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Originally Posted by TheBlueGuy
(Post 3573299)
I'll chime in from the neglected step-child side of the aviation industry. 135/133 (longline) utility/firefighting helicopter work. 15+ years.
$170,000 base pay $11,700 flight + bonus pay $1900 per diem $5000 IRA 3% match $188,600 Total gross compensation Slow fire year so only about 300 hours flown. Schedule is terrible when it exists at all, work 200+ days a year usually. Flying can be good fun but still question my career choices. Mostly due to losing a few good friends to crashes. An impossible task to improve the safety of these contraptions to anywhere near 121 safety. I'm glad y'all keep pushing for better pay and QoL because it has slowly forced our industry to adjust too. And as others have mentioned, no shame in bailing to 121...if ever there was a time to come over it's now. I for one always appreciate flying with pilots that have a different background from the norm and the experience they bring. |
Stay safe out there. You guys do extremely important but quite dangerous work, often in very austere environments. I always laugh when fellow airline pilots tell me how tough we have it. signed, a prior rotorhead that jumped to the 121 world. I spent a good chunk of my career working under part 137. I never made nearly the $ as you now do. I found it much more fulfilling than the 121 flying I currently do. I really miss it. Kinda feel like I sold my soul for a 16% DC. I’ll gladly have a boring job that pays 300k+ a year over a fun flying job that pays crap… Thanks for sharing. Interesting. Why not come on over to the 121(boring) side? As others have said, thanks for what you do for all of us. No amount of money will replace the satisfaction of an important job well done. That said, there is no shame in switching to 121 so your kids can go to the college of there choice. Very interesting, thanks for sharing. I'm glad some pay raises have reached the helicopter world. Just curious, what was pay like ~10 years ago? And as others have mentioned, no shame in bailing to 121...if ever there was a time to come over it's now. I for one always appreciate flying with pilots that have a different background from the norm and the experience they bring. I know fire guys who make six figures working the fire season 2 weeks on 2 weeks off and skiing the winter on unemployment. |
Originally Posted by TheBlueGuy
(Post 3574335)
Smart moves! I went the other way. Was an FO for $20k/year for a bit before seeing greener grass in rotorcraft. Whoops. Heli flying gets pretty tedious too. Lots of negative customer management and oversight at the moment and keeps getting worse.
~10 years ago I made $60-80k for the same work. Top pay I knew of back then was just under $100k. Now lots of base/1st year pay around $105-110k with pretty easy to achieve $130-140k. A big improvement but still plenty of room to grow if we're to keep anybody vibrating around in helicopters! I do think about rejoining your ranks, thanks for keeping threads like this one around and keeping the information out there! I have a side hustle tied to helicopters that is currently worth enough to keep me rooted in place or I would have tried to make the jump. If I keep reading these posts one of these years y'all will convince me! For sure there are pretty decent fire and utility jobs out there for a few lucky folks. I am happy with the money I make but I'm not skiing on unemployment at the moment haha. |
Originally Posted by ThumbsUp
(Post 3572184)
I think you're thinking of a different flight. They received the Secretary's Award for that one.
Originally Posted by JimLaheyTPS
(Post 3572251)
Yeah, not sure WTF he’s talking about, but UAL 811 is one of those flights that made it on the ground because of the experience and skill level of the pilots.
I added the comment about experienced people making mistakes as a disclaimer. But I see that could have been interpreted differently. |
Southwest 19 Year Captain
870 Block W2 $581,468 NEC $87,220 Profit Sharing $21,394 Total Compensation: $690,082 Just working the free market economy here at SWA. This was my best year. Always am a bit of a high time flyer and know a few tricks of the trade which I am always willing to share with my F/O's. It is definitely a blessing but can also be a curse if you have workaholic tendencies. |
Originally Posted by swacap
(Post 3575598)
Southwest 19 Year Captain
870 Block W2 $581,468 NEC $87,220 Profit Sharing $21,394 Total Compensation: $690,082 Just working the free market economy here at SWA. This was my best year. Always am a bit of a high time flyer and know a few tricks of the trade which I am always willing to share with my F/O's. It is definitely a blessing but can also be a curse if you have workaholic tendencies. |
Originally Posted by FXLAX
(Post 3575950)
SWA contributed $87k into your 401k?
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Originally Posted by Crockrocket95
(Post 3575955)
The IRS limit, then I bet the rest came as cash,
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Originally Posted by Crockrocket95
(Post 3575955)
The IRS limit, then I bet the rest came as cash,
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Originally Posted by swacap
(Post 3575598)
Southwest 19 Year Captain
870 Block W2 $581,468 NEC $87,220 Profit Sharing $21,394 Total Compensation: $690,082 Just working the free market economy here at SWA. This was my best year. Always am a bit of a high time flyer and know a few tricks of the trade which I am always willing to share with my F/O's. It is definitely a blessing but can also be a curse if you have workaholic tendencies. |
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