Flying Cheap: The Regional Airlines - Due Sunday, January 25th @ 11:59PM

The topic is the regional airlines. Many of you, regardless if you are a management or flight student, will work in some capacity with the regional airlines. Hopefully, through writing this blog, you will have a further understanding of the environment as well as the current issues impacting the industry.

In class, you watched a documentary called "Flying Cheap".  This documentary is about the regional airline industry, focusing on two aspects. First, there is a discussion of the Colgan accident and factors that may have contributed to the accident. Second, the documentary presents information about the career of a regional pilot.

Please address the following topics in this blog:

**First, address the state of the regional airline industry. There is a lot of "buzz" about the possible pilot shortage. There are two sides to the argument: 1) There is not a pilot shortage. The problem is pilot pay. There are plenty of people who want to be pilots in the United States but are unwilling to fly domestically because of low wages, and 2) The pilot shortage is real and based upon projected retirements and the current number of new pilots entering the industry. Which side do you believe and why? To answer this question thoroughly, you must research and provide evidence of research of both sides of the issue. 

**Second, with the new regulations, regional airlines may be concerned with their hiring pool. Why? What do you see as possible solutions - both for aspiring pilots and for the regional airlines themselves?

**Third, ALPA represents most regional pilots. Which organization represents the remainder of the industry, such as management, manufacturers, etc.. 
**Forth, keeping the documentary in mind, please answer the following questions:

-I proposed that one theme in the events that led up to the Colgan accident was the lack of professionalism.  Answer the following three questions related to professionalism:

    * 1) Define professionalism in your own words.

    * 2) List two ways in which lack of professionalism was demonstrated in this documentary. Remember: Both pilots and management can lack professionalism.

    * 3) Do you feel that first year pilot pay and/or the compensation structure of a regional airline is a contributing factor in the lack of professionalism demonstrated in the documentary?

    * 4) List two specific ways you plan on maintain and expand your level of professionalism once you are employed in the job that you listed in 1). These ways must be independent of the requirements of the job.

Here is a link to the PBS Documentary "Flying Cheap" if you would like to review it again.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/flyingcheap/view/?autoplay

Enjoy!