Originally Posted by
Speed Select
Meh. I can make $200K+ and be home every night doing another job that is a lot more stable than airline pilot.
I also don't care for the way pilots are treated. I'm not looking to be put on a pedestal by any means, but after years of flying in the military, at a regional, and now at a major, I would appreciate some professional actualization. Airline pilot lacks any real professional respect. A lot of that is our fault. We're treated and portrayed more like a bunch of Glenn Quagmires than we are Chesley Sullenbergers. Maybe airline pilot just isn't for me. Frankly, with the high level of automation, brutal 4-5 leg/day 4-days, the complete lack of influence pilots have on the operation (other than failing to show up ready to fly), groveling every time you do make a decision, having to chasedown down pay questions/disputes, the physical and psychological wall between the cockpit and the cabin, and "sprint-to-the-bottom" civility, airline pilots have been reduced to glorified button pushers. EU countries seem to have pretty good success putting pilots in the cockpit of wide bodies with just a few hundred hours of flight time, and at much lower wages. Is their safety record much different from US carriers?
Mainline wages are going to keep falling behind inflation. The purchasing power of our salaries will continue to diminish. $300K+ salaries will become more and more rare, especially in the post-CV contract negotiations. Will we see bankruptcies? More instability? I wouldn't spend a dime on civilian training to become an airline pilot. That money can be much better spent on other more-stable and equally (or near equally) lucrative careers. I certainly wouldn't leave a six-figure career to start at the bottom of a regional seniority list. We're just another pandemic, terrorist attack, war, or recession from experiencing another lost decade. Lots of risk with diminishing reward.
Yes, I have a pretty good seniority.
Anyway, pilot shortage.
I left a 6-figure job as an engineer, got stuck in the right seat of regional during the pandemic, and this is still the best job I've ever had. I'm curious, besides CRNA, what other jobs you know of that pay people $200k/yr. You make it sound like this is the rule rather than the exception.
As an engineer, I was looking at topping out at maybe $150k, and that was as a commercial heavy construction manager (the actual engineer jobs paid less). My aero engineer and mech friends have even worse prospects because most of those jobs are govt or working for large corporations with set payscales. Hell, my cousin is a doctor, top of her class in med school, and she'll be lucky to make narrow-body CA pay one day, after residency. In the real world there are no 117 limitations and if you're not doing 60-hour work weeks, you'll permanently dead end in some soul-crushing, fluorescent light, cubicle farm, making $60k/yr, where you'll still have to deal with just as much BS from management (likely more, because their office is 20' away). And that's for a govt job. In the corporate world they'll just fire you and hire someone fresh out of college whose looking to prove themselves on Burger King salary. If you're complaining about the decreasing purchasing power of $300k, imagine how much more that sucks for most other white collar professionals who barely make 6 figures. I doubt their pay will triple and ours will stagnate.
Also, even getting 11 days off, I have more useful time at home than I ever did when I was an engineer, and that's not factoring in the overnights with 117 rest requirements in pretty decent hotels. On top of everything else, flying is like riding a motorcycle or hiking Zion; it never gets old. As far as I know, there's nothing else that will pay you this much to work this little, and is actually fun.