Originally Posted by Poundstone
I think the market is saying that a good, standard salary for an experienced captain flying a non-RJ jet is going to be about 100K. That's a six-figure income, guys and gals! You should be more than satisfied with that.
Wrong! You have to compare apples to apples here...
1) Pilots have to retire at age 60 (even if they change it, I would guess maybe 50% would pass the medical after age 60). Assume the average professional (including pilots) starts their career at age 25. Assume non-pilots retire at age 65 (on average). In order to account for the lost five years, a pilot can be considered to be earning 87.5% of his actual annual salary. Now we're at $87, 500.
2) But the government is going to tax our pilot not at $87.5K, but at $100K. Let's take off an extra $4K for the higher tax bracket...$83.5K.
3) Now let's look at jobs that involve substantial time away from home and environmental hardship...these typically pay a very large premium compared to a similar job in benign conditions. Conservatively, this premium is probably at least 30% of the pay in question. Now we have $58,500 for a professional position that took about 15 years to acquire (you specified major not regional CA) and is directly responsible for the safety and well-being of 100-450 folks on each leg.
4) Don't forget the medical, lose that and your @ss is on the street. Even neurosurgeons don't have to pass a medical exam.
5) Most other professions pay a livable wage from the get-go. Regional airline FO's qualify for food stamps if they have a family, and you don't attain that whopping $58K/year until age 40 at the earliest. If you take a career average, that $100K airline captain is making less than a union bus driver.
Doesn't stack up well to other educated, licensed professionals at all. Health care (my buddy's wife is a radiation oncology technician, she makes $90K working part time, three blocks from home.), civil engineers, architects, merchant marine capatins, etc.