Once student pilots learn about the opportunities and the value of flying cargo as a career, they are receptive to the possibilities and prefer it to other time-building experience, according to University of North Dakota Professor and Director of...
Once student pilots learn about the opportunities and the value of flying cargo as a career, they are receptive to the possibilities and prefer it to other time-building experience, according to University of North Dakota Professor and Director of Aviation Industry Relations Kent Lovelace who spoke before last week’s RACCA conference.
“Members need to do more active recruiting,” he told conference attendees highlighting both the opportunities and challenges for the industry. “You need to be more visible to aspiring pilots and you need to reach out to educate the aspiring pilot population about the benefits of flying for a regional cargo carrier. You also need to be competitive with regional passenger airline pay or offer something to offset the lower pay. In addition, you need to develop defined career paths and educate students that regional cargo careers are an effective path to a major airline because those airlines value that experience.”
One take away from the survey is 62% of student pilots saw flying cargo as a more attractive than working for a regional passenger airline to reach a major carrier.
They also were more familiar with passenger carrier pathway programs, saying they were a huge incentive to pursuing that route. Familiarity with regional cargo carriers was extremely low – between 9% and 40% compared to over 90% being familiar with FedEx, UPS, SkyWest, Endeavor and Delta. Ameriflight topped the list in familiarity.
Lovelace, who has been an ambassador for air cargo careers for years, conducts a student pilot survey at UND and noted opportunities exist for the industry to spread the word about great careers and pathway programs to FedEx and UPS.
RACCA Influence on Survey
The new data resulted from conferring with RACCA to design specific questions successfully raising the visibility of the industry. The data included pilot certification trends (see charts below) and recommendations Lovelace called both opportunities and challenges. Respondents said the survey opened their eyes to the possibilities of flying cargo as a career move. They also indicated they would prefer such opportunities over building hours as a CFI.
“Students are open to other ways of gaining their flight experience,” said Lovelace in reporting survey results. “Many would avoid CFI with students feeling regional cargo carriers would improve their marketability. Pay continues to dominate the reason for choosing a place to work while culture, safety, and how employees are treated also showed up in many of the qualitative comments. Students are familiar with FedEx & UPS but not very familiar with any of the other major and regional air cargo carriers. Significantly, 71% to 75% of students weren’t familiar with SIC and PIC regulations relating to air cargo carriers while 62% of respondents consider this opportunity more attractive than working for a regional airline to reach a major airline.”
Under new rules pushed by RACCA and finally accepted by FAA a few years ago, pilots can be hired by a Part 135 carrier as second in command at about 800 hours and they can gain turbine, pilot-in-command experience at a regional cargo carrier at 1,200 hours of total flight time.
Recommendations – Recruiting, Increased Pay
What is clear is what the industry is doing now is not working and Lovelace recommended the industry do more active recruiting.
The recommendations stemmed from the comments made as part of the survey which revealed when respondents entered flight training only 29% aspired to fly cargo while 73% cited passenger carriers as their career ambition. However, 42% of respondents cited cargo as their long-term goal compared to 73% passenger airlines which means either would suffice for those pilots.
“The survey indicates students have some uncertainty regarding their career goals,” explained Lovelace. “Both cargo and corporate pilot careers ranked higher than previous surveys. Students become far more aware of the varying career opportunities the longer they spend at UND based on qualitative responses and several students indicate a change away from military due to pay/benefits.”
Pay continues to top the reasons for going a particular career route or company for which they want to work at 95%, according to the survey, but work schedule ranked third with 90% of respondents citing its importance. Some 86% of respondents ranked bonuses fifth.
Misconceptions abounded with once commenter stating they would prefer a regional cargo instead of being a CFI but believed regional cargo operators and their aircraft were not as good as passenger regionals. Comments also cited pay and the lack of flying compared to other hours-building experiences. The commentor believed they could make it faster to FedEx via passenger regional airlines than a regional cargo carrier. Student perception also showed they thought commuting was not an option meaning they were limited in where they could live.
Lovelace noted student certifications were down, probably owing to Covid
