Complicating the airlines' recruitment efforts is a surge in retirements among pilots who signed up when the carriers rapidly expanded in the mid-1960s. As a result, Darby said, the need to replace retiring pilots accounts for about half the current demand for new pilots. Military pilot training, a longtime source of potential hires, has also slowed down. That number has dropped to about 50 percent. So airlines have abolished some of the restrictions that once were used to discourage applicants.
Age is no longer the factor it once was.
A decade ago, the average new pilot was in his late 20s. Today, the average age is over 30. Height and weight restrictions have also been liberalized. The airlines have gone from keeping the door closed to opening the door and letting them in. United Airlines has eliminated its application fee.