Cutting pilot training hours or weakening qualification requirements undermines decades of progress and puts passengers and crews at risk.
For decades, the United States has led the world in airline safety due to strong pilot training and qualification requirements.
Some airlines have pushed to drastically cut the training and qualification requirements that keep our skies safe, claiming that these regulations are too onerous, costly, and time-consuming. These airlines have cited a fake “pilot shortage” to argue that current high training standards are slowing the pipeline of pilots.
This claim ignores the fact that there are more than enough pilots to meet the current demand.
Pilot training and qualification regulations are critical to aviation safety, and there is no shortcut to the flight deck.
flight hours are required by law to become an airline pilot.
Pilots spend numerous hours each year training, refining their skills, and preparing for the unexpected. To receive the Airline Transport Pilot (ATP) certificate, which is required to fly a commercial airliner, first officers must have logged at least 1,500 hours of flight time. However, under law, the FAA allows first officers (or “copilots”) to have as little as 750 hours of flight experience based on the rigor and method of their flight training. There is no need to change pilot qualifications.
Proposals to weaken pilot training and qualification requirements to manage pilot supply are inappropriate and unsafe. ALPA has supported changes in the treatment of student loan programs to help ease the expense and burden of pilot training rather than undermining the safety of the industry by reducing pilot training and qualification standards.
U.S. pilots meet the highest qualification requirements in the world, and we are proud that, with 45,000 flights a day transporting nearly 3 million passengers, the United States has the safest skies in the world.
February 12, 2009
Colgan Air Flight 3407 crashed near Buffalo, N.Y., killing all 49 people on board and one person on the ground. Investigators found that inadequate pilot training contributed to the accident, leading Congress to pass the Airline Safety Act of 2010, which established the current training standards.
Airline safety is built on a strong foundation of rigorous pilot training and experience requirements. Weakening these standards would reverse years of progress and introduce unnecessary risks into commercial aviation. The 1,500-hour rule and other pilot training regulations exist for a reason: to protect lives.
Some airlines are pushing for shortcuts that would lower the bar for pilot experience, putting passengers and crews at risk. ALPA strongly opposes these efforts and calls on Congress to uphold the proven training standards that have made U.S. aviation the safest in the world.
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