I think this is a great, open and honest look at the realities of this industry. I applaud Brian for being so open with his personal life.


http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/14/bu.../14income.html

I thought it was a satirical piece at first. There was not one word about sacrifice for survival. It was all material sacrifice, piles of christmas presents, trophy motorcycle, big screen television, moon bounce birthday party, and of course, the house they can barely afford (bought when we all knew there were imminent furloughs and downgrades at the mentioned airline). We have really lost our way as a society if this is considered sacrifice, and if someone who didn't even know how to fly an airplane seven years ago already draws so much of his identity from a fourth stripe, now taken away.

I do feel sorry for the guy, because he mentions his employer, appears in uniform, and admits that he arranged for a flight to be delayed in order to commute home. Very dangerous, he's likely to understand sacrifice after the inevitable disciplinary action.

I think the piece is silly myself. This guy walked away from a lucrative career as a chemical engineer to pursue his dream of flying. With FOUR kids at home and a wife earning teacher's pay, I could have flagged this career jump as risky at the time. The risk was taken, worked out for a while, and then didn't.

He still has a job and a paycheck, more than many people can say, despite the shock to his ego for not feeling "in command and powerful".

Many pilots suffer this same plight over and over again. Through a career as a pilot, one must live below their means. Purchasing a Harley upon upgrade seems to indicate a problem with prioritizing where the finances need to be going to plan for this sort of thing that is inevitable in this industry.

Sounds to me like they are making $75,000 a year between the two of them, even after downgrade. That is a solid middle class household income. He's got no sympathy from me.

Double post.

Yep this thread will give a lot of people an opportunity to show they are douchebags.

Otherwise I echo what dojet said.

Wish I had your crystal ball

I foresee this thread reaching epic proportions with plenty of d baggery expressed by many. Bryan cleared a few things up on our company's message board. Especially things the journalist put in there that were taken out of context. The majority of it relating to his wife.

I know the individual in the article. The amount of personal time and sacrifice he's put into helping the pilot group at XJT cannot be measured. We are lucky to have him represent us in the role that he serves as an MEC volunteer.

Flame away y'all.

I guess it depends on what you consider a "solid middle class income".

Funny, 9 years as a 121 pilot. 1 furlough, 2 downgrades, 4 hourly pay concessions, 1 of them was 60%, the other 45%, 15%, and 9%.
I might, might break 40K this year.

In the boring, stale, worn out fashion of what pilots should be compensated for vs. the amount of work put into it, I'll ask you this; what do YOU feel should be a "solid income"?

This is a standard story of what happens in this industry. Someone once told me, "You haven't truly worked for an airline until you have been furloughed or down graded"

I don't know how things work at ExpressJet but I wouldn't want that made public...yikes!


I hope I'm able to lower my woman's standards to this level when I'm a dad ;-)

Do I win the douchebag award yet? Come on, it was posted in a national newspaper, we are allowed to pick on it. I'm sure he's a great guy.

I hate to say it, but if he ever jumps ship to a major, the first couple years could be rough as well. I feel for the guy being downgraded, but everybody has had to make adjustments - regardless of what industry we work in. It's called reality and it's a b**ch sometimes.

You have to put a divorce in there.

Assuming we lived in a fantasy land, and people were hiring, it would depend on where he goes. With the exception of 2 legacies, just about every other one, as well as the LCC's pay more first year than what he's making now