Originally Posted by
Jbond006
SAAb I work at the same place you do and I am not going to make anywhere near $40000 for the year might make 23000 before taxes after payroll deductions for uniforms and taxes much much less. It is a joke and I bet you are working extra picking up red flag and giving up QOL if at $34/hr you ar making 40k and pinnical pay isn't that high for an FO. I agree the future looks very bright for us as Airline pilots. We have to take what is ours though. This means when everyone’s next contract is up we need all the majors and regional to bounce back pre 9/11 pay plus inflation and then some and get better work rules. I am still on reserve and I love my job but I am sure it will be much better once I am a line holder and can't get abused. Our contract is one of the best in the industry but we still get abused. I couldn't imagine working at a place like mesa or other places with their work rules. SAAB I believe you made a lateral move to get to express. Was it do to QOL and why should you have to do that? Another problem is pilots as a whole flying an E-jet basically a DC-9 with the 190 and 170 replacing mainline route for less pay because it is at a regional and doesn’t say Boeing. Making less flying one of those than guys flying a 50seater with worse work rules would be embarrassing to me. I hope we can all stick together as a pilot group in the years to come and get this profession back to its old glory.
There is no job I would rather have than being an airline pilot but I think carriers need to raise rates and pilot need to stop paying for every 2 bit hillbilly who wants a $99 round trip to Ft. Myers.
Jason
There is lots of truth, here. However, it starts, even before you make it to the Regionals. The true front line right now, if anyone chooses to fight, is the CFIs. Without them, the whole thing burns down. I am hopefull that for the first time in recent history, people will start to realize this. After all, who is going to train all of these 250hr "wonderkidz".
I chose not to take a "short cut", and have built 1500 hours as a CFI in the last two years. I refused to work for Mesa, BlowJets, or TSA. (No I'm not an idiot, but there were some false promises made by my employer about opportunities for multi-time, and I got a few false sarts)
Two years ago, I waited to get on with the local FBO, as they paid $20 hr, when the local "pilot factories" paid about $10/hr. I refused to work for that Sh**t.
I left the local FBO, when they started making us pay for our own health insurance. In a polite way (yes, I'll still get a good reference), I said F**ck you, if this is the value you think I add to the company.
I then went to work, localy, for a UK based "Airline School", training for JAA licenses, starting at $30K/yr with benefits, bonuses and regular raises.
When I left that job (today was my last day), to go to ExpressJet, the starting pay was just increased to $40K/yr, and productivity bonuses increased significantly, up to about $8K/yr. They have lost 4 instructors, in 3 weeks, and are desparate for new ones.
I used to feel like an idiot, climbing out of a Warrior, wearing eppulates. When I realized that, if I stayed, I would make 2.5 times what I will make as a 1st year FO on the ERJ, and that I was wearing a company provided uniform, vs paying $750.00 for it at XJT, I thought maybe I should wear them into the grocery store, on the way home.
Realizing that very few of us, here, want to be CFIs, forever.... if you're going to do the job, do it well. Insist on a competetive wage. Don't ***** yourself out for nothing, take the time to learn a few things along the way, and then go to work for a quality airline, when you ae ready. If you are free-lancing you should be getting at least $50/hr, with the liablility you face, and the training you have behind you. I have found that if you are good at what you do, the word gets out, people will glady pay it.
I don't mean to sound like a marxist, but, If ALPA had any sense, they would try to organize CFIs. The only chance this industry has to be even a shadow of it's former self, is when the Regionals and Flight Schools have to start competing to attract qualified (in this day and age) pilots. A supply and demand issue is brewing...we need to capialize on it, now.