What kind of pay range is expected in the regionals?
 

What kind of pay range is expected in the regionals?

Hi & Welcome to the forums...

Feel free to browse the rest of the site, I think you'll find the answers you are looking for:

http://www.airlinepilotcentral.com/a...2005030344.htm

Welcome to the job where you qualify for food stamps. :)

Contrary to popular belief, you can buy a modest home on first year FO payrates of many of the RJ providers. Yes, it is possible! However, if your lifestyle is expensive, you have debt (car payment, credit cards, student loans, etc) or don't know how to stick with a budget, you'll be screwed. If you are willing to work and/or know how to work the contract to your advantage, a pilot can credit well over 100 hours per month, with perhaps a quarter of that at premium pay.

All that being said, its really hard (damn near impossible) to raise a family on first year pay alone.

When you look at pay scales between airlines, remember it is not an apples-to-apples comparison. Work rules vay between companies, and the work rules determine HOW and WHEN the pay scale applies. If you are working and do not meet your companies criteria for being "on-the-clock" you get NO PAY.

With that said, typical regional pay is probably like this (assume RJ):

1st year FO: $15-22K
2nd. year FO: $26-35K
5 year CA: $60-80K

Rough numbers.

That sounds about right in my estimation. From what I've seen, in general, it's actually possible to make a little money go a long way. I know...I'm a starving college student! lol. Since you're away from home so much you'll probably have much lower utilities and gasoline expenses than the average person. Also it seems like many regionals give you a big pay raise (sometimes an increase of over $10/hr) after your first year. And in any case within 3 to 5 years you'll be an RJ captain with about a $60K salary. If you're single you could probably buy your own Cessna 152 when you make captain. :) (go on, say what you want. I like the 2 seat Cessna!).

I keep almost buying one (a 152 w/ IFR), but every now and then I need to take 2+ people somewhere far away and end up renting a twin anyway...

Theres an approved conversion for the 152 available called the Sparrowhawk. It adds a more efficient prop, boosts rpm, and tweeks compression to give you 125HP (all from the standard O-230 engine). I hear it gives the 152 a real boost. The CRJ-200 may have some competition :D :p

The Sparrowhawk mod replaces a 2550 rpm prop (McCauley) with a 2800 rpm legal prop (Sensinich). That buys you 5 hp without doing the engine mod, which takes the stock 110hp to 115hp. The rest of the Sparrowhawk mod is to exchange the pistons with high compression replacements that get you another 10hp, thus, possibly equalling 125hp, all from the origional Lycoming O235L2C engine.

I've got a 1978 aerobat with the prop mod only. It has a Garmin 430 in it, which is about as glass cockpit as a 152 can get.

Straight from my W-2s:
1999: 26K (hired mid-way through year from a higher-paying job)
2000: 24K
2001: 26K
2002: 37K (transitioned to RJ FO mid-year)
2003: 60K (upgraded mid-year)
2004: 69K
2005: 79K

It's all about work rules as mentioned above. You can't just do min. gaurantee X payrate X 12 months. There's training pay, holiday pay, user pay (sick), vacation pay, bonuses, and overtime (jr. man), and extra flying voluntarily picked up.