POSTED BY SKYHIGH:
I think you have the wrong idea about the regionals and the airlines in general. The job is more difficult and the pay is lower in most cases than you mentioned. Usually it takes 20 years to get to the 80K you referred too. I am out of aviation because I had to. I would much rather be flying but you can't support a family on what most jobs pay. I'd keep a good relationship with your aunt if I were you. The odds are that sooner or later you will end up doing something else besides aviation. Your concept of the industry is totally unrealistic.
SkyHigh
My view might be a little on the "unrealistic", and on the "idealistic" side, but I have only stated the salaries of those I know working in the aviation industry as pilots.
As I mentioned earlier; everybody knows someone, who knows someone, etc., who makes more than a pilot, or more than a doctor, etc., doing some odd job, whether it be as a salesman, real estate agent, or owning their own company, etc. Those people are not your everyday, typical person. Most people work in your typical, average career field, not owning their own business, but maybe working for the person who owns that business, etc. I know many people who are very educated, have great degrees, are working in good careers, and have been for 20 years, and are making $80K per year. I happen to know a couple of regional CAs in their 6th years or so, and they are making around $70-$80K per year. The guy making the $80K does fly 100+ hours per month, however. This does not mean everybody makes that kind of money in their 10th or so (FO+CA time) year flying.
My whole point is not that I disagree that pilot should be paid more, it is that if you compare 'average' pay for pilots to what pay others are making in
most other careers fields, they are not 'underpaid'.
If you look at the training, etc., that a pilot has to go through, and the nature of the job, than I will agree they are underpaid. The way some people talk, you would thinks pilots are making next to nothing, and although for a first year FO, that may be the case, it is no the case for most pilots, atleast the ones I know, once you have been in the industry for some time.
Another piece of info. that may help clear some things up; I live in the South. Living expenses here are less than most other parts of the country. An $80K salary here, may be 'worth' more than a $100K salary in other parts of the country. I do realize living expenses are much more in other parts of the country, and that is something I need to keep in mind. Some of the salaries you all are listing are very good salaries in the South, while it may not be in the Northeast, for example.