Kenny Keller (creator of Helicopter Online Ground School) discusses whether there is a shortage of helicopter pilots. He presents three main points: Vietnam-era pilots are retiring; the military trains far fewer pilots now than during Vietnam; and large air-medical operators report a shortage of "qualified" pilots for EMS roles (often requiring ~2,000 flight hours). He shares a hiring anecdote after 9/11 (September 11, 2001) to illustrate market volatility and asks viewers—especially new and mid-level pilots—to share experiences.
Questions this video answers
September 16, 2016
Approximately 2,000 hours of flight time
September 11, 2001
Chapters
Helicopter pilot fact or fiction? We just had this question posed from our friends at the helicopter page on Facebook. That is their top number one question coming in to the helicopter page. I'm Kenny Keller, the creator of Helicopter Online Ground School, and I told our friends at the helicopter page I do a video on what I know and what I'm seeing. So I have three main facts I want to cover that I think that most any of us can probably agree with. Fact number one, the Vietnam era pilots are retiring. We know this. When I first started back in the late 90s, my instructor said, hey, it's going to be a good time for you over the next 10 to 15 years because the Vietnam guys are going to be retiring and that's going to open up jobs. I know of one specific air medical base out of four pilots, one guy's younger and the other three are all Vietnam guys that are getting ready to retire. And they've been talking about it for the last several years. And we know a lot of Vietnam air pilots hold the air medical jobs. Fact number two, the military has never trained that amount of pilots that they trained for Vietnam. I think we can all agree on that one. So the pool of pilots over the years, as far as what the military's trained, you know, as the military's downsized, they've trained less pilots. Fact number three, last night I called a friend of mine who is a Czech airman for the largest air medical provider in the world. We've been friends for about seven or eight years and I hear the same thing from him every time I talk to him. So I called him last night to verify and he said yes, at this time they do not have enough qualified pilots to fill the EMS positions. So key word here, qualified. So we know at that level where we usually have to have say 2000 hours of flight time, they can't fill those jobs. Largest air medical provider in the world cannot fill the jobs. And they haven't been able to fill the jobs and they are short pilots. So I think the next thing is what about for new pilots, new CFIs or pilots with low hours? That's the one that I'm not even really sure about. We'd like the feedback from you. What are you hearing? What are you seeing? What are your experiences as a new pilot or a mid level pilot or more experienced pilot? Put your comments down below so we can kind of get a feel of what people are thinking and what people are seeing. I want to add what I think is an important point. When I got my first job. Three months later, the events of September 11th happened, 2001. So we know what happened there. Nobody across the country was doing anything. And once aircraft were able to fly again, the school that I was flying at, zilch. They were doing nothing. Everybody backed out. Nobody wanted to fly. Nothing was going on. So in that tough time, I got on the Internet at that time and I emailed every single flight school that I could find within an 800 mile radius. So I got a job when it was a really tough time to become a helicopter pilot. I think that if you're thinking about doing it for a career, you just have to go into the mindset that maybe even the job market's a little tough. You're going to have to sell yourself, you're going to have to get out there and you're going to have to be willing to be a road dog or what we would call a gypsy. Go anywhere, do anything to get that time, I think is a big part of whether you're going to get that job or not. So let us know what you think in the description box below. We can tally these up over time and maybe we can come up with kind of an idea of how tough it really is now for the new CFIs and mid level pilots. So please give us a like and a share. Put your comments down below. Leave your feedback if you'd like to learn more about our helicopter online ground school, go to helicopterground.com type that in your browser or go in the link in the description box below and we'll see you in the next video.
