Bad management gets the unions it deserves, and then the unions end up getting the managers they deserve. There’s often a good period where unionization makes an industry better, but given long enough, it ruins what it purports to be saving. Where is the happy and competitive unionized industry today? In the long run, it would be better to let competition alone fix wage and working conditions than to continue under our present labor laws which allow unions to simply add a layer of inefficiency between the workers and customers.
The FAA is just one institution causing the lack of pilots. It’s a huge mess precisely because there’s a legion of forces aligned against those of us who want to fly ourselves around.
Combine a sick GA environment, which must be present to create pilots, with a sick union environment (which demands a risky, expensive and lengthy commitment before one is actually served by one’s union), and you get what you have - a few bunches of highly paid elites (the most senior executives, bureaucrats, union officials, and pilots) making everyone else miserable while holding power over air travel.
They all deserve each other. The voters deserve it for constantly wanting free stuff, and the consumers deserve it for constantly buying price without regard to value. We all know what really needs to happen, but no one will give up anything to get improvements. I’d bet on more of the same until airliners finally start crashing, which they will eventually. Until then, look forward to more airport closings, higher costs for flying, and lots of whining about how everything is someone else’s fault.
In the meantime, enjoy your bread and circuses.