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I'm an American Airlines Pilot – Here's Why There's a Shortage

18 points by selimthegrim 5y ago

coolspot 5y ago
TLDR: pilots are produced in China and shipped by container ships. Since the beginning of the pandemic, pilot factories had to switch to mask and ICU machines, causing supply shortage. That was worsened by container shortage and US ports backlog, so they couldn’t ship pilots and even when they could it would take forever to have them unloaded in congested ports.
- gamechangr 5y ago
  That is not a good summary. In fact, Im not sure it applies to this article at all? it doesn't say pilots are produced in China? There are no such thing as "pilot factories" or atleast they're not mentioned in the article.
  - picture 5y ago
    I think the parent is intended to be humorous, with references to general shortage of a lot of products, and paralleling manufacturing in China.
    - ratsmack 5y ago
      Humor is not allowed on HN.
    - mint2 5y ago
      that post is a joke too. It’s rather good. A post about pilot factories and shipping pilots is obviously not serious, a post claiming to take that seriously also can’t be serious. Or if not, they should pretend it was a joke.
- nradov 5y ago
  The pilot factories are also running at reduced capacity due to power cuts caused by coal shortages.
- rurban 5y ago
  I had a different reading. American was producing not enough pilots, because they were not allowed to work after school. American calls out the government to give them work to gather enough post-study hours so they can work in private industry. But only American is suffering from it, because they pay 20% less than their 2 major competitors. TLDR: American management will not be able to fix their backlog problem and is asking for government help.
kaminar 5y ago
Excellent humor...should add more about the nerve of pilots complaining about their pay. Smh.
GekkePrutser 5y ago
> American Airlines pilots earn about $23,750 for 85 hours of flight time each month, and they have a maximum of about 30 hours of flight time in a seven-day period. With overtime at 1.5 times, they can earn up to $33,330 per month. Isn't this a really low wage in the US? Even here in Spain this is only an office worker salary. Not something as high-responsibility as an airline pilot. No wonder they have a shortage :)
- interestica 5y ago
  Read what you quoted again. That is not an office worker salary.
- robbedpeter 5y ago
  Office workers in Spain make $400k a year, with insurance and perks?
  - GekkePrutser 5y ago
    Oops salaries are quoted per year here, that tripped me up lol

18 points by selimthegrim 5y ago

TLDR: pilots are produced in China and shipped by container ships. Since the beginning of the pandemic, pilot factories had to switch to mask and ICU machines, causing supply shortage. That was worsened by container shortage and US ports backlog, so they couldn’t ship pilots and even when they could it would take forever to have them unloaded in congested ports.

gamechangr 5y ago
That is not a good summary. In fact, Im not sure it applies to this article at all? it doesn't say pilots are produced in China? There are no such thing as "pilot factories" or atleast they're not mentioned in the article.
- picture 5y ago
  I think the parent is intended to be humorous, with references to general shortage of a lot of products, and paralleling manufacturing in China.
  - ratsmack 5y ago
    Humor is not allowed on HN.
  - mint2 5y ago
    that post is a joke too. It’s rather good. A post about pilot factories and shipping pilots is obviously not serious, a post claiming to take that seriously also can’t be serious. Or if not, they should pretend it was a joke.
nradov 5y ago
The pilot factories are also running at reduced capacity due to power cuts caused by coal shortages.
rurban 5y ago
I had a different reading. American was producing not enough pilots, because they were not allowed to work after school. American calls out the government to give them work to gather enough post-study hours so they can work in private industry. But only American is suffering from it, because they pay 20% less than their 2 major competitors. TLDR: American management will not be able to fix their backlog problem and is asking for government help.

kaminar 5y ago

Excellent humor...should add more about the nerve of pilots complaining about their pay. Smh.

GekkePrutser 5y ago

> American Airlines pilots earn about $23,750 for 85 hours of flight time each month, and they have a maximum of about 30 hours of flight time in a seven-day period. With overtime at 1.5 times, they can earn up to $33,330 per month. Isn't this a really low wage in the US? Even here in Spain this is only an office worker salary. Not something as high-responsibility as an airline pilot. No wonder they have a shortage :)

interestica 5y ago
Read what you quoted again. That is not an office worker salary.
robbedpeter 5y ago
Office workers in Spain make $400k a year, with insurance and perks?
- GekkePrutser 5y ago
  Oops salaries are quoted per year here, that tripped me up lol