There are, in this author’s view, three main challenges at the root of the current state of our industry:


funding retention attraction


Potential students still don’t have adequate access to money, while the industry is losing too many pilots to the fixed-wing and other sectors and not enough new pilots are getting produced domestically. The net result is a lack of active rotor pilots in the industry, and more disturbingly, a lack of high quality, commercially- rated new pilots.


Funding for students has long been an issue, in recent memory stemming from the financial crisis of 2008. After that cataclysmic


event, banks and other financial institutions were reluctant or even unable to provide any real and quantifiable monetary assistance. Indeed, it is one of the biggest, if not the biggest, barriers to gaining new students for my company, Anthelion Helicopters. Many potential students love the concept of becoming a career pilot following their demo, but simply have no way of funding the dream. Third-party vendors such as Pilot Finance are an option, but they are restrictive and are not really geared towards full-time applicant training. Scholarships are out there, but again for the minority. The Post-9/11 G.I. Bill, while theoretically available to veterans, has a very uncertain future and is notoriously hard to acquire and manage.


Pilot retention is a multi-faceted issue. It has many elements, including the allure of the fixed-wing industry and other careers,


76 May/June 2019


company culture, and general pay and conditions. The exodus of pilots to the airlines is an evolving issue and arguably stems from the meteoric rise of low-cost carriers across the globe (especially in Asia, Europe, and the United States) over the last decade or so. Put simply, the demand for airplane pilots across the global industry has exceeded supply. Over the last 18 months, that industry has turned its wanting gaze upon the helicopter sector as a lucrative and accessible source of aviators. Rotorcraft pilot licenses are relatively easily converted to flying airline aircraft. So the airlines have been systematically and aggressively targeting all tiers of the helicopter industry, from the entry level people vying to gain Private licenses, right through to experienced multi-thousand-hour helicopter pilots. By offering lucrative salaries, fast career progression, better working conditions,


and even scholarships for learning, airlines are dangling some very enticing “carrots” to helicopter aviators. The helicopter industry, in this author’s view, has thus far not offered a viable counter to this new existential threat.


The effect on our company has been an interesting one, with wider implications than first might appear. As companies start to see quality pilots leaving, it has put even more pressure on their respective recruitment pipelines. With EMS companies lowering their entry hour requirements in many cases, this has caused some pilots to leave other traditionally preceding commercial jobs such as those in the Grand Canyon earlier than they originally would have done. The result now is that many of these commercial operators at this first tier are lowering their hour requirements for initial hire to well below the traditional


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