9e Airlines President defends regional pay
 

This guy is a joke.
Decide for yourself


Senators Question Regional Pilot Pay


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By Andrew Compart
http://www.aviationweek.com/media/im...COFCAPITOL.jpg U.S senators yesterday continued to question the pay and sleeping habits of regional pilots, with the chairman of a Senate aviation safety subcommittee referring to a Washington Post report about local boardinghouses that some pilots use to get rest when making cross-country commutes to work.
The Washington Post wrote about the so-called “crash pads” in a story in its Aug. 4 edition, reporting that pilots making long commutes from the cities where they live to the airports where they are based often bunk with 20 or more other pilots and flight attendants in dorm-like alternatives to expensive hotel rooms.
“Regional airline pilots, whose employers pay much less than major airlines, say crash pads are emblematic of the dysfunction in the nation’s air transportation system. They exist to fill a need for a cheap place to rest,” The Washington Post reported.
At the Aug. 6 hearing before the Senate’s aviation operations, safety and security subcommittee, however, Pinnacle Airlines President and CEO Phil Trenary defended the pay scale for regional pilots, at least at his carrier, as being “in line with industry standards.” Captains at the parent company’s Pinnacle and Colgan Air subsidiaries earn an average of over $65,000 a year — up from about $36,000 12 years ago — while first officers earn over $24,000 plus per diem allowances.
“These average salaries, as well as starting salaries, are consistent with the regional airline sector,” Trenary said in his written testimony. “While starting base salaries for co-pilots may seem low, they must be viewed in the context of many other professions where higher salaries are achieved through progressive levels of responsibility.”
Trenary added that pilot wages are determined by collective bargaining. The company’s Pinnacle subsidiary reached a tentative agreement with the Air Line Pilots Association Aug. 5 that includes pay raises. But the talks took three years, and prior to the deal the union asserted that its pilots were among the lowest paid jet airline pilots in the country.
At the hearing, senators raised questions not only about pay and “crash pads,” but also about the long commutes some pilots make to get to work. They also worried that pay is so low that some pilots take second jobs to supplement their income, which makes them more fatigued.
“Don’t you think, from the evidence that we now see, that something’s wrong here?” asked Sen. Byron Dorgan, (D-N.D.), the subcomittee’s chairman.
Stephen Dickson, senior VP-flight operations for Delta, said he agrees that fatigue is an issue, but added that “whether it is a systemic problem is open to discussion.”

The amount of responsibility is exactly the same from the first day to the day you upgrade.

Philbo is a douchbag, period. If he actually steps out of his mansion in Germantown once in a while, he may realize the world is not flat, that people do have to work for a living.

And then you upgrade, complete OE and then have more responsibility.

When you get to the left seat you'll disagree.

That's why I said it's the same UNTIL you go to the left seat.

He is saying the responsibility as a first officer doesn't change one bit from the day you start until the day you move to captain. Yet our pay increases yearly up to a certain point.
That alone completely makes this so called CEO sound foolish when he says pay increases as resposibility increases.

Yes, responsibility does increase when you move to captain. However, a $50,000 pay difference is kind of dramatic between the FO and captain.

Wonder why we have to pay banking exec billions in bonuses after they do a crappy job and the banks lose money.
If money doesn't have any bearing on Safety or Competance then why do CEO's get paid what they do?
FACT: You get what you pay for!

I hate the spineless braindead ___heads that testify to congress with lies. Money has everything to do with safety and 50 people could be alive today if airlines paid a decent wage so they could hire decent pilots.

I signed for the jet for 4 years before coming to Blue and find FO payscales disgusting. Fact of the matter is that I expected quite a bit of the guy to my right in the way of professionalism and responsibility, far more than the 20-35K he or she was making. I expect more of myself now that I'm "slinging gear" again. Saying "you'll understand when you upgrade" is a cop out.

Did you guys know that at the Majors it's industry standard to pay an FO approximately 65-68 percent of the CA pay at similar longevity? That means at RAH for example a 2nd year 50-seat FO should be making about 41 bucks an hour. Food for thought.

the idea that the captain has more responsibility might be nice in legal terms but in real life i think its crap. If you break a rule and the captain ends up in chief pilots office you can gurantee the FO will be there right next to him. Also unless you lawn dart in on the left side of the airplane both pilots will die at the same time.