Why is there a pilot shortage? It wasn't just the COVID-19 pandemic.
CBSN
The pilot shortage has its roots long before the current crunch. Industry leaders saw it coming more than three years ago — before the pandemic — as the global airline industry predicted a record number of passengers and the need for more planes and pilots over the next 20 years.
Then came the pandemic. Amid lockdowns around the world, airlines parked hundreds of planes. And the major U.S. airlines received massive amounts of federal aid — with the express restriction that they had to fly their schedule, and could not furlough or lay any employee off.
But the airlines were desperate to preserve cash. While they couldn't lay anyone off until after the aid ran out, they could offer very attractive early retirement and buyout packages to employees across the board.
Ashley White received her earliest combat action badge from the United States Army soon after the first lieutenant arrived in Afghanistan. The silver military award, recognizing soldiers who've been personally engaged by an attacker during conflict, was considered an achievement in and of itself as well as an affirming rite of passage for the newly deployed. White had earned it for using her own body to shield a group of civilian women and children from gunfire that broke out in the midst of her third mission in Kandahar province. All of them survived. She never mentioned the badge to anyone in her battalion.