<2023-04-12T16:09:12.000Z> veff: Hey Woggy I was wondering, you're still in piloting correct? Are there any issues trying to find new blood to continue? I was thinking about how the best route for me and people my age is to be an apprentice to something, but I notice as I look out that it's pretty hard to find those willing to take up young guys and teach them trades/skills. Is this the same on the other end of the spectrum? 
<2023-04-12T16:10:42.000Z> veff: I also might have a slightly different perspective because I'm still on a contract job overseas for the next few months and so I don't know too much how it is, only anecdotes from my family and friends who can't find jobs.
<2023-05-17T04:13:40.000Z> WashedOutGundamPilot: We're dying for people, I was actually just answering this to someone else. Lemme cut & paste some of it: 
<2023-05-17T04:14:48.000Z> WashedOutGundamPilot attached file https://i.poastcdn.org/c0aedb37152a5a3be5767e8831303000413fa517782ff7dc45fea66a2cfc58e0.png
<2023-05-17T04:16:06.000Z> WashedOutGundamPilot: It's a very good time to get into things, and piloting actually has a very enthusiastic base. If you come back to the states, it could be as easy as looking up an EAA chapter (that's the 'experimental aircraft association', the nerd group for home made aircraft) and showing up to something. Literally, just show up and be enthusiastic, most hobbyists are very happy to show someone the ropes. 
<2023-05-17T04:17:21.000Z> WashedOutGundamPilot: If you look up flight schools in your area, they'll often offer a 1/2 hour "intro fligth" for pretty cheap, will let you take off and do some short playing around while they try to convince you to drop $10,000 getting the first of your 3 big licenses. You can do it on the cheap, if you get good deals and really know your stuff so you don't have remedial air training. 
<2023-05-17T04:18:57.000Z> WashedOutGundamPilot: Would also recommend the Maintenance pathway. LOTS of industry support there, we need smart mechs & techs badly. The pay is getting better, too. I see lots of newsletters announcing "scholarships" that defray the cost of it all, like every week. Also have jobs that will hire you and train you, where they put you in classes as an apprentice maint tech and work you during the day. After a year or two (ICR) you take the FAA test to get your first certificate. 
<2023-05-17T04:21:23.000Z> WashedOutGundamPilot: I'll do a big poast tommorrow about the shortage. the industry keeps sending stuff out basically telling us that we should be panicking to get people in - the industry got too comfy living off cold war military boomers, and then we REALLY got boned when 9/11 happened. Airlines slumped and fired droves of young, inexperienced pilots. Many never returned, and students stayed away from the industry for the better part of a decade. When pilots take 5 years just to get to the point of being hirable for the airlines, that spells death. We're already like, 10,000 men short of just maintaining the already diminished post-pandemic level of flight activity. We need every dude we can get - and the sheboons certainly aren't picking up the slack