1. 1 Xina 14 April 2008 @ 5:20 pm

   Don’t forget about those silly money games that they play on the Allegiant Airlines flights. You know the ones where you put your seat number on a $1 and toss it into a bag and then they pull one out and that person gets the whole bag of loot. I have been on several legs of those flights and people other than me have won $100-$200 before.

   Now can’t they change that to a 50/50 raffle? Where the person in the seat drinking diet coke and rum flipping through the latest issue of SkyMall gets only half and the person actually flying the plane gets the other half. I am totally down with that!

2. 2 SFM Tracy 14 April 2008 @ 10:48 pm

   You mean in my regular day job, I make less than a barista, a magician, a bartender, or Patti Pilot? Shit. So much for my fancy BHSU education.

3. 3 Steve 15 April 2008 @ 3:35 pm

   Hopefully Bridget is a pilot for UPS or FedEx and risks only the lives of her co-pilots — and possibly a few ground casualties — on each flight.

   P.S. Herman Beckwith looks an awful lot like Rip Torn.

4. 4 Amy 16 April 2008 @ 6:16 pm

   There are so many people out there who don’t get paid near enough for what they do and people like Gisele who get paid way too much for what they don’t do. It makes me sick. But the consumerism and hype and idol worship of America perpetuates the situation.

   P.S. I instantly thought the same thing…that’s gotta be Rip Torn.

5. 5 lenoir 16 April 2008 @ 6:29 pm

   I always thought pilots got paid a lot of money. In fact, this was a very well paid profession–so what has happened–de-regulation? I am not tipping any more people at the airport. I mean, we tip the baggage people per bag, everything we have to buy in the airport (bottled water, food) is sky high and the service just ain’t what it used to be. I think the airlines should be put on the spot for paying somebody that kind of chump change. Let’s organize, people!

6. 6 Mauricio 16 April 2008 @ 6:36 pm

   Thank you!

   From A Pilot.

7. 7 Kate 16 April 2008 @ 6:54 pm

   Google Rip Torn and you will find that, indeed, that’s his mugshot photo (as I’m sure some of you have already discovered).

   As for underpaid pilots it’s capitalism at its finest. Hear, hear on tipping.

8. 8 Brian 16 April 2008 @ 7:12 pm

   Coming from one who used to be a bartender a really really bad night shift in Vegas a bartender can clear over 2600.00 per month after taxes. Not bad for a shot and a beer huh? we make the road safe for everyonelol. But to be serious I’d refuse to lift a finger if I was an airline pilot making 31K per year but as long as people are willin to do a job for less we the people will continue to get paid like shit from greedy Fing company CEO’s who want nothing more than to pocket all the cash while asking you to take time off around christmas when you got a family. They disgust me personally.

9. 9 Lee 16 April 2008 @ 7:46 pm

   Well… it’s a catch 22. Leave the tip and the airline goes home laughing at another shmuck who paid not only 350 dollars for a two hour flight, but also took care of the underpaid pilot. I think there needs to be some more push on the part of the pilots to up the ante. If we don’t do anything, down goes the plane and we have the new post office problem on our hands, and we won’t need terrorists to crash the plans for us, some depressed, underpaid, pilot will do it for us. I don’t like picking up the slack on the fuel prices and low life higher ups at AA. I’d rather just drive.

10. 10 Fernando Duran 17 April 2008 @ 1:52 am

    On April 27th i’ll be flying home from my first semster in college. I’ll be in the hands of a US airway pilot from Burbank, CA to Phoenix, AZ. After reading this, i agree in that at least 20 people in the plane should put in 5 bucks. Or one hundred people put in one dollar.

    Not only will i tip the pilot, but i will also write a flyer and print highlights of this article on the flyer to encourage people to do the same…(with the permission of Josh Barsch)
    And i’ll let you know what happens…that is if the flight attendants let me pass out the flyer.

    If not i’ll still try to do my part.

11. 11 Richie 17 April 2008 @ 8:55 am

    HAHA, you live in South Dakota just like me!! I had no clue that I would ever find anyone, or any site from my state lol. Well not as important as this one. OOH! I also believe you prove a very convincing argument!

    Richie Lindstrom

    *thinks to self* (hmmm i wonder how long till i get my scholarship information back on anything i’ve done…. i’ve applied to like fifty different scholarships with deadlines in the last three to four months…. oh well i’ll get this figured out some day. maybe i will have to take out a loan… lol i dont know why i’m even writing this)

12. 12 Tara 17 April 2008 @ 10:16 am

    As a pilot myself, I find it amusing how everyone thinks we make big bucks. People always figure we have hundreds of lives in our hands, both in air and on the ground, but that isn’t true. Airline planes have auto-pilot, so the people in the cockpit are really just there to make the passengers feel better. The big jets can fly without pilots, but who would get on a plane being operated by some guy in a dark control room at an undisclosed ground location? Of course, the salary of pilots isn’t so bad when you consider the benfits they get. All pilots are compensated fairly for their work, just like everyone else with a job.

13. 13 SFM-Josh 17 April 2008 @ 2:40 pm

    Yes indeed, that’s Rip Torn’s mugshot — I grabbed it for purposes of parody. I really didn’t think it looked like him, but apparently a lot of you guys have a sharper eye for Rip Torn than I.

    Fernando: You are welcome to reprint and distribute anything I write on here. Free advertising for my blog is a total plus in all cases.

