You have to consider the management team at AOPA. They cater towards wealthy people who fly for fun. Just look at airplanes being covered in their magazines. They mostly cover multi million dollar corporate jets and high end GA aircraft. On one article AOPA editor said paying $800,000 for a piston engine Baron is pretty reasonable considering the inflation over the years.

In a similar sense, as a retired professional fire department station captain (and commercial pilot now) I have little use for volunteers. Maybe the local bricklayer, mechanic, banker or lawyer would love to have a guy (or co-worker) come in and set up shop next to him and work for nothing........ I didn't think so. Just another way of keeping a professional from earning a decent paycheck...how about a volunteer state trooper?
As for me, I wont fly "just for the experience".

Knowing there's people out there like this makes me sick. It's so sick. There's a guy I know of whom I was talking to. I was telling him how ****ty the pay is on reserve (1st year FO). His response was, "really? I think it's pretty good for a single guy." Of course, he's the type of kid whom mommy and daddy have paid everything for, including his new car, rent, and all of his college and flight training. I lost a lot of respect for that individual after that short conversation. Of course, he's happy flying regional jets now and that's all he cares about. It's extremely sick how spoiled some of these losers are. Their attitude is what has killed this industry.

Well think about it, most of kid pilots come from middle to upper middle class. Upper class think of piloting for a living in the same way as being a bus/truck driver. Lower class, can't afford it. A lot don't really know what it's like to live pay check to paycheck, especially the emory dribble and other college aviation kids who are basically living off of their parents.


This guy on the article does a good job of bringing up an issue that will ALWAYS be with this profession. Just like being a lawyer or doctor, you have to start somewhere and sometimes even do things for free. It's not a shocking concept. I do think flying for free ss rare but also the guys that bash this idea have never found themselves desperate or have never walked in the persons shoes. When I was furloughed I found it very difficult to do anything other than min wage jobs, If I had gone on for a few more months who knows what I would have done to find a flying job.

That's about as inaccurate as your sweeping generalization about folks who went to colleges with aviation programs.

If you are desperate, how does flying for free help you out? All it does is take you away from a job that would have paid you something to make you less desperate.

I remember one of my mentors said to a friend of mine once who was trying to market himself to the company which my mentor owned "A man that fly's for free knows his worth!"

Yes because every 18 year old can afford to even sign a loan to go to college and spend 50k for their licenses while they're at it. Please, Dad! I need more money!

The problem is that the job doesn't pay to begin with and you can't find a job to begin with. Someone is going to take it. Obviously no one is going to stay at a non paying job for long anyways but people still do take it to better their experience. There are some charter companies that do this.

My wife put herself through the same aviation program as me without a penny in tuition or room and board money from her parents. Thankfully for her, she's smarter than I am and had academic & merit-based scholarships which helped with costs, and working 10hrs/day on weekends helped cover the rest. Her student loans upon graduation would buy a BMW 3 Series.

Big dumb me was an out-of-state student and while I had help from my parents, I was also under orders to get a job to cover my expenses. I did get a job, and at my high point was actively working 3 while taking between 15 and 20 hours of class. I also had an AFROTC scholarship that helped offset costs a little...and I still graduated with enough student loans to buy a really nice Escalade.

I'm not so much concerned that you ignorantly paint everyone who graduated from a collegiate aviation program as coming from a background of wealth, as much as I am that you sound really bitter about those who did.

Even if one doesn't know what its like to live paycheck-to-paycheck (which we all should hope we never have to do) while in college, they'll certainly figure it out when mommy & daddy cut the purse strings and they're drawing their $25k/year regional FO salary. :rolleyes:

As far as working for free....well, you get what you pay for...