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Let’s bring
pilot training

into the
21st century
Because How You Train Matters

When it comes to aviation safety, how you train and what you train on matters. After training, pilots spend approximately 18 months flying small, slow, single-engine aircraft (in clear weather) to build required time. No training takes place during this gap. By the time pilots accumulate enough flight time for hire, skills relevant to commercial flying have faded. Airlines repair the gap with remedial training, but still see higher failure rates. It’s time to bridge the gap with a more sophisticated solution. 

In 2010, Congress passed the Airline Safety Act (Public Law 111-216). Among other things, this law requires pilots to hold an airline transport pilot certificate (ATP) and its prerequisite 1,500-flight hours to be hired as a First Officer. This change required pilots to gain vastly more pre-hire flight time, without providing financial support for pilots shouldering the burden or measures to ensure the relevance of accumulated flight time. However, the law specifically directs the FAA to provide credit for pilot academic training courses toward some flight hours when the Agency determines this training will enhance safety more than flight hours alone.

QUANTITY. QUALITY?

When it comes to aviation safety, how you train and what you train on matters. For years, RAA has been raising the alarm that the 1,500-flight hour requirement is not having the intended effect of improving pilot qualifications. Today, pilots train on commercial procedures, then are sidelined to build flight hours for more than a year. While building these flight hours, they don’t encounter icing, thunderstorms, stalls/upset recoveries, or myriad other procedures needed for commercial flying. By the time they qualify, they’re out of practice.

The same studies FAA used to craft the rule have been updated several times. Each study shows that pilots gain flight time at the expense of the quality and recency of their training. Overall, pilots today perform worse in airline training compared with before the rule. However, pilots from structured training pathways have better training performance than pilots from hours-based pathways.

Unfortunately, just one-third of pilots qualify through structured training pathways today, despite their proven safety advantage. The FAA approved just three structured training pathways in 2013, with no updates since. Airlines support more structured training pathways, but FAA must act. Safety means following the data. It’s time to move forward.

A DECADE OF DECEPTION

For years, ALPA has been using this chart to show a purported link between airline fatality reductions and a law passed in 2010 (but implemented years later). It’s simply not true.
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There is no silver bullet to safety. Learn more about the constant, cumulative safety enhancements that contribute to today’s safe system here.
Click To See Timeline

What does the FAA say about flight hours and accidents?

“The FAA was unable to find a quantifiable relationship between the 1,500-hour requirement and airplane accidents and hence no benefit from the requirement. For most accidents reviewed by the FAA, both pilots had more than 1,500 hours of flight time and for those SICs that did not, there were other causal factors identified by the NTSB.” See source:

What does the NTSB say about flight hours and accidents?

“We've investigated accidents where we've seen very high-time pilots, and we've also investigated accidents where we've seen low-time pilots. We don't have any recommendations about the appropriate number of hours….” See source:

WHY THE DECEPTION?

ALPA is waging a cynical war against the facts — mischaracterizing proposals, distorting statistics and even blocking important safety advancements in pilot training. Why? Because the same advancements that improve safety also make the career path more accessible, while some hope that a large moat around the career will preserve a pilot shortage and drive wages higher.

Pilots deserve to be, and are, well-compensated. Entry level wages at regional carriers average more than $100,000 per year and senior pilots at large airlines can make $590,000 per year. It’s time to call for an end to manipulative scare tactics.

Is This Training?

RAA has never sought to weaken aviation safety and has never proposed to remove a single hour of aviation training. Instead, we have consistently called for improvements to pilot qualifications, because the current standard permits the accumulation of simple flight hours, including time in simple aircraft or even hot air balloons, that do nothing to improve pilot skills and instead lengthen the time between a pilot’s training completion and eligibility for hire, a period where skills are lost today.

What ALPA Said

IN 2010


“We concur with the recent statement by the Flight Safety Foundation that the public deserves ‘a more sophisticated solution than a blanket move to 1,500 hours…”


– AIR LINE PILOTS ASSOCIATION

Air Line Pilots Association FastRead. December 10, 2010.

Last accessed June 3, 2023

See Source

IN 2010


“A high-time pilot may, for example, be a ‘low experience’ airline pilot if nearly all of his previous flight time had been accumulated in small, slow, single-engine aircraft.”


– AIR LINE PILOTS ASSOCIATION

Air Line Pilots Association White Paper: Producing a Professional Airline Pilot.

