Originally Posted by
Delta1067
I made $26,000 my 1st year at a regional and that was back in 1997. Don't 2nd year FO's at most regionals make close to $40 at most regionals these days? Not saying it shouldn't be more but for a job not requiring a degree good luck making $40,000 if you are 20 years old and have no degree. If you wasted $150K at UND or ERAU than that is your own fault. There are much cheaper ways to do it.
Please keep in mind that 26,000 15 years ago in 1997 is not the same as today. With inflation added in that 26,000 is equal to 36,000 dollars today. The even sadder part of this is that the reputable regional first pay is more like 23,000 nowadays...3,000 less than you received with zero inflation over a 15 year period. 2nd year pay hardly comes close to 36,000 if even that much. With ATP ruling...the 20 yr or FO is no more...have to be 23 now or turn 23 very soon before it goes in effect. Yes...the regionals do not require a college degree - but most jobs beyond the regionals do like your Delta employer. Even with that - not having a college degree nowadays is a huge setback and puts you way behind in the employment process. I didnt spend 150k on my college degree/flight training but it was a good 80K. Still hard to see good return value in it. Even teachers can make 40K after a year or 2 and they get the summers off. It simply comes down to pilots not wanting to make that little money after reaching ATP mins and still having to bear through the on reserve years...raise the wages and this will be solved, if there was something to be solved in the first place.
http://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/cpicalc....997&year2=2012