Pilot classes soar in popularity

Stacy J. Willis

Sunday, Sept. 26, 1999 | 9:33 a.m.

Brad Krell flies a single engine airplane to 6,500 feet and then, in midair, he stalls it.

On purpose.

"I'd say the hardest thing about learning to fly is getting the confidence to do training maneuvers like that," Krell, 18, said. "I stall it myself and hope nothing goes wrong as we recover."

Krell, a graduate of Rancho High School's Academy of Aerospace and Aviation magnet program, was scheduled to take the test for his private pilot's license on Friday.

As he moves into the licensed-to-fly ranks, he joins more than 618,300 pilots in the United States -- a number that until last year had been in steady decline for two decades, according to the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association.

"I hear that in a couple of years pilots are going to be really needed," said Krell, who plans to join the Air Force, attend college, and become a commercial airline pilot.

Ten years ago Krell's plans might not have made much sense -- it was understood that pilots who had the sought-after commercial airlines positions were holding fast to their jobs.

But after a long stall of its own, the U.S. pilot market has opened up -- owing to the age-induced mandatory retirement of a generation of Vietnam-era pilots and an expansion of commercial flights, aviation experts said.

For Las Vegas -- a location considered ideal for pilot training because of its weather, surrounding mountains, adjacent military zones, active air-tour business, and high visibility -- the nationwide industry shift means local changes.

The demand for pilots has caused commercial airlines to tap into the smaller airlines' pilot supply; in turn, those mid-range and tour-bus airlines have lured flight instructors away from pilot schools.

"The last few years had been bad -- the demand for pilots wasn't good. Then it turned around recently and the airlines started hiring up pilots in a frenzy. It depleted our staff of flight instructors," said Don Flaherty, owner of Aerleon Professional Aviation Services, a flight school located at the North Las Vegas Airport. There are about a dozen flight schools in the valley; Flaherty's has some 120 students enrolled.

"We are five instructors down. The entire industry is short of flight instructors. And very short of mechanics," Flaherty said.

On the flipside, the strong pilot market has awakened the interests of previously uninvolved educators -- UNLV offered its first semester of pilot ground school this fall and has plans to develop an entire aviation program.

"There is a lot of stuff cooking in the background here," said Derrell Pepper, chairman of UNLV's Mechanical Engineering Department, which has requested a name change -- from Department of Mechanical Engineering to Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering.

"Within five years we hope to have an accredited aerospace engineering program and an aviation program for those who want to go into commercial flying," Pepper said.

The food chain

Already, Las Vegas is a pilot-training hot spot -- hundreds of pilots move through the valley's airports working for flight schools and the active air tour businesses.

In peak tourist season, Scenic Airlines can make up to 70 flights a day over the Grand Canyon. Scenic, along with Vision, Air Vegas, and several other air tour operators, together fly more than 60,000 hours a year -- offering pilots a prime chance to accumulate the hours necessary to apply for commercial pilot positions.

"Las Vegas has the largest air tour industry of this type in the world, and it gives (pilots) a good opportunity -- we're a natural for guys getting exposed to necessary requirements for certification," Scenic CEO David Young said.

And although Scenic tries to maintain a stable of about 100 pilots, recently it has been more difficult to keep them from moving up the food chain.

"We are constantly losing pilots. In 1997, we lost about 20. In 1998, we lost about 60. We lose them all the time. As long as the (regionals and majors) keep expanding, we'll just keep losing," Young said.

"We advertise constantly for pilots. We even tried to recruit them from overseas," Young said.

Up until recently, major commercial airlines wouldn't hire a pilot until he or she had as many as 4,000 hours. But the public's demand for more convenience in their flying choices -- more flights at more times -- has caused an increase in the number of flights. Subsequently, many airlines have lowered their flight-hour requirements to pick up a sufficient number of pilots, according to Embry Riddle Aeronautical University in Prescott, Ariz.

"There has definitely been a developing shortage of pilots," said Charles Ahlstrand, Embry Riddle director of career services.

"But is it a crisis? No. Is it a concern? Yes. Are the commercial airlines lowering their airtime requirements? Yes. But it is not a safety issue -- they are still well above FAA standards and the standards that are used in Europe and Japan."

Commuter flights -- those that often carry less than 60 and hop to non-hub cities, accounted for more than 12 percent of total passenger flight in 1993.

"Someone's got to fly these planes. Out of necessity, the major airlines have lessened the requirements to get into their pilot seats," said Roger Jacks, aviation program director at Rancho High School. "It used to be that you'd start out with taxis and canyon runners and then go on to commuters and hope for commercial much later. Now you're seeing people with 500 hours go out and become a commercial pilot."

It takes 40 hours of flying time to get one's private pilot licence, according to Federal Aviation Administration standards. Most students put in at least 50 hours before taking the test and pay more than $3,500 for training and air time. Dedicated students can get their private pilot license in as little as one month.

"As their hours build, they move on to start with the canyon runners (tour airlines), and then apply for the connectors like Delta Express or American Eagle," said John Giles of Westair Aviation, a flight training school at the North Las Vegas Airport. " They'll earn $22 (an hour) or $36,000 for years until they get on with a commercial airline -- and then their potential is more than $200,000 a year."

Local flight instructors earn between $10 and $15 an hour, Flaherty said.

Recruiting

To feed the beast -- to lure people into flying -- the industry has launched an advertising campaign on TV and the Internet:

"Be A Pilot. Stop dreaming and start flying...You've been dreaming about it since you were little: The exhilerating sensation of flight," the website says.

The national Be A Pilot program was launched by a coalition of aviation businesses and organizations in 1998.

"The health of the industry is tied directly to the number of students starting," said William Morningstar, spokesman for the national Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, which supports the Be A Pilot campaign.

"The goal is to get to 100,000 students started a year," Morningstar said.

And the trend is moving in that direction. In 1996, there were 56,653 student starts, and in 1998, there were 63,067.

"Our survey research determined that there are 1.2 million people (in the U.S.) who have the interest and resources to learn to fly, but just haven't started yet," Morningstar said.

It is not a low-cost venture. In order qualify to fly commercially, it may cost close to $20,000 for instruction and flight time, according to Giles.

The number of privately owned aircraft has been increasing for three years, Morningstar said. In 1998, there were 192,410 privately owned aircraft.

"We're seeing an increase in all categories of aircraft, and healthy increases in the business class aircraft," Morningstar said.

Most say that the trend is temporary -- that sooner or later, the airlines will cap off, the pilot positions will be filled by young, career oriented pilots, and the industry's employment shift will resume gridlock.

"I don't know when it will happen, but it will," Young said. "The industry tends to be cyclical. Many things can affect it -- it doesn't take much.

"But right now, everybody is riding on the crest."

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