pilots with seven airlines and one corporate carrier in 1998.

Embry-Riddle is a partner with the FAA, NASA, and industry in the Advanced General Aviation Transport Experiment (AGATE), a visionary effort to design small planes that will put personal flight within reach of anyone in the United States. A $2.5 million research project led by Steve Hampton, professor of aeronautical science, is developing curricula and training materials to reduce the time and cost of getting an instrument rating for the new aircraft.

In tests, the new curriculum has reduced ground and flight training time by 29 percent and costs by 20 percent, and saves 83 percent in total elapsed time in the production of a pilot certified for visual and instrument flight rules. Partners in the project are Advanced Creations Inc., Cessna Aircraft Co., Jeppesen Sanderson, Ohio State University, and Raytheon Aircraft.

Building on a 73-year track record in pilot education and its experience creating new pilot materials for AGATE, Embry-Riddle President George Ebbs has challenged the university to become a "center of excellence for the development of pilots of the next century." His initiative, dubbed "Pilot 2020," would forge partnerships with industry to define the skills and knowledge pilots will need to be successful in the cockpits of the future.

Industry rallies
To tackle the technician shortage, Embry-Riddle has been taking a different approach. Last November, the university called on competing companies that employ and train aviation technicians to discuss the problem at an emergency conference in Daytona Beach that it organized with Aviation Maintenance magazine. It was the first time aircraft maintenance competitors have joined together to face an industry-wide problem. At a follow-up conference in February, which drew 80 attendees, four working groups recommended solutions.

Eileen Taylor, principal of Aviation High School, an aviation technician magnet school in New York City, and a member of the education working group, said aviation companies, schools, and universities must communicate more about aviation careers and career fairs "so we can better prepare our young people to work in aviation." She also urged industry to provide student scholarships and internships, partnerships with educators, equipment and parts, tours, and resources for guidance counselors.

David Shotsberger, Continental Airlines' senior director of technical operations for the southeast U.S., Europe and Caribbean and chair of the professional working group, agreed. "We need to talk about the skills that are needed, foster mentoring relationships with interested students, and get the word out that there will always be a good future and solid jobs in this field."

The military and government group recommended making it easier for military aircraft technicians to transfer their training
and experience to the civilian marketplace. They said there is a need to develop training programs that "bridge" the gap between military training and that which the FAA requires for the airframe and powerplant certificate.

“Make it Fly”
Conference attendees voted to launch a coordinated effort by aviation companies, educators, and government to attract more young people to careers in aviation maintenance technology through education, training, career counseling, and public outreach. They coined the marketing slogan "Make It Fly," and formed the Make It Fly Foundation to coordinate the campaign. The foundation's director is Michael Sonshine, chief operating officer of STS Holdings, an aviation staffing, compliance, and training company.

The next meeting of the industry group is June 8 on Embry-Riddle's Daytona Beach campus. Information is also available at www.MakeItFly.com. The "Make It Fly" campaign was introduced to the aviation maintenance, repair and overhaul industry at the MRO'99 trade show last April. At the show, Embry-Riddle President George Ebbs also unveiled "Technician 2010," a new program that will use the university's education and research expertise to help the industry develop a new model for training technicians.

New training and career models needed
The plan calls for the university to work with industry partners to identify the skills technicians will need in the future, develop new training content, streamline the training process, and lobby for regulatory reforms. This is needed because as aircraft technology becomes increasingly complex, the training and expertise of technicians, particularly in computers and electronics, is becoming more advanced and requires continuous upgrading.
If the aviation industry wants to stem the exodus of technicians, Ebbs says it must develop new models for training and career development. For example, corporate sponsorship of training would free young people from having to pay $10,000-$15,000 up front and get them into a job from which they could repay their employer. He says companies also need to treat aviation technology as a profession, which means giving their employees opportunities for ongoing training and promotion to management positions.
For information about "Pilot 2020," or to share your ideas, contact Thomas Connolly, dean of the School of Aviation, at 386-226-6291 or connollt@cts.db.erau.edu. For the "Technician 2010" program, contact Paul McDuffee, vice president of aviation training and industry relations, at 386-226-6201 or mcduffep@db.erau.edu.

By Robert Ross,
with reporting by Valerie Jordan Reece
News article courtesy of Embry Riddle University