In India, airlines are finding it difficult not only to find experienced captains for their jets — even low-time pilots straight out of school, to fill the right seat, are scarce. A recent effort to fill 239 vacancies turned up only 31 qualified candidates, according to the Times of India. In Oklahoma, a growing aerospace industry can’t find skilled workers to drive rivets and repair aircraft. “What we have here is somewhat of an epidemic,” Victor Bird, director of the Oklahoma Aeronautics Commission, told The Daily Oklahoman. “But it’s a man-made epidemic that can be solved.” In India, the growing civil aviation sector is draining experienced pilots from the military, but that supply is not enough. Expatriate pilots are helping fill the slots, but regulations require that at least one crewmember must be Indian, so that resource is limited.
