In Senate testimony, the president of the largest pilots' union said flatly that the United States has no pilot shortage. The Regional Airline Association says the shortage gutted small-community air service. In April 2026, GAO put numbers between them.
Regional airlines raised average first-year first-officer pay nearly 80% in three years to stem the drain of pilots to network carriers — the clearest market signal in the dataset.
The fight, fairly stated
"A shortage that gutted small-town America."
Carriers report experienced pilots — especially captains — became unobtainable as network airlines rebuilt post-pandemic rosters by hiring from the regionals; one network carrier told GAO it withdrew regional service from 29 airports in 2022. Congress mandated two FAA training initiatives in response.
"There is no pilot shortage."
The union testified the U.S. now produces more pilots than before the pandemic — GAO confirms certifications grew ~10% from 2017–2024 — and argues carriers cut service for business reasons while seeking to blame labor supply and weaken experience requirements.
The examiner queue decides the outcome, and nobody covers it.
Designated Pilot Examiner availability gates how fast new pilots finish; instructor and check-airman capacity gates how fast first officers become captains. Congress mandated a national DPE office in 2024; the FAA hasn't published its timeline. The bottleneck sits upstream of the entire shortage argument — and it repeats across mechanics, controllers, and the signals engineers every transit agency is fighting over.