Quote:
Originally Posted by freezingflyboy
Right, I'm sure you have vast life experience to draw on to make these generalizations
When you think about pilot pay, think about this: There is no other profession where so many lives and such responsibility rests on the shoulders of so few. How many lives is a doctor responsible for on any given day? 5? 10? 20? I don't know. But lets say you fly 5 legs a day in your little 50 seater. I can gurantee you that there is no doctor out there who deals with 250 patients a day. When you loose that engine in your CRJ at V1 with a full boat coming out of Aspen, youll realize that you're worth a hell of a lot more than that $20/hr. In the aviation business you will have days where you are way OVER paid and then you will have days where you are way UNDER paid. Hopefully you have more days where you are over paid then under paid.
A doctor has a person's life in their hands in a much different way than a pilot does. I do not agree with that comparison. While pilot do have a person's life in their hands, so does a school bus driver. Should they make $100K? What about the teacher that teaches and mentors these future pilots, or doctors, should they make $100K? Everybody in every profession probably has more than one argument as to why they are important and deserve so much more.
I have looked at the pay scales of the airlines as posted on this very site. Other than first year FO pay, no pilot is making $12-$22K per year, for 5 to 7 years, unless they decide to stay as a FO at somewhere like Gulfstream, and that isn't happening.
I have seen some people leave college and get salaries in the $50K range, but the majority I know, and see, are getting salaries in the $30K, to $40K per year range. Most regional FO I've talked to, say they are making roughly in the $30K to $35K per year range, some even said $40K. Captains I've talked to range anywhere from $50K to $75K per year --> all varying, depending on the airline.
The above are not bad salaries, and the captain pay is not any less than what most people in this country are making. You are kidding yourself if you think that others are bringing home the bank.
It sucks that a lay off results in a pilot having to start over in their career, for the most part. But, unfortunately that is part of it, and will always be. But the problems of lay offs, pay cuts, benefits cuts, etc., are not just affecting pilots, they are affecting all airline employees, and all people in all industries. All over, people are being laid off, having pension cut, having other benefits cut, pay, etc.
While I do sometimes focus on the high points, I realize it is not all peaches in the airlines industry; but hey, it ain't all peaches anywhere.
So many of you like to bring up these other jobs that you know someone making more than you or some other pilots. At the same time, many of you preach getting a back-up degree/plan. If you think being a pilot is so bad, and so lousy in pay, then go do one of those other jobs, or use your back-up plan.
I guarantee if you walk into any busy mall and question every person in there, you'll find 90% or more don't make any more, or much more than you, especially if you are a captain, whether at the major, or regional level. I think some of you exaggerate, to a pretty great degree, this supposed 'lack of pay' for pilots, and this idea that everybody else if making so much money and living the good life. That couldn't be much further from the truth.