I may be beating a dead horse im not sure. Im wondering if anyone here sees any way or any plans in the future for airlines to start paying pilots a bit more. Given that this new stupid bill the congress is getting ready to try to pass (1500 hr minimum for new FOs) they will have to pay more to get pilots. But say by some miracle this doesnt pass..is there an end in sight for low pay?

 

First I don't think 1500 hours is a bad idea at all. It is still a very small amount of experience to have the lives of the paying public in their hands. That aside, unfortunately I don't think it will have any effect on wages. It wasn't all that long ago no regional would even look at you until your experience was at least in the 1500 hour range, and the wages were even worse then.

 

There is no shortage of pilots with 1500tt.

There never has been - at least not in the RJ era.

There has only been a shortage of pilots with 1500tt willing to work for the compensation offered at regional airlines. THAT is why hiring minimums dropped in 2006-2007...not a true, actual lack of aviators.

 

Right i understand that by increasing minimums you have to increase pay or you wont attract pilots, i know there are plenty with the 1500 tt but not many willing to work for 19k a year.

Personally i think we need to treat our pilots like the professionals we require them to be. I am biased because im a pilot but not many people can take 50 thousand pounds and grease it onto a 75-foot wide slab of concrete going 180+ MPH with 60-90 people behind em. Thats just my 2 cents.

Dont get me started on this bill i really dislike it simply because i dont think lack of flying experience led to that buffalo crash. NTSB reported the FO was sick and sleepy but couldnt afford a hotel and opted not to sleep in the airport so she did not call in looking forward to that hotel room payed for by the airline.

Thats besides the fact that a garbage man (no offense) in NY makes more than a 1-3 year FO at the regionals...Sad sad sad.

 

Although there are plenty of pilots with over 1500TT, I think you will see a sharp decline in the number of people approaching 1500TT and getting their Commercial/ATP. If you're looking at the flight universities of the world and thinking of enrolling, you'll now realize that it'll be approx 4 years and 6 digits of debt, followed by several years of flight instructing to get to a job that pays 20k a year first year, if you're fortunate. Arguably for the same amount of time and money, you could be a doctor. I'd like to imagine things will change and there will be a pilot shortage and our payscales will go up to reflect that. What I believe is more likely though is that this bill will greatly reduce the number of people who want to go to school and become aviators.

 

Pay is still determined by union contracts. Companies don't care if they have the most qualified newhires, just that they have qualified newhires. No matter what the pay, companies will continue to pay low and fill seats. Union carriers are locked contractually into negotiated payrates. Non-union carriers have no incentive to pay more than the average union carrier. A $1 per hour raise is all a non-union carrier needs to do to stand out as higher paying compared to a union carrier.

 

Why is this bill "stupid"? A lot of people, myself included, KNOW it WILL be the best thing for aviation we've seen in a long time. Creating barriers to entry make the path harder to follow. Only the dedicated will be able to walk the walk. Diminishing the pool of qualified applicants to 121 positions would have an inverse proportional relationship to pay and work rules. It is simple supply and demand. I have already written my state representatives urging them to support this bill. You want pay and work rules for the better? This is step one.

 

Well like so many others my concern is that what incentive to people have to put 100k into training or close to it and spend 2-5 years doing it then another 2-3 years instructing living off scraps to get to a regional that is gonna pay 19-25k for the first 2-3 years.... Its not worth it. The first thing that needs to change is the pay scale...THEN the requirements. just my opinion.

 

That will never happen. The inverse needs to take place. We got a glimpse of what it could be like in 2007 hiring craze when airlines were offering signing bonus' and other perks like paying for apartments during training, etc. It went short of raising overall pay, but if we see a long term shortage because of these requirements, pay scales will have to be adjusted to attract corporate pilots, military pilots, CFI's and new students to start down the path.

 

Well the new student part is where this bill will fail... How do you attract people to this industry when you tell them..

Set out to be a pilot spend 100k 2 years training 3 years working your butt off in little planes teaching others then get hired (if your lucky) and work for little to no money the first few years as an FO...OR go to college get a degree in architecture with your 5 years and make 200k a year out of the gate...

The only good thing i see for this bill is that it i will weed out the not so serious pilots.