brianb,

Aviation has changed. When I was a kid pilots lived well. They were respected members of society. In my home town there were several prominent airline pilots who were well known land and business owners. They sent their families to France for the summer and Hawaii in the winter. They owned the biggest houses in town and bought a new car every two years.

Today even the legacy pilots are struggling to maintain middle class. It takes a huge amount of sacrifice and risk to be an airline pilot. The best the average airline pilot can hope for today is to make more than a mailman at some point.

I am sorry I do not see an upside for those who are starting out today. I will not accept my compensation in sunsets and ILS approaches. I have a family to feed and a retirement to fund. Aviation is costly and it needs to pay more. Pilots at all levels need to be paid much more and deserve much more time off so that they can have a life.

As things are today it is not worth it. It costs too much to become trained and educated for too little in return.The career use to be worth something. I don not see an upside and would appreciate your take on it.

From my perspective it seems as though the latest generation of pilots are selling themselves mostly on romance and fantasy. Aviation is my profession. Not a religion, personal quest or even hobby. As such it needs to pay a wage that is worthy of the cost it took to get there and provide stability and benefits.

Skyhigh