Originally Posted by
de727ups
"The skills set once required to sit in the front office of an airliner are not difficult to come by anymore"
I don't buy it. 12 years on the 727, which was around about the time you were born, and 4 years on the 757/767, the high tech machine, and I'll tell ya it's not that different from the standpoint of needing quality operaters in the front seats.
The job may not be, today, what you expected it to be....what you needed it to be. I'll agree that things have gone downhill and the bar was lowered. I just don't agree that downhill slide will continue into lowly busdriverdom. It can still be a six figure job working half the month. The majors are starting to recall and hire. Labor wants it's share of the upswing. Time will tell but I still have hope for the future.
I'm just not ready to write it off as a wasted career yet nor willing to discourage folks from pursuing it...so long as they are educated as to the ups and downs.
These days a new pilot can literally go from zero to sitting in the right seat of a Mesa RJ within a year. Commonly pilots are getting hired at the regionals with only a few hundred hours. Soon people will be able to enter self funded airline pilot cadet programs and direct entry into an airline position. (say don't they already do that someplace?) Flying an RJ can't be much different than flying a 757 in regards to complexity. The next generation of jets I am sure will be even easier to operate.
I am sure that as hiring heats up some pilot groups will be thrown a bone and wages will come up a little, however the increase will hardly cover inflation and most of the increases will go to buying off the senior guys. In a few years the hard times will return and wages will ratchet down another few notches. My estimation is that the bottom for major airline captain wages lies someplace between urban police officer and city bus driver.
My generation sacrificed a lot to get where we are and expected to earn a very good living when we got there. The RJ kids today spend a small fortune at a six month pilot factory and are simply hoping to earn enough to pay their share of the rent and to have a little extra for top ramen.
SKyHigh