GauleyPilot

http://www.swifttruckingjobs.com/new_pay.php

Example 7
• Dry van – Eastern U.S.
• Driver/Mentor Level 2
• Six years of experience
• 3,600 miles driven per week
• Annual pay – $87,325 + $11,520 bonus potential – approximately $98,845

Or, you could fly for Swift in a Citation X

http://www.flyswiftair.com/Jobs.aspx

Radials Rule

Well, no. Vigorously pursuing the profession and caring about how our "lives will be like" as professional pilots are not at odds. There are those of us that do both. The profession has always been and always will be in a state of change. Dialogues much like this has always taken place. Pilots griped about the industry ever since it began. When Boeing built their first closed cockpit airplane, pilots complained. "Ah, how are we supposed to see? The industry is going to the crapper!" Pilots have been leaving the industry and complaining about it since the beginning of aviation.....not unlike you. Name one period that was considered "The Golden Age" of aviation and with a little research, I'm sure that it can be shown that there was discontent between management and pilots.

There are sacrifices in any career field worth doing. Each person should weigh the cost/benefit and choose their path. Obviously, to you, your costs outweighed your benefits and you got out. There's nothing wrong with that. To many of us, the benefits out weigh the costs. Sure, I don't have a job with the highest pay and a lot of time off, I'm just your average working pilot. You know what? I wouldn't trade it for anything else because I love it.

Just because it didn't work out for you doesn't mean that your perception is true for everyone else. In many of your posts, you seem to take every opportunity to paint such a negative picture for everyone to make yourself feel better. Perhaps your bitterness and negativity contributed to your flying career not working out for you......no offense, just a guess.

SkyHigh

First of all my information came from the NBC national news. In addition most of us do not want to drive a truck and I am not suggesting that anyone here do that. My point is that people with barely a GED are able to reach airline wages without any college, flight training or experience.

Trucking is a stable and growing profession that will continue to offer good wages that are on the rise. When comparing income potential to effort and investment spent to get the job trucking wins. It is a fact that should be of some concern and a measure of how low the pay is in regards to other professions.



SkyHigh

SkyHigh

I did not start out as bitter and I really do not think I am now. I just have a different perspective to offer. Each one of us has a different set of advantages and each one also has different needs.

Perhaps if I had made it I would have a different opinion, but the few guys who I do know that have reached their dream job most are a sad bunch to say the least. Whenever we get together all I want to talk about is the airlines and all they want to hear is how to get out like I was able to do.

I know that I am continuously surprised by how much other seemingly lower professions make in comparison to aviation. As pilots most of us live in a bubble and are oblivious to the outside world. I think it is important to look around once in a while so we know what we are giving up to fly.

SkyHigh

LeoSV

It's like you're not even reading the other posts on here. Do you really believe the news? Since when has the national news been a credible source? Trucker salaries are on the DECLINE, trucker QOL is on the DECLINE. A first year trucker may make more than a first year or maybe even a second year FO, but after being at a company for 10 years, the pilot will be making more than the trucker 90% of the time. There's lots of jobs that require little training, skill, or discipline that only require a GED, and you know what, the top tier of all of those jobs probably make more than an average pilot, but every pilot has the opportunity to make a great salary if they simply stay in the business and keep their nose clean, and have a degree. You can't say that for most of the industries that only require GED's. They will keep a low to average salary forever. Again, it's a poor comparison. If you want to compare flying to something, compare it to being a male porn star. It's most men's dream job, and not everybody can make it in to the bizz. Some guys even get more turned on thinking about sitting in the left seat of a global express and flying a rock band to Tahiti than they would sleeping with a porn star. and since I'm married, one of those guys is me. But I digress.. Trust me, being a pilot will never get as bad as trucking, and vice versa, trucking will never catch up to being a pilot. The discipline, education, sacrifice, confidence, honor, and respect that most pilots hold will always keep being a pilot several steps above trucking.

Cubdriver

I agree with this appraisal. Capitalism is where the value of the work someone performs is sold to the highest bidder, and almost every occupation has to bow to this harsh and impersonal reality. Trucking has to hike the pay in order to attract workers to what amounts to a gritty, unpleasant, dirty, grinding, bottom feeding lifestyle, and the pay reflects this. Money is about the only thing that motivates the vast majority of truck drivers to go to work. A lot of them, my guess is about 50%, truly hate the job and do it only to make ends meet.

In contrast the kind of person that applies to pilot jobs at the lower levels is not so much in it for the money. It is a group that is educated, capable, intelligent, dynamic, and places a higher value on intangible factors like personal challenge, public image, professional appearance, responsibility, and professionalism. They are willing to swap money for a crack at these things which unfortunately drives down wages at the lower levels. I do not think it drives down wages at the higher levels. But for most pilots the lower levels are unable to offer the same wages as equal kinds of jobs in other fields, especially those with less intangible benefits.

It would be interesting to quantify some of these intangibles and assign them dollar values. Then you could make a truer comparison between the two.

SkyHigh

I can offer a summary: One is a profession while the other is a working hobby.

I got into aviation because I love to fly and it was represented to me as a respected profession that rewarded sacrifice and dedication with a higher QOL and upper middle class or better wages. Had someone told me that in 2008 a UAL FO with a few years under his/her belt would earn less than an urban cop I would have never chosen this profession. And, neither would most other rational people.

It costs a small fortune and a lot of luck to make it as a pilot. It seems silly to waste all that potential and resources to gain a return similar to what a common gritty trucker or street cop can make.

Skyhigh

SkyHigh

I understand your point. In ten years hopefully the pilot will make more, but when you subtract the cost of a four year degree plus flight training and then throw in a furlough and I am not so sure that the trucker wouldn't be better off.

Not every pilot will make it to a better job. Most will be stopped at the regional level and to me after such a sacrifice to get there isn't really worth the investment. A trucker can get hired without any training or experience and later can walk away and not have a $1150 student loan or training contract following them for the next decade or two.

Besides all that oil topped $108 a barrel today. The future is very uncertain right now. No matter what the price of oil is there will still be trucks on the road. Trucking I am sure is no fun but living the life of a regional pilot is no picnic either.

SkyHigh

Radials Rule

Your source? Numbers? Show your work.

Again. Me thinks that you want to cut down the profession that you left because you couldn't hack it.

SkyHigh

Yea, I could not hack the low wages, long hours and time on the road. I was uncomfortable with the unstable nature of the airline cycle. I was concerned that with each lay off I was becoming less and less employable in other professions. I also couldn't hack the obvious decline in pilot wages, respect and overall sinking value in the market place. It concerns me that my peers who are still in the profession are depressed and living on half of what pilots made just 10 years ago.

When I choose flying as my profession it was so that I could afford a better life than if I hadn't made all the sacrifices. I wanted more time at home with my friends and family. I desired to join an industry that valued its employees and where you could build a solid reputation that would lead to more opportunities with time.

I would like to return to aviation but at this point in time it is just plan silly to consider it. How can a grown man with a growing family even hope to make it on what even the best legacy airlines are offering in starting wages? It would take most of five years at UAL to reach what they pay starting firefighters in my home town.

If I ever reach a point when I am financially independent I could consider returning to aviation full time.

After I was laid off I learned what professions outside of aviation offered. When taken in comparison to prospects that the average pilot faces it is clear to me that it is foolish to continue with the responibilities that I have.

SkyHigh

PS If you really are still interested in my numbers I will try to dig them up tomorrow.