DOUGLAS, ARIZ. (KGUN) — If you’ve flown anywhere lately, you might have run into terrible delays, likely caused by pilot shortages. A special training program at the Cochise College campus in Douglas is part of the solution.
Gabriela Zubiate is making sure her classroom is ready to fly. She’s an instructor in the Cochise College pilot training program. At its home base in Douglas, the program has a fleet of modern planes, great weather and its own runway. Roughly two years ago she was a student and the memory of that first solo flight is still fresh.
“It doesn't really hit you until you actually take off and then you realize that you're gonna have to turn around and land. So yeah, that was probably the best part right when you take off and you just kind of are up there and it's way more quiet, and the whole plane feels empty and you're like, Look.. Yeah it's an awesome experience.”
After two years at Cochise College she was able to qualify as an instructor. Teaching helps her rack up the flight hours required to fly for the airlines. She knows there are plenty of opportunities. There’s been a growing pilot shortage for years. Lately, passengers have seen that shortage translate into delays and cancellations as airlines struggled to staff their flights.
Cochise College Aviation director Belinda Burnett says a lot of airline pilots are reaching mandatory retirement age,
“And you couple that with the military not training as many manned pilots as they used to train with the upcoming of the UAV or the unmanned systems that are in the military, the military’s not producing as many manned pilots that are coming out to go civilian.”
Burnett says it used to take pilots from Cochise College 10 to 12 years to fly for a major airline. Now they’re flying with regional carriers for three or four years, then getting first officer jobs with the majors.
That’s the course Gabriela Zubiate plans to fly, starting with a regional carrier in a few months and working towards the pilot’s seat of one of the biggest planes in the air.
“My dream aircraft right now would probably be, I would say the Boeing triple seven, like one of the big planes that go overseas to Europe and Asia.”
And with pilot demand so high it’s not such a long trip to a plane like a big transcontinental airliner, from the little trainer she flies now.
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Craig Smith is a reporter for KGUN 9. With more than 40 years of reporting in cities like Tampa, Houston and Austin, Craig has covered more than 40 Space Shuttle launches and covered historic hurricanes like Katrina, Ivan, Andrew and Hugo. Share your story ideas and important issues with Craig by emailing craig.smith@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook and Twitter.
