I like how you throw 100K around as if that is an actual amount that I could have earned at Horizon Air by now. By my math it is 72K. I am still in contact with people from my new hire class and they do not make 100K either. In addition I was gone more than most pilots and worked harder because of the short leg lengths in the dash. My time away from base was punishing. More than twice as much as when I flew for National Airlines. From what I hear it is five on and three off.

Another thing for you to consider is that during my time there we were on pre-contract wages. My income potential was considerably less than what they have now. Had I known that a better contract was on its way perhaps I would have made my choices differently. At the time however it was a sweatshop that was slow to upgrade and offered humiliating wages. I needed to make a living to support a family on not $492 every two weeks.

72K in itself is not all that bad but when you consider the 20 years of poverty, pain and suffering it took for me to get there then it stinks on ice. Had I known that this was a realistic career destination then I definitely would have skipped the four years of college and flight training, chosen to miss out on all my years of living in a bug infested hut in Alaska and gotten a job as a mailman straight away and been close to retirement by now.

I love to fly just as anyone else here but I needed to make a living and have the ability for a life. I made sacrifices so that I could earn a better life for my family and I. It is not worth it to me to have to live in the city, earn garbage man wages and then be gone more than half the time. If you were in my shoes then perhaps you would see it differently.

I am afflicted by the nagging thought that I can do better.

Skyhigh