duffrick

Point 1: Many realtors make $300,000+/year, just as many sales reps make $300.000+/year. Is that justified? Of course I forgot to mention all the sports stars who make millions every year for doing what excatly? I understand your logic Skyhigh, but don't think for a minute there aren't thousands upon thousands of fresh baked MBA's out there willing to do the job of an executive any day of the week. The question is could they? The answer is yes. If given the same time in experience a regional pilot gets before he moves on to a major, a rookie MBA could easily do what a CEO does, so why aren't the CEO pay rates coming down then? They are going up last time I checked. Maybe they have a little more self respect. Don't tell me there aren't enough applicants for open CEO jobs.

Point 2: An airline pilot is not getting paid for his/her stick and rudder skills since just about anybody can learn the actual skill of flying an airplane. An airline pilot is getting paid - or at least should be - for his/her descision making skills. When you look at accident statistics for airline pilots, the percentage of accidents from pilots who have less than 2,500 hours exceed the other the more experienced group of pilots by a factor of 10. There is a reason regionals have a requirement of at least 3,000 hrs total time before moving in to the left seat. The insurance companies won't settle for anything less! For all of you who went to work for the crap paying airlines you did it for a reason right? That reason being you'll build some time and then move on to the majors right? Now that dream is shot and you'll be working for crap wages forever, unless you have the intestinal fortitude to improve the working conditions at the airline you are at. Good luck, the rest of us are counting on you growing some nads so our managements can't use you as an example of what the rest of us should get paid.

Point 3: For a long, long time there has been thousands of pilots applying for the jobs available without pilot pay having to be cut. How many dreamers are hoping for a career as a football/baseball/basketball player? The guys who make it to the big leagues aren't getting paid the big bucks for a lack of qualified applicants for the available jobs. I could probably line up a thousand qualified guys who would work for nothing for every pro sports athlete's job out there. What is my point here? It is not the number of qualified applicants for the job that determines how much a pilot should get paid but rather what an airline manager feels you should get paid and your ability to resist those managers' wishes. Unfortunately the airline managers are sitting on all the strong cards now but the tide will turn. Most people don't get into the pilot profession because of the money, but that doesn't mean we want get paid s--t for "living the dream" either. More and more 18-year olds are going to say "no thanks" to flying for a living and that will impact military flying as well as civilian flying in a big way in the future. Why bother? Get an MBA or a law degree and fly for fun on the weekends, that is what will happen.