hilltopflyer

Have you ever hung drywall? It’s not that hard. Please just stop trolling trying to compare the two job skill levels.

pilotpayne

You are not going to win with this example.

Slowhawk

So about those pay rates

AYLflyer

There's a difference between comparing your income to the average household and keeping perspective on life around you.

I want to be the highest paid professional I can be, but that doesn't mean I can't have a good perspective on my life/career compared to the average citizen. The whole "We're not the average citizen" line is bull****. You're one medical bust away from just being an 'average citizen'.

So many guys in this profession are disconnected from reality when it comes to pay/benefits. I watch all my friends who aren't in avitaion work their butts off to maybe someday clear $60-$80k/yr and get 3-4% retirement contributions from their companies if they're lucky.

Perspective. You can be grateful for what you have and what you earn while not selling yourself short. We can still fight hard for what we deserve to be paid as a professional aviator and still have some humility in knowing that the very people we haul back and forth may work 2,3,4,5x harder than us and will and never see the earnings potential we see as pro pilots.

Bluedriver

A320 rates are nearly an exact match to Alaska rates. Look at Alaska APC profile.

E180 rates are 20% less.

MasterOfPuppets

Yep you are exactly right. unlike the rest of society we are one bad blood pressure reading away from losing our jobs and the lifestyle we have built for our families. We have to do everything we can to make sure our families are supported in case that medical goes tomorrow. We are forced to retire whether we are ready our not. We have a finite amount of money we can earn in our lifetimes and need to capitalize on the fact that pilots are not a dime a dozen. If you lost your medical tomorrow could you replace a 250K income?

Bluedriver

As long as you don't use it, at all, to rationalize accepting less than your comparable major airline PILOT peers, sure.

Did your friends not have career day in highschool?

😁

Bluedriver

Very true....

nuball5

I don't think our careers are as fragile as you make it out to be. I had my AME tell me recently that about 95% of pilots who can't walk out of his office with a new medical, get it the second time around. I was surprised with that number, but it stuck with me. Probably told me this cause he could tell I was nervous....as I am always when I go in. All you can do is eat healthy, exercise and have some good luck along the way.

Pilot41

I was guessing 70% yes, not surprised. I did think it funny that there were many that thought it would get voted down. It was never going to be close. While it should have been better it was good enough that the fix was in.

Time to move on.