    Richie: Yep, we’re trying to breathe some techo-life into this state, little by little. It’s slow going, but it’s going. I started the company in Phoenix in 2001, but I grew up in Rapid City and moved my family back here in 2006.

    Tara: Well, you must admit that pilot pay can vary a great deal. Many experienced pilots make six-figure salaries. And I certainly don’t know this from experience, but I would expect that auto-pilot can do some things well without the presence of a human pilot, but not everything. You surely don’t mean that if the pilot and first officer were to both drop dead in the cockpit, then the plane would still lane smoothly and no passengers would notice? I doubt that. As for “All pilots are compensated fairly for their work, just like everyone else with a job” — eh, I’m not sure you and I inhabit the same world, Tara.

14. 14 Jonathan 17 April 2008 @ 3:48 pm

    Tara, I’m sorry but I believe you’re exaggerating the the issue of autopilot.

    Tell me, does autopilot know how many pounds of fuel you will need to get from point A to point B? Can the autopilot taxi a multi million dollar airplane to the runway at safe speeds without hitting anything? Can an autopilot take off safety without the assistance of the pilot? What if a passenger has a medical emergency on board, do you ask the autopilot what to do?

    Well Tara, it’s difficult to believe that you of all people, an airline pilot, have understated how much pilots really have to do. However, does a pilot fly the plane 100% for hours on end? Of course not. But, if the autopilot fails, would these pilots be qualified to fly in such circumstances. Without a doubt.

    If you believe an automated machine flying an airplane will ever take the place of a human being, I pray that I will never have to fly on a plane flown by you… or should I say the autopilot?

15. 15 Gma 17 April 2008 @ 5:29 pm

    Way to go Josh !!!!!! I too think they should be paid better. Love ya Gma

16. 16 Nick 17 April 2008 @ 9:04 pm

    Thanks, from another pilot.

    Also, I can guarantee that bridget does not fly for FedEX or UPS. In fact cargo companies are usually the best-payed flying jobs out there. And actually Bridget’s pay is not the bottom rung or first-year pay. Check out this youtube video for a comparison of other regional airlines first-year pilot salaries:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RayMaswju1A

17. 17 Rob 28 April 2008 @ 4:32 pm

    Scary stuff, now I have to think about that along with my 20,000 other fears while flying. Thanks buddy!!

18. 18 Lass 29 April 2008 @ 8:56 pm

    So, pilots are definitely important job and any mistake they make could result in tragedy–but how is that any different from a bus driver or a roller coster runner?

19. 19 Lass 29 April 2008 @ 8:57 pm

    We should probably tip them too

20. 20 Bridget 16 July 2008 @ 12:50 pm

    Imagine my surprise to see that I am the subject of a blog!!

    Yes, that was me in Parade Magazine. Yes, that is my real salary. This is my second airline job and I have been with my current airline for over 4 years.

    My first year pay was around $18,000/year. I had a $1/hour increase this year. Regional airline pilots are grossly underpaid. But it is one of the few, if not the only way to get to a major airline who are all currently laying off pilots and other employees. No, I do not have any rich relatives supplimenting my income. But I am willing to be adopting and given an allowance.

    I am a single mom and my daughter leaves for her first year in college in about a month. She did well in school and will be on a scholarship since I have no money to help her with school.

    Tara needs to get a reality check. I don’t know what plane she flys on but I would love to see the autopilot she talks about. She says she is a pilot, but didn’t say airline pilot. I am assumming than that she flys general aviation. Which is wonderful and very costly to do.

    In my limited experience, I do not know of any plane that can takeoff on autopilot. Need a real person for that. Also, there are just a few airplanes that can autoland. The plane must be rated for that, the pilot must be rated for that, and the airport must have navigational equipment for that type of landing. As you can guess, this would be a very small percentage of flights where all this would come together. Why do you think you go around and divert for bad weather? Because we don’t have autoland!!

    There are many aspects of flying that an autopilot just can’t do. And as mentioned, what if it fails?

    I think of being a pilot like being a baseball player. Its a pyramid with everyone trying to get to the top. Unfortunately only a few make it to the show for the big bucks. The rest of us are doing the same job at the bottom for a lot less money.

    Thank you Josh for a very insiteful blog.

    PS. Wish they had used one of the pictures where I was smiling.

21. 21 Airline Employee 16 September 2008 @ 11:23 pm

    Wow Tara you really nailed that on the head.

    Quoting you: “All pilots are compensated fairly for their work, just like everyone else with a job.”

    That is far from the true for any airline employee.

22. 22 GMR 17 September 2008 @ 11:17 am

    As a Captain with a couple of decades of experience, I am finally at a salary level that allows me to live a relatively descent life, but I have flown with more and more first officer (also fully rated, Highly trained, well educated professionals) that receives food stamps, energy assistants, gets furniture from goodwill stores, as well as rooming up together as many as four in a one bedroom apartments that would rattle ASPCA if it was used as a dog house.
    Tara; I believe is either a Student pilot or a fresh Private/recreational pilot.. If so congratulations.
    Although expensive, it’s an awesome hobby, but I would NOT recommend it as profession to anyone.
    Bridget’s salary, although abysmal, is really not that bad compared to the industry average for first officers. There are Airline pilots starting out with salaries close to half of what she makes now.
    So why would people want to do this job?
    I can think of a couple of reasons: -Aviation is in our blood and we can’t imagine doing anything else. It’s like an addiction, although these days, a lot of us are starting to recover.
    -Also, somewhere out there, is this person making $200,000+ a year.
    For everyone of those, there are thousands qualifying for food stamps hoping to one day fill that seat.
    A while ago, I read a statistic somewhere that only two percent of those who starts training for a pilot career actually achieves their goal.

