Why wouldn't I include ongoing retention bonuses and per diem in my salary? Yes, some OT is picked up (every couple of months), and throughout the year it is usually available at some point. I don't claim ALL FOs clear 60k. But many do, or can. You can define your salary how you'd like. We can debate non-taxed per diem all day, but let's be real - it's take home pay (not even taxed!). Some choose to spend it going out to eat on the road, I choose to keep most of it. To each their own. Don't worry, if my "not guaranteed" retention bonuses stop coming in, I'll stop including them in my salary. For now, the money comes into my bank account -- feels an awful lot like salary.

College -- four years of it -- costs as much as ATP flight school. Most nurses nowadays go to four years (sure, a few still just do two). I'm feeling that debt burn as much as the next guy. But I knew the payoff at the end, and waited till wages rose to where they are (and hopefully higher soon).

Nursing life-responsibility versus pilot life-responsibility: Number of nurses sued compared to airline pilots, not even in the remote ballpark (you mentioned liability). Nurses deal with a few dying folks. We deal with dozens/hundreds of folks heading to Tampa. Kinda apples and oranges. A nurse making 100k? Not all that common, but it obviously happens. A pilot making 100k relatively early in his/her career? Happens all the time. That's a part of why I'm in this profession, and not a nurse!

Lastly, don't get bent out of shape about the bus driver analogy. I feel that my caveat -- that they require little technical skill -- made clear that I was using it for the limited purpose of explaining that "responsible for X lives" isn't always the greatest way of determining compensation. A bus driver (rightly) only earns 20k. We earn well above that.