Mesa Airlines (YV, Phoenix Sky Harbor) is tackling a current pilot crisis in the US regional sector by purchasing 29 inexpensive Pipistrel Aircraft trainers, potentially upping the training fleet to over 100 aircraft over the next year.
The Pipistrel AlphaTrainer 2 aircraft is Mesa's solution to providing young pilots with the 1,500 flying hours required to fly a commercial aircraft under Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) rules, says Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jonathan Ornstein, who called the current deficit a "government regulation induced pilot shortage". The 1,500-hour federal mandate has made it particularly difficult for minority and other disadvantaged communities to become commercial pilots due to the high costs and training time needed.
With the Pipistrel aircraft, Mesa Airlines believes it can offer a cost-effective and fast route for incumbent commercial pilots. Under the Mesa Pilot Development (MPD) programme, qualified pilots will be able to log 40 hours of flight time weekly. They will provide a pipeline of recruits for the company, receiving priority status for employment as a First Officer at Mesa Airlines.
The company will fully finance the USD25 hourly cost per pilot upfront while candidates accrue the required hours to earn their Airline Transport Pilot (ATP) certificate. They will repay the costs over three years when employed by Mesa Airlines at a rate of USD100 per hour. Qualified pilots will also be able to join the United Aviate Programme, that offers a direct flow to United Airlines (UA, Chicago O'Hare).
The training aircraft will be deployed at Inverness, Florida starting in October 2022, with expansion to Arizona over the next year. At full strength, the fleet will have capacity for up to 2,000 daily hours of flying time and is expected to accommodate more than 1,000 pilots per year, the airline said in a statement.