    And then, when you finally get that leg in the door with your first $18.000 a year job, there will be a myriad of traps waiting for you, trying to kick you off the ladder: Simulator checks, oral tests, written tests, medical exams are all tests you will do once or more per year and any one of them can snuff your career away just like that.

    Why can’t the unions do anything about this? They try and they try hard, but there is this one huge, fat, ridiculous, idiotic road block called the RLA, but that’s a whole other story.

    So do I think flying is safe?
    Well: Not nearly as safe as it could be, If I’m not in the front of the airplane, even I am a little nervous, riding on a “regional” (if you can really call it that, considering that some of them takes close to a hundred passengers and fly long domestic and international routes.).
    The airlines, in an attempt keep the salaries as low as they are, keep lowering and lowering the requirements for their pilots in order to fill the vacancies.
    So if you take that lowered experience/education and add, long work days followed by short nights along with a few other unexpected stressors and there’s your level of safety.

    If you take your child to the doctor. Would you rather take him/her to the highly trained , highly experienced, happy rested doctor, or the one who’s overworked, glad to just have a job , but charges a few dollars less?

    By the way: “Most” of the pilots I fly with are top notch.

23. 23 peter vee 30 September 2008 @ 11:40 pm

    Tara, you obviously are not an experienced pilot. With over 8000 hours I have seen auto pilots do some scarey things. I have been in a cargo plane when the auto pilot decided to roll the plane inverted. I was in an airliner when the auto pilot decide to go into a 14 degree nose up attitude at 27000 feet. I disconnected it and hand flew the rest of the flight. The list goes on. Whenever we save the day and don’t crash, you never hear about it. We bat a lot better than any major league player who makes millions. I instruct at an airline and I teach the pilots, when in doubt, hand fly it. The russians lost an Airbus A300 because of the auto pilot and that the pilots didn’t know how to fly.

24. 24 Greg 25 November 2008 @ 1:07 am

    I am a regional airline pilot. I have been flying for a living for 8 years. I must first say that Tara has little to no knowledge of which she speaks. Modern airliners do not require super-humans to fly. Nor do they just fly themselves around the sky with the pilots half-asleep. The airplanes are skill-intensive and the environment they operate in requires experienced people to operate safely. Again, I am not saying pilots are even close to super-humans performing an incredible feet. However, they need to be experienced professionals.

    Anyway, back to my point. I have been a regional airline pilot for 3 of the 8 years I have been a paid professional in the occupation. This year I will have a taxable income of $36,000. For this wage I was required to have a very expensive education and 5-years experience in the industry. And this is year 3 pay. My first year pay was $26,000. I work for the highest paying regional airline in the United States; a point they often like to make when they constantly tell my co-workers and I they consider us 30% overpaid.

    We as pilots have been fighting hard to keep our wages and quality-of-life from degrading. However, we have been hurt a great deal by the Railway Labor Act (RLA), by binding arbitration, and by bankruptcy rulings following the prior rounds of airline mis-management.

25. 25 Steve 15 December 2008 @ 7:18 am

    Tara,
    Your in airline management….clearly.

    How was your bonus this year?

    I’m an ACTUAL airline pilot, after 8 years I struggle to make $45,000. Yes the stress of paying the bills weighs on my mind everyday.
    The FAA minimum rest gives us about 5 hours of actual sleep. Add that to money stressors and you have a delightful mess.

26. 26 CK 15 December 2008 @ 10:23 am

    I too was a regional guy for 7 years. Year one pay was 17,000, based in the Caribbean flying long distances over lots and lots of water! By the time I made eight-year pay (I maxed out the First Officer payscale) I made a whopping 39,000 before taxes.

    Somebody posted above why being a bus driver is different. Well, here are a few reasons:

    1) A bus driver can get a CDL in a short time compared to a Commercial Pilot Certificate (and at a much lower expense).

    2) A bus driver doesn’t need to build several years of experience before getting his first bus driving job.

    3) A bus driver doesn’t have to have recurrent training every year and a checkride every six months while maintaining a First-class Medical certificate.

    4) If a bus’s engine catches fire, a tire blows, a passenger has an emergency, the visibility goes to zero, the windshield ices up, his engine quits, his destination gets closed because of weather, all of his guages quit, a door opens, the roads become contaminated with ice/snow or water, and so on–the driver can pull over.

    Here’s one–the guy sucking the crap out of the airplane lavatory makes more than a regional first officer.

    Here’s another one–most major airlines do not operate turbo-prop aircraft like a Saab 340 or Beechcraft 1900. The pilots of these aircraft do not have the luxury of flying above the majority of bad weather and must do much more to deal with hazards such as ice and thunderstorms and consequently must fly into hard weather situations more often than their “big iron” counterparts. Some of these aircraft do not have Tara’s luxury of an autopilot! I would trust an experienced regional turbo-prop guy flying in the weather anytime.

