Professionalism in the Regional Airlines

The looming "Pilot Shortage" has been talked about for almost as long as I have been flying, but its just in the last few years that it has actually materialized. There really isn't any debate on whether there is a pilot shortage or not, There absolutely is, they say that with the current capacity of training pilots we will only be able to supply two thirds of the pilots needed over the next 20 years.(Anderson, 2016 The real debate is about what caused it and what can be done to fix it.
The airline side of the argument is that since the so called 1500 rule was put into effect in 2014, every co pilot that flew on a 121 carrier needed to have their ATP licence, and it is this rule alone that is choking off the pilot supply. Pilot's Unions see it differently, they point to the fact that first year pay at the regional airlines is so low as to be undesirable to pilots and want to be pilots.
I see it as a whole flock of chickens coming home to roost. I have been flying for over 15 years and I got to see the industry in the late 90s to the crash after 9/11 and then again in 2005 when oil got silly, and then again in 2008, and with all of the downturns in the industry, every time they took more from their pilots, be it pay, vacation time, or benefits. And every time things got better for the airlines, the CEOs got big bonuses but the pilots never even got back what was taken away from them in the bad times. Add to it the fact that the cost of training has more than doubled since I got my first licences and I would find it hard to recruit a good candidate by telling him "Come to our flight school and give us $150,000, and you can be an airline pilot...in about 5 years after you graduate....and make $20,000 your first year..." (Northshore.edu. 2013)

There are some serious changes that need to happen to save the regional airline from going down like Republic Airlines,(Kieler, 2016),  The biggest one is to address the cost of flight instruction, there have been some that have been able to start some cadet programs like the european carriers that have been dealing with pilot shortages for decades, (Northshore.edu, 2013) but they also have to start treating their pilots as the professionals they are. You can see that that is coming with the new fights that the pilots unions have been winning in negotiations. 

There are many groups that are pushing the airlines version of what is causing the shortage, but the biggest is the Regional Airline Association, they are a group that represents the regional airlines and do very well at pointing the finger at everyone but their members treatment of pilots. And like most big trade organizations they say that if we just get rid of all regulation they would be able to do everything, well and safely. (RAA,2016)

All of this low pay and low time, as well as airlines treating pilots like garbage led to a lack of professionalism in the pilot ranks, that eventually led to accidents like we saw in Buffalo, with Colgan air.  

To me professionalism is people showing up for their jobs and know what is expected of them, knowing how do get the job done and doing it in the best, most expeditious and safe way possible and are compensated accordingly. As the airlines found in the late 2000s, you get what you pay for.
There was lots of lack of professionalism at colgan air, from the pilots talking about non essential things during the approach phase of flight to the pressure from the management on pilots to not call in fatigued.
I absolutely believe that low pay contributed to the lack of professionalism, like I said, you get what you pay for.
The best way to maintain professionalism is to know your craft. Take pride in everything that you do, make the best landing, hit your altitude and airspeed perfectly. If you accept no errors and do your best to fix your shortcomings, you will be rewarded in some way.

References

Anderson, B. (2016, January 28). pilot shortage threatens to slow us airline growth. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/oliverwyman/2016/01/28/pilot-shortage-threatens-to-slow-u-s-airline-growth/#45bfbec8bb6e

Kieler, A. (2016, February 26). Major Airlines’ Regional Partner, Republic Airways, Files For Bankruptcy Over Pilot Shortage – Consumerist. Retrieved from https://consumerist.com/2016/02/26/major-airlines-regional-partner-republic-airways-files-for-bankruptcy-over-pilot-shortage/

Northshore.edu. (2013). an investigation of the united states airline pilot supply. Retrieved from https://www.northshore.edu/cms/file/academics/programs/avd/web_resources/airline-labor-supply.pdf

RAA. (2016, February 26). Regional Airline Association Statement on Republic Airways Bankruptcy - Regional Airline Association. Retrieved from http://www.raa.org/news/277230/