Earth to SkyHigh. Earth to SkyHigh. Come in SkyHigh.

The hotel van driver was pretty surprised to learn we make the same...and he's only gotta go from the hotel to the airport and back

you dont tell just other prospective pilots, you tell EVERYONE. cause its at the family christmas party a few years down the road when someone is chatting with your uncle about how old their kids are and what they wanna do for college. then the other guy says his kid wants to go to some aviation school and become a pilot, and all of a sudden your uncle says "oh i have a nephew that paid 100k to do that and now he makes 20K working 12+ hour days". so the other guy says, "that sounds stupid and i dont want my kid to do that"

SPREAD THE WORD!

you're dead nut$ on with that one. RJ's are the domestic flying future. Just look at all those mainline routes disappearing to the "regionals(replacements)":(

Nope. Passengers hate the RJs and they are far more expensive to fly per seat. That, combined with crowding at airport, I predict RJs have seen their day.

You're joking, right? Max for 401k is $15k/yr now. First year FO's at the regionals are making $18k-$25k/yr. Maximum by law is 50% pretax and 10% post tax. No way can they max it out on first year pay, unless they earn above average pay and live at home or via another person who pays their bills. Most places there isn't an employer match for 1 year, but even then employer contributions don't count against the $15k/yr.

I would like to see a shorter vesting time as well. Our plan is actually pretty good - after 1 year, 3% employer contribution regardless of employee contribution and up to a 4% employer match with an 8% employee contribution (so 7% employer match basically). The best part is it's dollar for dollar, none of this "50% of the first X%" that you get at most places. But even so, there is a 6 year vesting period. Yuck.

RJ's are inherently less effecient than mainline aircraft (CSM)...their only advantages are:

1) More economical on very low volume, longer range routes (routes that are too long for a t-prop). Most airline passengers actually travel between larger city pairs, and are better served by mainline.

2) Low labor cost. This is TOTALLY artificial. It started out with entry level pilots getting paid 19-seat turbo-prop wages to fly 19-seat turbo-props. OOOPS! Today they get paid 19 seat turbo-prop wages to fly 90-seat RJ's...this makes it economical for mainline to put an ineffecient RJ on a mainline route because they more than make up for the CSM inefficiency with low labor costs.

The last of the 50 seaters maybe(i.e. a real REGIONAL JET).....but the 70-100seaters(i.e. THE REPLACEMENT JET), their days have just started

Well, I can tell you probably one of the reasons there is a shortage is because almost no one is training to fly. The flight school where I work is at a small FBO, but just 3 years ago we had 80 students graduate through the various certificates and ratings. Sadly, we currently have around 15 students. 13 of them are doctors and lawyers who are getting their license to fly on weekends. The training costs are just too much for a lot of people to handle.

Hate to say it
 

It's hard to admit it but it's true. I was signed up to join ATP this December but after further investigation into a pilot's life style and pay I have decided against it. Making $20,000 per year for the 1st 1 to 5 years is hard to imagine, especially if you have loan payments to make. I love flying with all of my heart but I also like to have food in my mouth, and be able to take my girlfriend out on a date every so often. Now I'm interviewing for a management position with a local distribution company with starting pay above $60,000 per year. I'm planning on flying gliders on the weekends. This way I can still live the dream of flying and not have to worry about how I'm going to feed myself for the next few years. If I had to live in poverty to fly it would take away the fun of it. I feel like I've dodged a bullet by not becoming a professional pilot.

I'm not sure what the solution is for pilots. I do believe that things will get better. With the cost of flight school going up and the pay scales at the airlines being so low there are going to be more guys like myself that just aren't willing to do it. The biggest problem is that life is getting harder in general for everyone, more and more people have the mentality that "what the hell I should go for my dreams". They don't think about the reality of the situation. The only way pay is going to get better is to decrease the supply of pilots. One down a few hundred thousand to go.:D