Kendall Fundum’s life can be divided into before and after liftoff. After graduating from the University of Nebraska in 2020, she worked as an executive assistant for a real estate coaching company in Las Vegas, and later for a financial firm.

“I was doing well there,” she says. “I had all these executives. I had all of these roles. I thought that was what I was supposed to do. But something was missing, and I just didn’t feel right there.”

The feeling didn’t cease, not until after Fundum met a career pilot at a local golf club. Their exchange changed everything. “He was like, ‘Why don’t you look at learning how to fly?’ I said ‘People don’t just learn how to fly.’ He goes, ‘Yes, they do. Go try it.’”

So she did. Fundum booked a discovery flight with All In Aviation, a full-service company specializing in aircraft rentals and flight lessons. In record time she was in the air, with an instructor, literally winging it.

“I’m not a thrill seeker at all. People who know me know I like my things in order, but that thrill and that excitement … it’s hard to explain,” she says. “It’s an unreal feeling when you first take off. I almost started crying. It was such an unbelievable, overwhelming feeling of joy and freedom.”

Fundum has gone from the corporate world to the cockpit, training at All In Aviation to become a pilot—and the 23-year-old isn’t alone.

In the midst of a national pilot shortage— the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects approximately 18,000 openings per year for airline and commercial pilots throughout this decade—aspiring Valley aviators have taken notice.

“We have seen a dramatic increase in the amount of people that are wanting to learn how to fly and make a career out of it,” says Paul Sallach, a pilot of 24 years and president of All In Aviation, which he launched with his wife in 2016.

All In Aviation, which boasts 19 aircraft and a complex of 26 hangars (three of which are used for flight school), has seen its career-oriented pilot trainee group swell by nearly 60% this year, after a 30% increase in 2022.

Why the sudden uptick? Was Top Gun: Maverick really that impactful?

“Yeah, that too,” Sallach laughs, but in all seriousness, says COVID was a major catalyst. “There was all this remote work, and people contemplated, ‘Is this really what I want to do with my life?’” he says. “Then you look at the headlines, you see that there’s this pilot shortage, and you’re like, ‘If I’m going to make a move, let’s make a move right now.’”

Pilot shortages have been ongoing for more than a decade. In fact, many aviation professionals predicted it after the Colgan Air crash of 2009, killed 50 people near Buffalo, New York, and drove Congress to up the training requirement for major airline pilots from 250 hours to at least 1,500.

There are additional factors behind pilot shortages: early buyout packages during the pandemic, forced retirement at age 65 for airlines, and, in some cases, low wages for entry-level pilots.

The aviation community’s recruiting strategies have gotten more aggressive as it attempts to fill the void. For instance, Canadian company CAE recently opened a 50,000-square-foot aviation training center near Harry Reid International Airport, complete with eight flight simulators, in order to train pilots.

United Airlines launched its own flight school in Arizona in 2022 to attract prospective pilots. Earlier this year, Southwest Airlines announced a reduction in the amount of hours pilots are required to have flown jets and other turbine-powered aircrafts, to help address the shortage.

And in March, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), known for its alliances with organizations like Women in Aviation International, also awarded $10 million in grants to 23 schools, for attracting and training future pilots and aviation techs.

Those efforts appear to be paying off. According to the FAA, holders of Airline Transport Pilot certificates—required to fly for scheduled airlines—have increased by 12.5% since 2012.

And if old-fashioned elbow grease in recruiting doesn’t work, there’s always money. Delta Air Lines and American Airlines recently offered their pilots a generous pay hike. To Sallach, who just a decade ago watched his pilot friends wrestle with low wages, the pay bump means a lot.

All these factors make modern airline piloting an attractive career— especially for young flyers. It provides them with travel options. Getting hired at a major airline could land them a salary in the $100,000 to $300,000 range by the time they retire. And a four-year degree isn’t strictly required (though some airlines prefer it), so one can hop into the field faster.

“Right now, it’s the golden age of being a pilot, if you can do it,” says Gary Archambeault, a dual enrollment professor at Rancho High’s Academy of Aviation, a magnet program within the school. “Once you learn to fly and you really get the feel for it, it’s something that you want to do forever.”

A retired Air Force officer and pilot, Archambeault has been training the next generation for the past 16 years at the academy, which accepts 65 students into the pilot program annually through a lottery. Students learn about aviation, receive college credit and eventually fly real planes at flight schools vetted by Rancho and CCSD. The academy provides stipends to help students afford some flight training, too.

“We do try to help them toward the end of their flying to get them over the hump to get their private pilot’s license,” Archambeault says. “Very often, they’re able to fly an airplane but they can’t drive a car yet because they don’t have a driver’s license.”

A sizable portion of Archambeault’s students aspire to get into the airline industry, and some already have. Rancho’s Academy of Aviation is also the predominant “feeder school” for the Naval and Air Force academies, he adds, and for Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University at Nellis Air Force Base, where he also teaches as an adjunct professor.

Sallach says flight school could be more lucrative than college, considering how fast one can advance at a fraction of the long-term cost. Students at All In Aviation can eventually become flight instructors and get paid while racking up hours toward their next certificate. “The airlines finally started paying people what they’re worth,” he says.

“They’re probably going to work for us for about a year and a half, and then they’re gonna go on to the next step in their career,” he says. “We want their time here to be some of the best flying that they look back on.”

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