27. 27 Tip your airline pilot! - ExpressJet Forum 15 December 2008 @ 11:10 pm

    […] your airline pilot! StraightForward Media Blog � Blog Archive � Don’t forget to tip your airline pilot! An interesting read, especailly the comments people left. I especailly like the part, "well […]

28. 28 B 15 December 2008 @ 11:27 pm

    Wow, finally someone gets it. The general public has no clue what has happened to compensation in our industry. I have been flying since 1998 and in the airlines for 6 years. My first 2 jobs started at $18000 and $19500 a year base salary. I was able to fly a little more and bump it up into the low 20K range, but that was with 2 kids and then 3 kids respectively. Oh yeah, and that was after spending an obnoxious amount of money to get my professional commerical pilot, instructor pilot, and multi engine training. I did what I could by myself to save money. Then, you teach students for a year or more at a welfare payrate. After four years with my current carrier, I upgraded to Captain grossing in the mid 60’s, then downgraded back to First Officer b/c my company furloughed some pilots and sent me back to First Officer status involuntarily. Now my base gross is about $34K a year, probably be closer to $39K if I work alot extra, and am away from home about 18 days a month. I know we are all hurting right now, but American public, please wake up and recognize that the glory days of this profession are gone. Many of us are tired, underpaid, and struggling… and we don’t work in an office; we are carrying you and your loved ones in the worst of conditions. What are we worth to you? Speak out.

29. 29 kevin 16 December 2008 @ 12:56 am

    I too am an airline pilot. I fly 50 seat regional jets, and have flown to pretty much every state in this country, canada and mexico. The pay in this profession is horrible, i made more flying cancelled checks in a single engine airplane alone, than i do flying you all around to the nations largests airports, in weather some of you wouldnt drive in. I will never understand how airlines can justify paying a professional poverty wages. So why not leave for another airline, id have to take a 10 grand pay cut to go anywhere else, hell even first year pay on a 777 would qualify for food stamps. Dont take my word for it, look it up! Thanks for writing this blog, maybe the public is begging to see whats happening in our profession.

30. 30 LARS 16 December 2008 @ 1:00 am

    LEARN TO PAY YOUR DUES! I MADE $380,000 without overtime this year. And yes, I once flew for $11,000 a year. Hang in there Bridge!

31. 31 LARS 16 December 2008 @ 1:01 am

    FEDEX

32. 32 Jon 16 December 2008 @ 5:47 am

    Lars, you are one of a very small percentage of pilots who have been fortunate enough to secure a pilot position such as yours. I know, through a lot of hard work, previous low paying jobs, and I’m sure with the help of connections with other pilots at FEDEX.

    The odds for many pilots at regional airlines are very low that they will ever see a captain seat at FEDEX, UPS, etc. As you know, there are many obstacles. To name some:

    1-There are very few airlines that pay what yours does, therefore statistically it is not possible for most pilots to achieve this desired goal.

    2-The age 65 retirement rule change has pushed that goal five years away.

    3-Upgrade to captain to aquire the PIC jet time to even apply to FEDEX, UPS, etc has risen dramatically due to regionals downsizing and furloughing.

    4-Many of the captains at the regional I use to fly for are planning on retiring there. For some, the upgrade took too long and they are older, they finally make a decent wage, and are not willing to risk putting themselves on the bottom of a major airlines seniority list with the high potential for furlough and have to start all over again. Besides, how many majors are even hiring now?

    5-With all of the current and future furloughs that will follow with the state of the US economy, there are many overqualified pilots who will fill these coveted positions, and unfortunately some who will have to leave the industry do to lack of positions available.

    Now don’t get me wrong, I love my job and I too have been fortunate enough to secure a position with an airline flying a heavy jet internationally and paid very well. Yes, through a lot of hard work, previous low paying jobs, and some help from other pilots who submitted resumes, put in a good word, etc. for me along the way.

    However, I know that for many pilots, no matter how much you “PAY YOUR DUES!”, these few jobs that we all seek when we get into this business in the first place will never come to fruition. Sounds pessamistic I know, but with the current state of the airline industry, it’s a fact.

    People who are not pilots reading these messages may wonder…Why do pilots get into this profession? It’s simple, we love to fly. We all started out in search of the elusive airline gig with the big airplanes, big pay, and big benefits. The industry has changed over the years and there are just too few of those jobs to go around.

    Many who are looking to become airline pilots these days do the math and decide on another career. The cost of pilot ratings, the years of low pay, and probability of the big airline gig just don’t add up.

    You can see these numbers by tracking the annual student pilot applications with the FAA. Fewer people are becoming pilots, and for good reason.

    Also, I agree with Steve, Tara is airline management.

33. 33 Josh 16 December 2008 @ 10:31 am

    Lars, you are a tool. “Look at me, ha-ha, I’m in the tiny, low-percentage group that has made it to the top and I’m pulling up the ladder with me.” Thanks grampa. You were in favor of changing the retirement age to 65 weren’t you? Paying your dues is one thing, and yes we all have to do it. With the economy the way it is, and greedy guys like you at the top, the dues have gone up so high, most folks would rather get that bartending job. I’m headed for furlough number 2 in 2008. Time to stop the hobby and get a real job.

    And yes, Tara is in airline management.

34. 34 Brent 16 December 2008 @ 11:10 am

    Tara (reply #12) is apparently not an airline pilot. The aircraft don’t fly themselves, particularly smaller regional aircraft. Even the large jets with the most advanced automation require a large amount of expertise to handle capably.

