How The 1,500 Hour Rule To Become A Commercial Pilot Compromises Safety
by Gary Leff on June 7, 2023
After the Colgan Air crash in 2009, Congress was looking to take action on aviation safety. ALPA, the largest pilot union, was ready with items from its legislative agenda that it had been pushing for years. They won the ‘1,500 hour’ rule, flight time required before a pilot could be hired as a first officer at a commercial airline.
This was adopted even though both Colgan Air pilots had.. more than 1,500 hours. The rule wasn’t meant to prevent future Colgan Air disasters. It was meant to make it harder to become a pilot.
According to the FAA the 1,500 hour rule does not promote safety.
Read the rest of the article here.
This was adopted even though both Colgan Air pilots had.. more than 1,500 hours. The rule wasn’t meant to prevent future Colgan Air disasters. It was meant to make it harder to become a pilot.
- Restricting the supply of pilots increases the bargaining power of pilots. A pilot shortage drives up pilot wages.
- When United Airlines faced a pilot strike in 1985 they started hiring replacement pilots. That’s simply not possible today, a huge victory for unions.
- These are unstructured hours.
- Pilots go through training on commercial procedures and on non-normal operations
- Then they spend perhaps a year and a half flying single engine planes in good weather building up hours.
- They aren’t dealing with stalls, storms, de-icing, or numerous other problems that you want a pilot to be experienced in.
According to the FAA the 1,500 hour rule does not promote safety.
Read the rest of the article here.