Flight Training - May 2013 - 53

CAREER PILOT

Landing your dream job
CAREER PILOT is designed to help
you get your flying career off to the
best start (www.aopa.org/careerpilot).

US AIRLINE PILOT DEMAND 2010-2020
140,000
120,000
Growth
21,904

100,00
80,000

Retirement
43,575

60,000
Total pilot demand is 65,479 or 7,275 pilots per year
40,000
20,000
0
2010
Total pilots
Growth pilots
2012 total
Remaining pilots

n 87,070
n
n
n

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

91,249

95,792

98,033

100,926

104,623

108,415

110,601

112,202

114,765

117,696

2020

95,792

98,033

100,926

104,623

108,415

110,601

112,202

114,765

117,696

95,792

95,792

95,792

95,792

95,792

95,792

95,792

95,792

95,792

94,881

90,634

85,900

80,627

75,163

69,589

63,934

58,149

52,217
SOURCE: KITDARBY.COM

FORTUNE TELLER

An industry observer ponders airline hiring patterns
» By Wayne Phillips

DARBY BELIEVES
THERE WILL BE
STRONG DEMAND
FOR PILOTS WHO
MEET THE HIGHER
MINIMUMS FOR
THE NEXT THREE
TO FIVE YEARS.

IS THERE ANYONE on the planet who can predict
with accuracy the price of avgas at the pumps
next week? What about the wind velocity at the
local airport for Sunday’s flight?
Life is full of so many unpredictable variables.
At the very least, we can prognosticate as best as
we can based upon available data, professional
opinion, and intuition so as to provide some kind
of vision and direction. With all that in mind,
what does the future hold for the thousands of
potential airline pilots in training? Are all those
airline pilot hopefuls just rolling the dice while
praying that, magically, a job flying for an air
carrier will materialize at the end of all that time,
energy, and money preparing for a professional
flying career?
There is one person in this business who has
dedicated his life to the study of airline pilot hiring patterns, and that is Kit Darby.
Darby flew airplanes for United throughout

his own career, but his passion was and in retirement continues to be the never-ending search
for answers to the question: “What’s with the
airlines and hiring?” For decades, he was one
of the driving forces in the Future Airline Pilots
Association, followed by his own enterprise, AIR,
Inc. The mission of both was simply to provide
the best resources available on a subscription
basis to job seekers—from interviewing techniques to monthly snapshots of airline hiring to
salary surveys.
His monthly magazine was full of helpful articles and in-depth airline profiles. He is
considered the go-to guy for study and research
of the airline flying profession as he continues
to monitor the pulse of hiring from the Atlanta
offices of KitDarby.com Aviation Consulting.
There is nobody savvier than Darby, thanks to his
extensive network of airline recruiters, executives, and FAA regulators.

MAY 2013 FLIGHT TRAINING

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http://www.aopa.org/careerpilot http://www.KITDARBY.COM http://www.KitDarby.com
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