I think a lot of fancy jobs that have any sort of coolness factor don't pay well anymore. In the NW pilots are not paid well at all and other working class professions are. My cousin is a LA County Sheriffs deputy with 14 years in and makes 120K. We all would like to be pilots. I was and made a poverty wage.

If I would have been able to earn a real living as a pilot then perhaps I would have a different opinion. In addition none of my peers have done very well either. Of my ex-pilot coworkers most call me to ask advise on how to get out as I have. I am sorry that your niece cant break 60K. Perhaps she should move here and manage a feed store or Dairy Queen I am sure she would do much better. We live in a small town and first year cadet pay for police officers is 48K. In a few short years 60 is within easy reach. The final proof to me is how people live. The pilots that I know all live lower middle class to poverty lifestyles. The working class people who I know all own their own homes and have snowmobiles, ski boats, families ect. They earn enough to actually live well.

Lastly, of course, a lot in aviation depends upon if you make it to the majors. To you flying is a joyful and perhaps painless ride. Most likely you went strait from the military to a major and never went a week without a pay check. Your career was probably made before you even took your first lesson. What isn't to like about that? Everyone gets a few breaks in life and I never held it against my friends who had fathers who were well positioned at a major. The rest of us don't have it so good and suffer. It is almost a closed system.


SkyHigh