    My first year at my airline flying a 50 passenger jet I cleared roughly $23,000 as a first officer. After my one year mark I finally got a raise to just about $31,000, but then was furloughed (laid off) after the sharp rise in oil prices in September. I was lucky to secure another flying job, this time as a captain. Without overtime I’ll make $35,000 this year, flying a passenger aircraft without any sort of real automation. So Tara, what would my passengers think if I told them that their lives were in the hands of a guy making less than a guy driving a tow truck? Think they might be a little put off by that?

35. 35 Luke 16 December 2008 @ 11:35 am

    Autopilots are like cruise control. They make your work a little less labor intensive, but you still have to set the cruise control and disengage it when you need to slow down.

    Sure some aircraft can “Autoland” but this requires extensive briefing, safety checks, training, and monitoring by the crew. It is a tool to be used in certain circumstances (low clouds, for example). If the autopilot stops working properly, or if weather conditions change, or a traffic conflict arises, or an engine flames out, the pilots are the ones who are going to save your ass. Anyone who says airline pilots don’t do anything and the plane can fly itself should take a look at Comair 5191. That incredible tragedy was presumably 100% preventable by the crew.

    I am a regional airline pilot and I have to constantly remind myself that although I get paid sh*t the people in the back expect a $300,000k/year job well done up front. Do you really want me worrying about how I will pay my rent or student loans? Do you really think it is appropriate for me to skip a meal here and there to save some dough?

36. 36 Joshua Barsch 16 December 2008 @ 12:00 pm

    Wow, I can’t believe my little old blog fired up so much discussion on this topic. Thanks so much to all of you for chiming in!

    In light of all the comments, I am still just stunned at the low pay. Was flying back to Rapid City from Phoenix (AZA/IWA) and our pilot hauled ass to get us into a tiny window where we could land (fog and blizzard were setting in). I thought, “Man, I need to go say something else on the blog. This dude needs a tip jar.”

37. 37 Brent 16 December 2008 @ 2:33 pm

    Paying one’s dues is a necessary evil. We all have to do it, but the old career path of regional to major doesn’t exist as the linear path it used to be. Major airlines are shifting flying to smaller regional airlines in larger aircraft. One could theoritically pay ones dues for decades and not have the opportunity to reach FEDEX. This path doesn’t exist in reality for most of us.

    As this flying shifts and the industry changes, compensation must change with it. Do I think 1’st year FO’s should make 100K a year. Of course not, but as more and more of us spend more and more time at the “regionals” we are doing more and more of the Majors’ flying that used to be paid out at top dollar. All the while “paying our dues’. When does it stop being paying our dues and become gross abuse of power and position? The major airlines have found a way to cut cost by shifting their flying and jobs to regional airlines, and have driven wages down by doing so. It is our responsibility to maintain the fair wages for the work and responsibility we are given.

38. 38 Justin 16 December 2008 @ 2:49 pm

    Lars, at least you don’t work at 2-genes aviation anymore!

39. 39 CK 16 December 2008 @ 3:49 pm

    “LEARN TO PAY YOUR DUES! I MADE $380,000 without overtime this year. And yes, I once flew for $11,000 a year. Hang in there Bridge!”

    Tell me Lars…how did you “learn” to pay your dues? When do you know that your dues have been paid? I got the same shitty ALPA magazine you have, pal. I’ve been helping to pay YOUR dues too. And you know what I always see in the ALPA magazine? FedEx pilots bitching.

    What year was it that you had that $11,000/year airline job?

40. 40 Ron Mexico 17 December 2008 @ 10:49 am

    MESA SUCKS

41. 41 JaJa Binks 17 December 2008 @ 11:00 am

    Keep in mind that those are starting salaries for airline pilots, not the average salary. Captains both at the regional airline level and at the major airline level make more than that. A captain flying for a major airline is making a six figure income.

    Pilots are not paid the salaries they should be making, but it isn’t that bad. You have to start somewhere.

42. 42 Joe 17 December 2008 @ 11:42 am

    My first year I made 18k. I have burned through a lifetime of savings getting my dream job and surviving the early years. Have I “paid my dues”, Lars?
    I knew what I was getting into though. I love my job and that is what counts. I am happy doing what I do. I just wish I wouldn’t have to worry about where the money to feed/clothe my kids is going to come from because it aint coming from payroll.

43. 43 Ben 17 December 2008 @ 12:16 pm

    Paying my dues. I hate that expression.

    I worked for three years as a flight instructor to gain the experience to start on the ladder to the airlines. I earned ten bucks an hour and pulled down six hundred a month at best.

    I was told I was paying my dues.

    Then I started at the regionals for 19K a year. Four years on I just took a pay CUT and am now earning roughly 37K and I’m STILL paying my dues!

    Seven years of professional flying, all of it paying my dues. So when does it end?

    Joe. Seven years of flying, four years with the airlines. Do I sound like I’m just starting out? Even as a Captain with my company I’ll max out around 70K. Nothing to be sniffed at to be sure, but how long to get there? How many people have I flown in that time? What’s the value of the assets I’ve handled for the company in that time? How many tough calls have I had to make, emergencies dealt with, diversions, check rides, written exams, medical tests. I even had to buy my own uniform when I started with the airline!

