Pilot: ‘Humans make mistakes under this pressure’…

Paul*, 55, has been a pilot for one of the country’s largest airlines for 30 years, working his way up to captain on international and domestic flights. This summer a pilot shortage — partly stemming from accelerated retirements during the COVID pandemic and the cost and difficulty of training new pilots — has led to nightmarish delays and flight cancellations for thousands of passengers. United Airlines is cutting 50 flights a day from Newark Airport starting next month. American Airlines will be cancelling flights to Ithaca and Islip, NY, as well as Toledo, Ohio, in September. Southwest Airlines is facing pilot protests over low-pay and bad scheduling. (The Airline Pilots Association says there is no pilot shortage and the airlines are cutting and canceling flights as cost-saving measures and lying about it.) Paul spoke to The Post’s DANA KENNEDY about the hellish conditions he and other pilots are now enduring.

It’s midnight, and I’ve just finished a transcontinental flight to New York. I’m due back in the air at 3pm tomorrow afternoon, part of a recent increase in my hours. I used to get 15 days off a month minimum for most of my career. Now I get only 10 days off and it’s taking a toll. For the month of June, I was scheduled to have only six days off.

I’m tired. Flying is definitely not as fun as it used to be. Being a pilot was once the best part-time jobs in the world because you only worked 15 days a month. No more. 

United planes line up at Newark Liberty International Airport, where the airline is cutting 50 flights a month starting in July.Corbis via Getty ImagesThe pressure is real. There’s pressure to fly when you’re tired. I have to check a box that says I’m fit to fly at the start of every flight. T …