Originally Posted by Bhounddog

I’m considering a career change going CFI to regional route and I’m trying to figure out how much regional pilots REALLY get paid so I can plan a budget.

I’ve seen all the pay scales for each regional airline. However, it’s challenging to deduce how much regional pilots really take home because of the ambiguous bonuses and bullish regional airline recruitment marketing promising “up to $65K FIRST YEAR FO PAY!!!”

After looking at pay scales, it looks like first year FOs at most regional airlines make about $37K @75 hours p/m. Even if I received a $15k bonus, bonuses are taxed at a much higher rate than regular comp.

When bonuses are factored in, taxes deducted, how much do regional pilots actually take home each month?

How much should I realistically expect to make my first year? How much for 2nd-4th year? How much do regional captains really make?

Yes, I know there will be many variables that will create various answers. I’m just hoping to get a general idea of how much take home pay will really be to create a budget.