Michigan flight students to enter pilot shortage

MASON, Mich. (WILX) - When asked about being a pilot, flight instructor Gavin Agen said “It’s a very stressful job.”

Agen instructs both commercial and private student pilots. He said the national pilot shortage could be dangerous.

“You’re coordinating with air traffic controllers, you’re making sure you’re staying within the perimeters, lots of rules,” Agen said.

Pilots at Delta and Southwest airlines are worried about the dangers as well. Both airlines have had pilots protesting this week, citing exhausting flight schedules. Sleepy pilots could lead to accidents behind the wheel.

Related: American Airlines ending service to 3 cities due to pilot shortage

Even though they use autopilot, Agen said there’s a lot to focus on.

“Another concern right, they’re on autopilot -- what if they forget something? What if they forget to depressurize the cabin?” he added.

Even with draining work schedules, Agen said his students are excited to help lessen the current pilots’ workload.

“On the flip side, for myself and a lot of my students who are getting into it, the shortage is a great thing because they see that there is plenty of job opportunities.” said Agen.

However, Agen also said that he thinks airlines and pilots will be able to find a solution in the near future.

“Because our industry, the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration), everyone, we’re all focused the most heavily on safety. There’s a big push for risk management, for decision making. A huge push for that to make sure that we are remaining safe, remaining vigilant, in keeping ourselves protected from any dangers that we could easily have mitigated.”

Read next:

Copyright 2022 WILX. All rights reserved.

Subscribe to our News 10 newsletter and receive the latest local news and weather straight to your email every morning.