Summary
of the Act
On August 1, 2010, President Barack
Obama signed a major federal legislation, The Airline Safety and Federal
Aviation Administration Act (P.L.111-216) into law as a means of strengthening
airline safety standards. Among other things, the Act specifically required
that all commercial airline pilots complete a minimum of 1500 flight hours
before they begin piloting commercial passenger airlines.
Practical
Potential of the Act Upon my Career and EMU’s Future Flight Program
If this Act is enacted, it was caused a
serious financial hardship upon my career and that of EMU’s future pilot
program. Tuition will skyrocket far beyond my limited financial means. Now
instead of paying tuition on two hundred and fifty hours, pilots will be
struggling to find tuition for 1500 credit hours. As for EMU’s future pilot
program, there will probably be a massive drop out of students from the program
due to prohibitive cost.
Potential
Benefits and challenges to Issues listed in Question #2
There are potential benefits and challenges of the Act. Increasing the number of hours will honed
skills and help to become a better pilot, thus increasing the chances of
finding a quality job with major regional airline. On the other hand, it will
benefit EMU to streamline its future program making it more competitive. The challenge of the program is just by
increasing the number of hours to fly does not guarantee that it will improve.
Are
the Changes Necessary or Merely Reactive
I do not believe that the changes
are necessary. Some provisions of the Act are nebulous. It does not specify the
type of conditions the pilot must complete the training in or type of airline
to be flown. Furthermore, the Act will take years to go into effect which does
little help to pilots now.
I don't think this will affect tuition. It's going to boost competition for non-airline jobs, that's for sure. Maybe it will cause more problems with drop outs, but ultimately pilots have to connect with the airlines and this law won't stop that.
ReplyDeleteI do not believe that this will affect tuition. Most students will look for a job to fulfill the new 1,500 hour requirements. Some of these include: CFI, sky-diving pilot, aerial surveying, and banner towing. There are those too, who may be able to afford their own airplane. I agree that increasing the number of hours may not guarantee better pilots.
ReplyDeleteI feel like you missed a couple of main points in your discussion. 1) Most likely, graduates of programs like EMU will be allowed in reduction in hours for obtaining the ATP. 2) In terms of the type of conditions the pilot must complete training in, while this is not directly addressed in this legislation, Congress has tasked the FAA to come up with these standards...that is currently in the process through a NPRM.
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