    It all comes down to the fact that we love to fly. Fewer of us these days still do……

44. 44 Noni 17 December 2008 @ 1:32 pm

    Wow Tara! I’m not sure where your information comes from but it doesn’t seem to be a reliable source. And I have to agree with Josh (33) Lars, you ARE a tool!

    Having known several pilots fly big jets, I can tell you they do NOT land themselves, and autopilot is lovely in a controlled environment. When was the last time YOU flew in a controlled environment? In a simulator, right? I want my pilot, first officer and the entire crew paying attention to what they should be while they are on that plane! 30k a year wouldn’t rent a small apartment where I live, much less allow for a family.

45. 45 John 18 December 2008 @ 12:05 am

    JUST DON’T BECOME A PILOT! IT HAS BECOME A FUTILE CAREER. PASS THIS ADVICE ON PLEASE.

    757 FO based in NJ…

46. 46 Tuan 27 December 2008 @ 10:09 am

    Lars is a tool, Tara un-experienced and lacking plain knowledge of the industry. As a former regional pilot I think everyone on the flightdeck is due a raise. I commend everyone for hanging in the industry for the passion they love. I flew the coop and got myself a stable, decent paying, home every night government job. Does it suck sitting on a desk and not the cockpit? hell yes… but it doesn’t suck as much as getting furloughed, displaced, looking at my FO paystub(which I still keep for memories sake) and missing my kids! To anyone who travels should want their flight crews well paid and rested. There is no reason other than corporate greed and public cheapness for those in the industry not getting paid what they are worth.

47. 47 Jon 27 December 2008 @ 1:39 pm

    Just like everything else in America, someone will do your job for less. The pilots need to band together as one solid force for change.

    Regional Airline First Officer

48. 48 747 27 December 2008 @ 2:03 pm

    To let you know the national average is 167,500 a year for an airline pilot. Everyone starts out at the bottom i started when i was 20 8 years ago salary by yr was.
    1.32K F/o
    2.45K F/O Regionals
    3.85K CPT
    4.95K cpt
    5.45K Fo Mainline 50K pay cut back to
    first yr pay.
    6.76K F/o
    7.85K F/o
    8.109K F/o So put in your dues and youll get there its all about getting to the next level and i only took one pay cut, you know what your getting into and flying a small plane never has paid well even in the 70’s and 80’s. Planes cannot operate only on autopilot there is no argument even to be had pilots are the safety czars of the sky without us there would be burning holes in the ground all over the world. I am a F-16 pilot in the ANG and protect this country on the weekends too. so good luck to all of you and you will get there someday.

49. 49 Anonymous 27 December 2008 @ 4:36 pm

    everyone please forward this email to whoever you know. airline pilots are not paid crap for what they do. i will work six twelve hour days in a row this week. yes that is 60 hours in one week!!! if i was hanging out in an office surfing the web and checking emails i think this would be one thing, but i am flying people around in bad weather with airplanes that are being pushed to their max. just remember when weather is bad pilots are working longer hours due to delays etc., they are getting minimum sleep (its mandated to eight hours but that includes an hour before departure and the van rides) its really about five hours sleep!!! A LOT OF PEOPLE ARE GOING TO DIE UNLESS THE FAA AND AIRLINES DONT STEP UP AND CHANGE THESE POOR WORKING CONDITIONS!!!! airline pilots are doing all they can to just stay awake nowadays. why do you think we are always at starbucks? its not because its exspensive coffee!!! its because its loaded with caffiene!!! please fwd this blog!!! airline pilots need help!!! yes i make 30k a year and i have been flying for a regional for for a little over four years!!

50. 50 Anonymous 27 December 2008 @ 4:39 pm

    747 your an idiot!! the national avg. 160k a year because of ups and fedex. nobody else flying a jet makes that much. try about 50k a year tops after taxes at the regional level.

51. 51 richard anderson delta 27 December 2008 @ 4:40 pm

    i will combine nwa and delta close cvg and mem and laugh all the way to the bank while you pilots make no money. haha

52. 52 another broke regional pilot 27 December 2008 @ 9:32 pm

    My summary:

    $50K per year doing non dangerious blue collar work. $90K in debt to an airline pilot academy to live a new dream. Seven years invested. One year working first year first officer pay of $22K, then furloughed. Another year of first year first officer pay of $24K. I just landed an airliner by hand in an awful snow storm for this pay. The airlines don’t want people to know this. They will run out of pilots, and people will panic when they fly. Not really sure what the answer to this problem is. But I don’t think most people realize.

53. 53 Anonymous 27 December 2008 @ 9:39 pm

    Tara,

    All I feel I need to say in response to your ignorance is autopilot does not know how to say “no.” It can’t make decisions on the fly and will happily fly that plane right smack into a large thunderstorm or icing or severe turbulence or any other condition that would seriously jeopardize the safety of flight. Machines do not know ADM. I am a commercial pilot, and took a huge pay cut for the love of flight. I would also like to point out the large number of first year FO’s that are making substantially less than that, despite having more student debt than some doctors! It’s time to rethink compensation for the executives that continually run the industry into the ground and start distributing that to the pilots, maintenance personnel, cabin crew (flight attendants) and others that keep not only the companies, but everybody, moving!

