At $30.00 / hr and a guarantee of 75 hours, that is $27,000.00 for the year. Ridiculous! The pay needs to be commensurate with the responsibility. Sure there is the risk of an applicant washing out or bailing out, but the airlines make that back ten-fold off the backs of all the ones who do make it through. I don't know what starting pay should be, but I'm pretty sure it should be above the poverty wages being offered. Like many have stated, there is no "pilot shortage", but a shortage of pilots willing to work for less than minimum wage.