{"id":23521,"date":"2022-09-26T22:42:26","date_gmt":"2022-09-26T22:42:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/saj.pachecostudios.com?p=23521"},"modified":"2022-09-26T22:43:51","modified_gmt":"2022-09-26T22:43:51","slug":"mesa-airlines-offers-accelerated-path-to-1500-hours","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/state-news\/arizona\/mesa-airlines-offers-accelerated-path-to-1500-hours\/%20","title":{"rendered":"Mesa Airlines Offers Accelerated Path to 1,500 Hours"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Mesa Airlines announced that it has purchased 29 state-of-\nthe-art Pipistrel Alpha Trainer 2 aircraft, with the option to buy an\nadditional 75 over the next year. The new fleet will be the backbone of the\nMesa Pilot Development Program (MPD), a major initiative to close the pilot\nshortage gap that has been affecting the industry over the last several years.\nAs part of the program, pilots will be provided with the opportunity to\naccumulate up to 1,500 flight hours required to fly a commercial aircraft at\nMesa Airlines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company is investing in the new program to alleviate the\npilot shortage while giving new pilots a direct route to a long-term career.\nJonathan Ornstein, Chairman and CEO of Mesa said, \u201cThe pilot shortage could\nbecome a permanent feature of the airline industry if we don\u2019t get more\naviators into the system. It is basic math. If there aren\u2019t enough trained\npilots, customers suffer from loss of service and high-ticket prices,\u201d said\nOrnstein. The aircraft will go into operation in Inverness, Florida starting in\nOctober 2022, with expansion to Arizona over the next year. At full strength,\nthe fleet will have capacity for up to 2,000 daily hours of flying time and is\nexpected to accommodate more than 1,000 pilots per year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ornstein continued, \u201cWe believe there is no faster way for a\nnew aviator to enter commercial aviation and ultimately be employed at a major\nairline.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In April of 2022, Textron eAviation acquired Pipistrel\nAircraft, an award-winning pioneer and global leader in training, utility, and\nrecreational aircraft. Pipistrel was also the first manufacturer to certify a\nfully electric aircraft. There are more than 2,700 Pipistrel aircraft operating\nin the US and other countries throughout the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Qualified pilots who join the program will be offered up to\n40 hours of flight time each week. In addition, MPD pilots will begin building\ncompany longevity, receive flight benefits, and priority status for employment\nas a First Officer at Mesa Airlines. Flight costs of $25 per hour, per pilot,\nwill be fully financed by Mesa with zero interest, providing no upfront\nout-of-pocket expense for flight time while the candidate is accruing the\nrequired hours to earn their Airline Transport Pilot (ATP) certificate. As part\nof their commitment, flight costs will be repaid over three years during the\nterm of employment at Mesa Airlines. Mesa\u2019s first year pay rate of $100\/hour is\ncurrently the highest in the regional industry. In addition, all Mesa pilots\ncan join United\u2019s Aviate program which offers a direct flow to United Airlines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur program will be the most cost effective and one of the\nfastest routes to a long-term career as a professional pilot,\u201d said John\nHornibrook, SVP Flight Operations. “We want to make it as easy as possible\nfor a whole new field of candidates to join Mesa, including and especially\npeople who might not have traditionally considered aviation.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 1,500-hour federal mandate has made it particularly\ndifficult for minority and other disadvantaged communities to become commercial\npilots due to the high costs and training time needed. This program helps\nmitigate this significant barrier to entry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to federal statistics, the airline and commercial\nindustry needs approximately 14,500 new pilots annually; however, average\nannual production of new pilots only meets approximately 44 percent of the\nneed. The US produces an average of 6,335 newly certified pilots each year that\nare eligible for hire by the airlines. This leaves a gap of 8,165 jobs unfilled\nacross the aviation industry. This is despite many airlines dramatically\nraising pilot pay. The shortage has forced airlines to reduce routes to many\ndestinations and increase ticket prices, adding to overall inflation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn some cases, routes that get cut as a result of the pilot\nshortage are the only commercial air services to those communities,\u201d said\nOrnstein. \u201cWithout action now, the U.S. air travel system may be snarled for\nthe next decade. The stakes are high for both passengers and the U.S. economy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fewer pilots coming out of the training pipeline is largely\ninfluenced by the 2013 Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulation that\nincreased the number of flight hours prospective pilots need for an ATP\ncertificate from 250 to 1,500. After graduating from flight school, newly\nlicensed pilots may have to pay up to $250,000 to accumulate enough flight\nhours to qualify to fly for a commercial carrier\u2014and the process often takes\ntwo to three years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMesa\u2019s Pilot Development program is an example of the\nprivate sector working to solve the challenges created by new regulations. No\nother country in the world has adopted the 1,500- hour rule. This creates a\nsituation where many foreign licensed pilots can fly over this country and into\nsome of the world\u2019s busiest airports even though they would not be considered\nexperienced enough to fly a commercial aircraft by the FAA,” said Jonathan\nOrnstein.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Alpha Trainer 2 is a two seat, high wing, modern carbon\nfiber aircraft designed to be the ultimate training and time building aircraft.\nThe design is configured by Right Rudder Aviation and built by Pipistrel\nAircraft, a new addition to the Textron eAviation portfolio. Since 1989,\nPipistrel has produced innovative aircraft that are in use by the US and\nforeign militaries, and leading flight training providers worldwide, with more\nthan 2,700 in operation. The FAA approved aircraft provide a modern,\ncomfortable cockpit with computerized touch screen instrumentation, and digital\nautopilot–improving safety through technology. The Kevlar reinforced cabin and\nfull airframe ballistic parachute contribute to the focus on safety. The\npurchase of the aircraft is from the exclusive US distributer of Pipistrel\nAircraft, Right Rudder Aviation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pilots interested in the program can learn more online at https:\/\/www.mesa-air.com\/mesa-pilot-development<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mesa Airlines announced that it has purchased 29 state-of- the-art Pipistrel Alpha Trainer 2 aircraft, with the option to buy an additional 75 over the next year. The new fleet will be the backbone of the Mesa Pilot Development Program (MPD), a major initiative to close the pilot shortage gap that has been affecting the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":23522,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[143,2,98],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23521","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-airlines","category-arizona","category-aviation-education"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/alphatrainer3-edit.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23521","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23521"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23521\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23526,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23521\/revisions\/23526"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23522"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23521"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23521"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23521"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}