Here is some food for thought on why airline pilot pay has become what it is. Let’s look at Doctors, lawyers, and Airline Pilots. Each of these three groups has distinct skills and responsibilities. How are doctors, lawyers, and pilots certified? To be considered a professional lawyer you must pass the BAR exam. The BAR is administered by other lawyers and in many states it is a requirement to practice law. To be a Doctor in almost all cases you must be certified by the AMA. The BAR and AMA have complete control over the supply of doctors and lawyers, in a sense they are unions or each group. To be an airline FO you must only poses a commercial pilot certificate. This hardly makes you qualified to fly a jet with 70 people on board, even if you can do a killer lazy eight. Who determines whether you are qualified to be an airline pilot…..the airline, which is “supervised” by the FAA. An airlines sole purpose is to make a profit for its shareholders, yet they are the ones who set the experience standard to safeguard the lives of their passengers. IMHO t is the equivalent of hiring a doctor who has only completed ½ of medical school, knowing you can pay them less. We all know the best education a pilot can have is experience. I have never heard ALPA say that experience requirements at regional airlines are too low. Maybe ALPA should push for standard experience requirements to be an airline pilot and model themselves more like the BAR and AMA and then let the market help our pay scales. As long as an airline determines what makes you qualified to be an airline pilot, they will always find someone less experienced to do your job for less. The FAA doesn’t seem to notice or care.
Last edited by cessnamann; 03-19-2009 at 01:39 PM.