Originally Posted by MikeB525
Honestly, it's not bad. I've been doing some research by talking to people outside of aviation, looking particularly at people with my college major: meteorology. You hear alot of people upset with their salary on this forum, especially the regional dudes. Through my research I actually found something sorta funny: I'd probably have greater earnings potential spending a career as a regional airline pilot than spending a career as a meteorologist or related scientist. I hear pilots on the forum saying how us young guys should give up flying and go into "normal jobs" where we'd "make more money". If I were to change paths and use my meteorology degree instead of my pilot qualifications, THAT would actually be the pay cut. Crazy, huh?
You need to compare apples to apples, because I guarantee that hour for hour you will make much more as a meteorologist. The pay as fourth or fifth year captain in the regionals works out to about 8-10$ an hour. Some with duty rig and better work rules may be better, but for the time you spend away from home and the crappy schedule, christmas, thanksgiving, birthdays, etc.,etc.etc, the pay is very low. It is very time consuming and can be hard. Any captain should make 100,000 a year in the regionals for what you put on the line and the responsibility, not to mention the cost of getting your ratings and the terrible pay up to date. People see the end result and think pilots are so rich, there is much more to it.