Last accessed June 3, 2023

See Source

IN 2010


“We strongly disagree with merely increasing the number of flight hours as a means of improving standards for new airline pilots.”



– AIR LINE PILOTS ASSOCIATION

ALPA Comments to ANPRM on Pilot Certification and Qualification Requirements for Air Carrier Operations, Docket No. FAA-2010-0100; Notice No 10-01

Last accessed June 3, 2023

See Source

THERE IS NO SILVER BULLET. AVIATION SAFETY IS CUMULATIVE.

HERE ARE JUST SOME OF THE SAFETY ADVANCEMENTS ACHIEVED BY THE FAA AND THE INDUSTRY OVER THE LAST SEVERAL DECADES…

2022
FAA confirms that 35 major airports have received Airport Surface Detection System — Model X (ASDE-X) which “…is a surveillance system using radar, multilateration and satellite technology that allows air traffic controllers to track surface movement of aircraft and vehicles."
See More...
2021
FAA reports that 46 U.S. operators have FAA-approved FOQA programs.  FOQA, which started in the 1990’s with four U.S. operators, “…collects and analyzes digital flight data generated during normal operations.”  FAA states, “[t]he information and insights provided by FOQA can improve safety by significantly enhancing training effectiveness, operational procedures, maintenance and engineering procedures, and air traffic control procedures.”
See More...
2021
FAA issues the final rule for the Pilot Records Database which “…requires air carriers and certain other operators to report pilots’ employment history, training, and qualifications to the database. The rule also requires air carriers and certain operators to review records contained in the database when considering pilots for employment.”
See More...
2021
FAA publishes its ANPRM on First Officer Qualifications. The J. Randolph Babbitt, then FAA Administrator detailed the ANPRM before Congress, noting: “I know some people are suggesting that simply increasing the minimum number of hours required for a pilot to fly in commercial aviation is appropriate. As I have stated repeatedly, I do not believe that simply raising quantity – the total number of hours of flying time or experience – without regard to the quality and nature of that time and experience – is an appropriate method by which to improve a pilot’s proficiency in commercial operations. We are looking at ways to enhance the existing process for pilot certification to identify discrete areas where an individual pilot receives and successfully completes training, thus establishing operational experience in areas such as the multi-pilot environment, exposure to icing, high altitude operations and other areas common to commercial air carrier operations. We view this option as being more targeted than merely increasing the number of total flight hours required… There is a difference between knowing a pilot has been exposed to all critical situations during training versus assuming that simply flying more hours automatically provides that exposure.
See More...
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    THERE IS NO SILVER BULLET. AVIATION SAFETY IS CUMULATIVE.

    HERE ARE JUST SOME OF THE SAFETY ADVANCEMENTS ACHIEVED BY THE FAA AND THE INDUSTRY OVER THE LAST SEVERAL DECADES…

    2022
    FAA confirms that 35 major airports have received Airport Surface Detection System — Model X (ASDE-X) which “…is a surveillance system using radar, multilateration and satellite technology that allows air traffic controllers to track surface movement of aircraft and vehicles.” [See: https://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/technology/asde-x.]
    2021
    FAA reports that 46 U.S. operators have FAA-approved FOQA programs.  FOQA, which started in the 1990’s with four U.S. operators, “…collects and analyzes digital flight data generated during normal operations.”  FAA states, “[t]he information and insights provided by FOQA can improve safety by significantly enhancing training effectiveness, operational procedures, maintenance and engineering procedures, and air traffic control procedures.” [See: https://www.faa.gov/newsroom/aviation-voluntary-reporting-programs-1.]
    2021
    FAA issues the final rule for the Pilot Records Database which “…requires air carriers and certain other operators to report pilots’ employment history, training, and qualifications to the database. The rule also requires air carriers and certain operators to review records contained in the database when considering pilots for employment.” [See: https://www.faa.gov/newsroom/faa-completes-rule-establishing-pilot-records-database-increase-safety.]
    2020
    ASIAS participation grows to include “…data from 41 airlines, which according to FAA represents 99 percent of air carrier operations.” [See: https://www.oig.dot.gov/sites/default/files/FAA%20ASIAS%20Final%20Report%20-%2003.10.2021.pdf.]
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    Unlike ALPA, we still stand by our statements. We deserve a stronger, smarter, more sophisticated solution to safety.