This is somewhat of an issue in general aviation as well as commercial, but has slightly different causes. Although there are similar cost pressures, the actual cost to purchase and fly a plane...
This is somewhat of an issue in general aviation as well as commercial, but has slightly different causes. Although there are similar cost pressures, the actual cost to purchase and fly a plane has increased considerably, leading to many pilots being priced out. One thing I'm not sure is considered by the article is the amount of bureaucracy involved in aviation engineering.
It's obviously all in the name of safety, but as standards have evolved the requirements for both making changes and proposing new ideas are substantially higher, creating increased costs. Anecdotally, a friend of mine is an aerospace engineer and also a multi rated pilot, and it's somewhat criminal how little they pay him for the value that he provides. He's explicitly stated he doesn't want to be promoted from his current position as he would have to start signing off on designs and changes, which would apparently be a huge time sink for him.
This is somewhat of an issue in general aviation as well as commercial, but has slightly different causes. Although there are similar cost pressures, the actual cost to purchase and fly a plane has increased considerably, leading to many pilots being priced out. One thing I'm not sure is considered by the article is the amount of bureaucracy involved in aviation engineering.
It's obviously all in the name of safety, but as standards have evolved the requirements for both making changes and proposing new ideas are substantially higher, creating increased costs. Anecdotally, a friend of mine is an aerospace engineer and also a multi rated pilot, and it's somewhat criminal how little they pay him for the value that he provides. He's explicitly stated he doesn't want to be promoted from his current position as he would have to start signing off on designs and changes, which would apparently be a huge time sink for him.