So what airlines are currently filling classes with no problems? PSA and TSA? Compass ?Is that it?

 

The funny thing about 1st year pay is that it used to make sense.. when that job was going to some fresh CPL with 300hrs.. but that is no longer the case.

Now Airlines are required to hire more experienced candidates than before, but the rest of the seniority isn't voting for better 1st year pay! Since they "suffered through it, you can handle it too" is the attitude.

What just doesn't make sense is the same disparity in 1st year pay at the Majors.. to Pay back the company for training?

 

Yes, I had a few foreign students and none of them went out and got 1st class right off the bat.

 

Well, then I will eat some crow. I know at many flight schools where I taught, everyone got 1st class medicals.

 

I worked for a small 141 school (about 80 or so) that taught predominately Chinese students. All students required a First Class medical. Take it for what you will.

 

Yeah, we used to tell any student thinking about going to an airline to get a first.

 

Where did those numbers come from? How do they even know that the medicals are up to date? I think that information is protected by HIPAA.

 

The reality is the 300hr pilots from a good school were way better pilots than most of the 1500hr pilots we are getting now. IOE has become basic flight instruction and average oe hours is way up.

 

There are several reasons first year pay is low just about everywhere.

1) The company doesn't want to pay. Ever. If they could get the first year to be an internship, they would.

2) Most unions don't value first year pay very highly. It's short-lived, and pilots will spend much more time on other years of the payscale. They'd rather negotiate better pay later on, and so giving the company a low first-year rate doesn't use up any "bargaining chips" as it were.

3) The union wants the highest-top out possible. Your dues are paid as a percentage. 2% of 240 bucks is a lot more than 2% of $60. Since at many carriers there is a large segment of the pilot group that is topped-out, the union stands to gain much more by negotiating the highest rate possible for the step of the payscale that the largest number of pilots are on. A high first-year number looks good on paper, but doesn't really yield any benefits for the union, and may use up valuable bargaining power. This is the same reason that pay increases are usually negotiated as percentages. Flat dollar-amounts applied equally would be much more fair, but stretching the top of the scale pays more in the long run.

 

Than most? That's an outrageously unfounded statement. I know "most" of the people around my class got through just fine with no extra sims.