Good article Busher.
It is a problem and it won't be resolved any time soon.
Fact is there is a huge shortage of competent aviators. There is also a basic infrastructure problem that inhibits training a large number of pilots very quickly. There are just not enough simulators to get it done. Not to mention the expense. The for profit training companies get about $140 per second for training two pilots in a modern Level D sim.
The last time there was a HUGE demand for pilots right away was WW2. At the end of World War II, the Army Air Forces Training Command had graduated 250,000 pilots from its schools.
Now, perspective on training: The U.S. suffered 52,173 aircrew combat losses. But another 25,844 died in accidents. More than half of these died in the continental U.S. The U.S. lost 65,164 planes during the war, but only 22,948 in combat. There were 21,583 lost due to accidents in the U.S., and another 20,633 lost in accidents overseas.
So what's that tell you about where we are now? You need a "crash" program like WW2 pilot training to provide the number of pilots that will be needed.
Demand for air travel is growing so rapidly that 800,000 new pilots are expected to be needed over the next 20 years, according to Boeing’s latest forecast.
The biggest need is in the Asia-Pacific region, where an improving economy in China has resulted in more people booking flights.https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/17/boeing-ceo-says-global-pilot-shortage-is-one-of-the-biggest-challenges.html
The US in an all out effort trained 250,000 pilots in about 5 years. That size program might meet the demand in the Boeing forecast. I don't see that kind of training effort getting done. Even so, that kind of training program still only turns out low time aviators.
There's the problem, as evidenced by the WW2 training and non-combat losses.
