I had between 11 and 16 days off a month. Typically I was getting about 12 days off a month, but I regularly got trips removed for other people to do IOE and twice I had stretches of 10 days off in a row.

For those that think first year pay is fine because there are a few posters who did well their first year, you are wrong. The only reason I was able to make that much was because I lived in base and could pick up single turns and day trips that come up quickly. The fact that I held a line is the other big plus. If I were on reserve, I would have brought only $18,000 home. Now I am on second year pay but I am lucky if I can bring $2,000 a month home all because flying is down and more senior people have moved into my base.

Pilot compensation should be less focused on the hourly rates and more focused on stability and consistency. I can think of no other industry that has such a wide variation in pay among employees who all do the exact same job.