Right Seat

If the aviation bug had bit you hard more than five years ago, you would have had a difficult decision to make. Risk it all by investing in training with the outside hope of making it to the big leagues? Maybe you were going into college and looking at tens of thousands of dollars in loans. Or you were a career-changer and faced giving up a comfortable living. Either way, the prospect was a gamble. When most airlines were laying off pilots (“furlough” in industry speak), the options didn’t look good for dreamers.

Today the situation has flipped. There are many ways you can measure the immense growth in pilot opportunities, but perhaps the most reliable is to read the advertisements in this magazine for regional airlines looking for pilots. Those airlines are aware that most of you are just starting your training, but they want to know you now. And they are offering massive hiring bonuses to get your attention. It’s practically unheard of, and is a shocking and abrupt change from just three years ago.

There are other indicators that it’s a pilot’s market. Airlines are parking airplanes for lack of crews; pay and benefits are rising in the regional airlines; and some major carriers have set up flow-through agreements with regional partners that guarantee an applicant special treatment as he or she works up the chain. Finally, talk to a flight school owner. Business is great and growth is limited by one critical resource: flight instructors. It seems that every time I talk to a school owner, the owner’s first question is whether I know someone looking for an instructor job.

Like baseball, the professional flying world works on a system of ever-increasing steps in pay and prestige. American, FedEx, UPS, United, Delta, and Southwest airlines are the big leagues, the Yankees of the skies. Everyone wants to fly for them. Each has its pick of the best candidates. Years ago that would have been a mix of regional airline pilots and those retiring from the military (which is also offering massive signing bonuses, incidentally). Since the number of military pilots has decreased, most pilots are coming from the regional airlines. Then the regional airlines have to fill the empty seats, and they generally turn to flight instructors. The flight school has customers and it needs quality teachers, and on it goes.

One aspect of the pilot shortage (yes, it’s real, can we stop debating it now?) that doesn’t get much attention is that the major airlines also pull from corporate operators. Which of course means that there are phenomenal opportunities these days to fly beautiful, modern corporate aircraft to exciting places for good money. Most pilots know someone about 25 years old flying Gulfstreams all over the world.

If you’re convinced that now is the right time—and it is—the next question is how to ride the wave. There are two basic requirements to qualify—you need flight time and a college degree. Although it’s true regional airlines will hire you without a degree, major airlines still like to see that bachelor’s, and, regardless of requirements, a degree makes you a more attractive candidate.

This month we dive into aviation colleges and universities. These degree-granting institutions range from the aviation-specific to the big state schools that offer aviation majors. The benefits of attending an aviation college are numerous, but two stand out. The first is a faster path to the right seat of an airline, and the second is networking. Aviation is a small community, and whether you’re looking to work for Boeing or fly one, the people you meet in school will help that goal immensely.

With so many great colleges to choose from, pilot wages increasing, and job prospects strong, it’s a great time to be a pilot. Enjoy the ride.