54. 54 Prickett 27 December 2008 @ 10:15 pm

    “As a pilot myself, I find it amusing how everyone thinks we make big bucks. People always figure we have hundreds of lives in our hands, both in air and on the ground, but that isn’t true. Airline planes have auto-pilot, so the people in the cockpit are really just there to make the passengers feel better. The big jets can fly without pilots, but who would get on a plane being operated by some guy in a dark control room at an undisclosed ground location? Of course, the salary of pilots isn’t so bad when you consider the benfits they get. All pilots are compensated fairly for their work, just like everyone else with a job.”

    It’s pretty clear you’ve ever had an entry level flying job of any kind. Two years ago I started flying skydivers at a rate of $6 per load…if I flew 10 loads in a day I got $60 dollars before tax…but guess what…I was at work from sun up to sun down trying to get those loads. Enough money to cover my gas. Beautiful.

    The autopilot is a tool. There are a handful of airplanes in the world that can land themselves at just a handful of airports. And guess what, when any of the equipment on the airplane or at the field disagrees or doesn’t work, THE AUTOPILOT CAN’T HANDLE IT ANYMORE! Isn’t that a laugh?

    When the airplane suffers an engine failure on takeoff 10 knots too fast to abort and a few knots too slow to fly well, does the autopilot fly the airplane? Didn’t think so.

    There are regionals airliners (lookup Beech 1900) that are flying the friendly skies without your infallible autopilot. And what’s really going to crack you up, is that at one of the companies flying these planes, the starting salary for a copilot is $16,000 year before taxes. You read that right. Sixteen. I have a buddy who’s interviewing with that company…a desperate move for a low time pilot in this economy…and this same buddy is over $80,000 in the whole funding his education as a pilot.

    Tara, I think you have an unrealistic understanding of aviation and aeronautical science. It takes a lot of training and resources to train both doctors and pilots. But when a doctor messes up in the worst sense, he buries his mistake. When a pilot messes - even messes up setting the precious autopilot - he buries himself, his passengers and maybe…just maybe…people (possibly your people) on the ground.

    Sorry to be that guy, but my post is joining the long list of rants. The article above is spot on…but please, keep your tips. Scheduled airline flying just isn’t one of those jobs that should be tipped; it’s sort of a pride thing. Now it would be nice if the ticket prices went up 10% to supplement the low pilot salaries, but keep your tips. I don’t deserve them anyways. I’m living in the shadow of the autopilot, right? The same one thats going to execute all the emergency procedures and make all the critical decisions when the weather goes down and the systems fail. Wait…isn’t the autopilot a system?

55. 55 Regional Pilot 27 December 2008 @ 11:41 pm

    Tara… Have you ever flown a plane with an AP? Now if you have flown one enough you’d know that AP can kick off at anytime. AP also cannot handle some situations well AT ALL. AP also needs the pilots to properly tell it what to do. So what does AP do? NOTHING WITH OUT A PILOT.

    747… You are saying that you made 32K and 45K during your 1st 2 years as an FO!? Before 911 and airline cut backs. Fine I can believe that but don’t think the pay cut pilots took a few years back was just for the mainline guys. Regional guys also got the hammer. 50% pay cut from 200K senior mainline still gives you a 100K income 50% cut from a regional gets you a kids meal at McDees for dinner. I agree dues are dues but don’t say you had it worst then we do today. My 1st yr pay is under $23,000. It will take me almost 15yrs to make 100K at a regional (granted that mainline should out pay a regional) but look at you, 8yrs and your over 100K already. Easy to talk down when you are up. Don’t spin the military angle also, been there done that also. MANY of us at the regionals are also prior/current military.

56. 56 Mike 28 December 2008 @ 12:35 am

    Tara & Lars are very opposite of each other yet they both represent the worst in the field of aviation.

    Tara is simply clueless OR is actually a management plant who learned about the pilot profession by reading a few memos; she might have even taken some private pilot lessons and now all of a sudden she’s an expert in the field of aviation.

    Lars is even worst - he’s an airline pilot who’s simply arrogant and doesn’t give a rats a#@ about his fellow underpaid pilots. He honestly thinks that as long as a person follows his steps he/she will end up being as successful as he is…

    Lars, how many pilots do you know of who’ve been applying with Fedex (and UPS) for years and years now without even getting a chance of an interview?

    You’re one of the few lucky ones who probably got hired when no one wanted to fly for cargo carriers. Now all of a sudden “you are IT!”

    Well, remember, it’s not because your benefits have risen that much but rather because everyone else’s have significantly dropped.

    Both Fedex and UPS are great gigs but lets face it - a tiny, tiny minority of pilots will ever make it to those two airlines and therefore it’s very arrogant for him to say “learn to pay your dues.”

    I’m retired now but when I read your comments I get sad to see how some of our professional pilots keep “lowering the bar” in our field…

    To answer the main question – pilots do not expect to be tipped – however, we definitely appreciate your (passengers) respect - which is almost extinct at most passenger terminals nowadays…

    Strong Tailwinds…

57. 57 Cody 28 December 2008 @ 12:58 am

    Ok, Tara #12.

    There is no way you are a pilot. Im a pilot and I love my job. But what you are saying proves you do not fly airplanes for a living.

58. 58 Anonymous 28 December 2008 @ 1:24 pm

    I’m a regional pilot. Getting furloughed next month. I started at about 20K my first year. This year I’ll take home about 30K. It’s a tough industry to be in but I still love it, and really refuse to take a “real” job. Glad someone out there finally has put the word out to how we really get paid. Only the top few percentages of pilots make 6 figures. The truth is, the range of pilot sallaries is vast, making the average salary look higher.

