Strait pay is the only way to fairly evaluate ones compensation. Selling ones days off, adding per Diem or giving your self over to the enemy for draft pay just doesn't count.

If you were to use all that then when comparing to other professions you would have to add in all the income opportunities that they have as well.

Firefighters work an honest 8 or 9 days a month. In a west coast city they start out at 55K or higher. Add to it all the overtime days they could work and (given all the time off) the outside jobs they could have. It would explain the jet boats, big trucks and vacations they have.

Police also start out at a healthy wage and also have many opportunities for overtime for the city or private events. Even in my small burg they top 62K after two years and work 4 twelve hour shifts and have the next four days off.

Don't forget teachers. They get two weeks in December, one week in the spring every legal holiday and the entire summer off. In my state the listed average pay for teachers is 54K. Add to that a second summer job and now you are talking some serious dough.

Lastly all of these jobs come complete with a state funded retirement plan. Add all that up and it would bury your average regional job even after you have sold off your life to the company reach those inflated fantasy incomes.

SkyHigh

 

You mean "straight."

 

Everybody does what they want in life. Some people want to be cops others want to be firefighters. It just depends on the person and what they want. I like aviation and sadly it does not pay well. What can I do? I can either go and do something else or I can stick to it knowing the risks. To me money is important, but even more important is the thought of doing something I like. I’m going to study Finances/Accounting and do that on the side; yes you can make fun of me, and say that I’m working two jobs to keep the dream alive. In the end we all reach an old age in which we which we had done this and that. I feel aviation is something I want to do. Thanks to this forum I will enter aviation knowing the risks and better informed. I still have about 3 years of college left and time to plan out my future. My career can be done on the go, and the free travel will only benefit when dealing with clients who are all over the place. Have you seen most doctors, they hate their jobs but love their BMW’s. I want to love my job and hate my corolla. LOL. Anyways I’m really planning my future out. One thing I consider to be really important for pilots is having that second degree active and handy it will help in case of furloughs or just if your short on money.

 

But I don't want to be any of those. Should I go be a teacher just so I can have the summer off? Should I go be a firefighter or cop just for the pay? Where do you get this information? Keep in mind that most of the general public thinks that pilots make huge sums of dough and have a great number of days off. Have you fallen into this same trap in appraising the careers that you mention?

 

If you think you can plan 3 years in the future in this profession then you are kidding yourself. What you can do is prepare and be ready with a plan B if the need arises, thats about as close as you can get to planning.

 

Why do teachers get three months off?

So they can forget about the last nine!




As a former high school teacher, I will gladly take 20K per year sitting in the right seat over having to deal with:

30 year old parents telling me I need to do something about their kid because they couldn't control him

High school students who couldn't tell time and didn't see the need to learn

18 year old kids who didn't understand why they would not graduate eventhough the had ZERO credits

Having to send home-school stuff to the five or six (out of 90) girls who were pregnant

But the last straw for me was having to stop four males who had cornered a female and were about to...........

 

True, last month my time away from base was 376.7 hours. Compare that to 160 hours for a regular 9-5 job, well you see what I mean.

Time away from base means time away from family, and making more income.
Duty time(time from report to release) I figured was around 165 hours. 15 nights in hotel beds, figure 8 hrs of sleep for those nights = 120 hrs. 165 hours duty time and 120 hours of sleep = 285 total productive time. 376-285=91 hrs.
So for 91 hours last month I sat in a hotel room by myself awake.
Total time at a hotel was 211 hours+/- shuttle van time. Also this does not include time sitting around between flight's at the airport.

91 hours of wasted time.

None of this time includes commuting.
So If I add the duty time 165 hrs, to the unproductive time 91 hrs, that = 256 hrs divide that by 35, my hourly rate, you get 13.67 dollars an hour. Remember that I took out 120 hours for sleep.
Worth all the sacrifice? You be the judge.

91 hours in one month is a lot of time, thats more than 2 weeks for a regular 9-5 job. Figure that as over time for a regular job, that would be a nice check.

 

Skyhigh. I am not condoning the (fuedal systemesque)ways of the regionals, but just why can't you consider per diem as pay? If you were at home, you would still have to buy your own food.

 

Excellent post............and very depressing It's time for a revolution! Now if we just knew how to start it.

 

It's just the name of the game, you don't go into the career expecting to be gone only 40 hours a week.