CAT Editor-in-Chief Rick Adams, FRAeS, talks with Kit Darby, one of the leading experts on professional pilot careers about the state of the North American aviation market - recovery, retirements, furloughs, pay packages, and advice for moving to the head of the queue when hiring restarts (perhaps sooner than you think). The third section of this five-part series is on Aircraft Utilization, Pilot Work Schedules, and Pilot Demand.

Kit addresses the effects of aircraft utilization, pilot workload, and pilots-to-aircraft ratios in determining pilot staffing requirements. 

The accession pipeline in the US for new pilots, increasingly dependent on learning technologies, is being restored, and none too soon, as a pilot shortage is eyed toward the mid-part of this decade. Marty Kauchak reports.      

Civil aviation remains on a turbulent path in the attempt to return to pre-Covid-19 operating levels. With lackluster passenger demand and the unsteady pace of restoring domestic and international routes, the industry is no longer facing the pilot shortage with which it was grappling just a few months ago. Reopened flight training programs, which increasingly rely on distance learning and other technologies to help select and retain aspiring pilots, are part of the strategy to help minimize a predicted next pilot shortage for later this decade.    

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