Sky High Club: Exploring the barriers to becoming a pilot
The travel industry is in chaos right now as the effects of the pandemic continue to be felt. Most long-haul flights are operating short of crew, while a shortage of airport workers and cleaners is leading to cancelled flights, hours-long check-in queues and delays in getting passengers and crew off the plane. The disruption is because of the thousands of aviation jobs that were lost during the Covid pandemic, as many businesses struggled to recruit enough new staff in time to deal with the sudden demand in travel once Covid rules were eased. Pilots, along with the rest of the sector, report exhaustion and frustration at the increased demand put on them. Some have been forced to leave the industry as their company let them go during the pandemic, while others decided to leave the profession in favour of a new career. Martin Chalk is the general secretary of British Airline Pilots' Association (BALPA). Chalk became a British Airways captain in 1988, but retired in March 2020 and took voluntary redundancy, just before the worst of the pandemic hit the aviation industry. “I knew there was a strong possibility of some compulsory redundancies [due to the pandemic],” he says. “And so if I didn't retire, then somebody else further down the list would have to be forced out at another point in their lives where they were probably much less capable of dealing with it financially.” He was soon asked to help out with BALPA and ran for and won the position of general secretary. He explains that nowadays most pilots train in two ways - either by going to a training school, which is full-time, takes two years and costs upwards of GBP120,000, or by undertaking training themselves, often known as the ‘modular route’ where you learn in stages. The latter allows people to hold down a job while they pursue becoming a pilot, but this still costs around GBB70,000-80,000. Sometimes, airlines would sponsor trainees to undertake the first type of training and pay for all their fees with the caveat they would have to work with them for a certain number of years.<br/>
https://portal.staralliance.com/cms/news/hot-topics/2022-08-17/general/sky-high-club-exploring-the-barriers-to-becoming-a-pilot
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Sky High Club: Exploring the barriers to becoming a pilot
The travel industry is in chaos right now as the effects of the pandemic continue to be felt. Most long-haul flights are operating short of crew, while a shortage of airport workers and cleaners is leading to cancelled flights, hours-long check-in queues and delays in getting passengers and crew off the plane. The disruption is because of the thousands of aviation jobs that were lost during the Covid pandemic, as many businesses struggled to recruit enough new staff in time to deal with the sudden demand in travel once Covid rules were eased. Pilots, along with the rest of the sector, report exhaustion and frustration at the increased demand put on them. Some have been forced to leave the industry as their company let them go during the pandemic, while others decided to leave the profession in favour of a new career. Martin Chalk is the general secretary of British Airline Pilots' Association (BALPA). Chalk became a British Airways captain in 1988, but retired in March 2020 and took voluntary redundancy, just before the worst of the pandemic hit the aviation industry. “I knew there was a strong possibility of some compulsory redundancies [due to the pandemic],” he says. “And so if I didn't retire, then somebody else further down the list would have to be forced out at another point in their lives where they were probably much less capable of dealing with it financially.” He was soon asked to help out with BALPA and ran for and won the position of general secretary. He explains that nowadays most pilots train in two ways - either by going to a training school, which is full-time, takes two years and costs upwards of GBP120,000, or by undertaking training themselves, often known as the ‘modular route’ where you learn in stages. The latter allows people to hold down a job while they pursue becoming a pilot, but this still costs around GBB70,000-80,000. Sometimes, airlines would sponsor trainees to undertake the first type of training and pay for all their fees with the caveat they would have to work with them for a certain number of years.<br/>
