Originally Posted by
robthree
Captain T.
My cousin has just graduated from Boston University. Aerospace Engineer. Really, really smart kid. In his Sophmore summer he got an internship at one of the major firms (can't remember which one - doesn't matter). His internship paid $25 an hour, full time.
Now, as I said Nick is a really smart kid. But he was being paid more to be a gopher than first year pilots make at a Legacy, much less a regional. With NO EXPERIENCE. None.
Thirty grand is not nearly enough for a brand new first officer anywhere, on any equipment. It will not support a family, period.
I agree that at 300 hours you've got no business sitting in the right seat of an airliner. I personally think an ATP ought to be required for every 135/121 pilot.
But anyone in that seat must be properly compensated. And it is the job we are doing, not what we used to do that ought to determine our pay.
Your cousin has a skill that MOST PEOPLE cant/wont apply themselves to obtain. That is why at the lowest end he makes more than a new FO. I like the idea that ATPs should be required, but they arent, so we get a surplus of pilots with RJ courses from the newest civillian top gun flight school. They are the top 3% of the bottom 10%. And the FAA allows this, the airlines accept this, and the passengers are oblivious to this. So that is why a new FO is cheap. We as pilots have brought this on ourselves...because MOST CFIs only want to go to the regional airlines. I tell all my students CFI till they have 135/ATP mins and go fly freight. Trial by fire is the best proven test.
