Source: RAA
The Regional Airline Association (RAA), representing the airlines which provide 43% of scheduled passenger flights in the U.S. and offer the only source of air service to most of the country, issued a statement in response to release of misleading comments and graphics seeking to deny the existence of a real and worsening pilot shortage.
“Misleading graphs are sometimes deliberately misleading and sometimes it’s just a case of people not understanding the data behind the graph they create. The “classic” types of misleading graphs include cases where:
- The Vertical scale is too big or too small, or skips numbers, or doesn’t start at zero.
- The graph isn’t labeled properly.
- Data is left out.”– https://www.statisticshowto.com/probability-and-statistics/descriptive-statistics/misleading-graphs/
“Our reply is technical, because it is important to get the details right” noted RAA President and CEO Faye Malarkey Black.
In an earlier release, the Air Line Pilots Association alleges that certain airlines “mislead the public about pilot supply to cover up bad business decisions and their attempts to negatively impact aviation safety.” The organization previously identified RAA as the subject of its allegations. The release went on to cite “FAA data” without acknowledging that it had isolated the data from a broader dataset to lend the appearance of an “uptick” in pilot supply. When the omitted data is included, there is no support for the claim of a meaningful pilot “uptick.” Put another way, of course pilot production is resuming and trending up, considering it fell to new lows during the pandemic.
Please read on for the missing data and why it matters.