59. 59 Doc 28 December 2008 @ 5:53 pm

    Key Word Regionals!!! Get over it, and first year pay i am a doctor and i work 24 hr on call i don’t have time to spend with my girl and barley making 35k with 250k student loans. You guys seem to be in the same position it will take me 6 yrs to make that six figure income. I have lifes in my hands as well every profession as its low points. F/O are under paid but you guys are bottom feeders under cutting the industry you took the position and when your at skywest or other regionals you will be cpt in 5 yrs max making close to 85K. Its your fault if you went to a bad paying regional.

60. 60 Flyboy060 28 December 2008 @ 6:53 pm

    Listen Doc,
    While you may have only a dozen or so patients in the course of your 24 on-call that require life saving measures, a pilot (regional or otherwise) has at the very least 10 times that that are counting on us to get it right EVERY time. We don’t have malpractice insurance; we don’t have nurses that can cover up our mistakes. Furthermore, there is no guarantee of a timeframe to upgrade anymore. From the current analysis that I have reviewed, there might not be any sort of substantial movement until 2012; with is another 4 years away. I suggest you get off your high horse and give us “regional” pilots some of the respect we deserve. Without us and our “under-cutting” that you mention, you wouldn’t be able to get out of your small airport to attend that important medical conference on colas tame bags.

61. 61 jth029 28 December 2008 @ 10:06 pm

    I’m one of those first year “regional” pilots. I make about 25,000 my first year and I work at a relatively higher paying airline. All of us know what these jobs pay before we get here. Yes it’s low, but one thing that should be clear is your safety has nothing to do with what we make. The one thing you can always count on is getting there (eventually) SAFELY. Tip us or not, a thank you still means a lot.

62. 62 The Quack 28 December 2008 @ 11:14 pm

    “I have lifes in my hands as well every profession as its low points.”

    This man doesn’t have the grammar of an educated physician.

    If he flies, he’s probably one of the guys who give the Bonanza and the Doctor/Pilot a bad name.

63. 63 Jake 29 December 2008 @ 12:38 am

    As an airline pilot, I can dispute what Tara said about the autopilot doing everything without the need of a human pilot. Modern technology is good, but it isn’t good enough to make human pilots unnecessary.

    The War On Terror uses drones very effectively, but those unmanned drones also crash much more often than their human counterparts. The technology is improving and we may see a day when human pilots are unnecessary except to calm the passengers as Tara suggests, but that day is still a few decades in the future.

64. 64 DASH TRASH 1 January 2009 @ 5:06 pm

    Drones don’t have a hundred people in them.

    What if the autopilot was on MEL? Who’s gonna get you to your family in time for the holiday?

    Anyone who thinks pilots get paid fairly, doesn’t have their kids start crying when they see their mom or dad getting dressed for work because they know they aren’t going to be home for a week, and will miss the soccer game, dance recital, etc.

    The time away from home, and the responsibility we carry is taken advantage of by management and overlooked by most passengers.

65. 65 Airline Pilot 12 January 2009 @ 10:42 am

    The airline industry is in the pooper. One of the main problems is that actual Airline people like Juan Trippe (started and grew Pan Am) that knows the industry from an aviation perspective have disappeared. They have been replaced by bean counters and MBA’s. In the past, Flight Operations used to call the shots with an airline and tell upper management what was needed. Now it is the opposite…..it is the bean counters that are in control and thus, we have the race to the bottom that we have today. Do you really want to put you and your family on an airplane, run by upper management (that, except on their balance sheets, couldn’t tell the difference between an Airbus and Boeing) that wants to get by on as little as possible? i.e. airlines have filed a lawsuit against the FAA for wanting to give pilots better rest and duty rules. Wake up because that is exactly what is happening today.

    Hey, I like to save money like everyone else but, if you want to pay $150 to fly from New York to Los Angeles, you’ll get exactly what you pay for. Think about this statement not in terms of that one trip but, think about it in the long term.

    and I’ll also chime in that Tara, Lars and 747 are tools

66. 66 mariamt 12 January 2009 @ 12:35 pm

    Well thanks for heads up. We are flying to Jamaica non rev, u can bet I will tip the FO and CA, o and the gate agent on all our legs.

67. 67 Ron 13 January 2009 @ 12:54 am

    If you knew how little experience some of those regional airline pilots have then you would really be scared.

68. 68 tim 13 January 2009 @ 9:50 pm

    everyone knows what their getting into when they go into a profession. You picked it, now deal with it bitches. On the other hand if pilots get tipped, so should teachers for dealing with the slimy bastards that parents can’t or don’t want to take care of!!

69. 69 Skipper 14 January 2009 @ 3:20 pm

    I am an airline pilot. I worry each day if my current employer will be the one that the CEO makes the wrong decision that costs the company but not themselves, and I’m out on the street. If lucky I’ll go to work for another airline and start at the bottom of the pay ladder again.

    I have 8000hrs in jets which took some 12years to get, a BS and MS degree, and I make $45K. The first 5 years of that 12 were below $25K. Most professions with this level of education and experience start around $80K. Many airline pilots spend 3-4 days away from their families a week. CEO’s of airlines go home to their families every night, make 7 digit incomes, and never have a life in their hands literally.

    Of course my kid’s teacher makes less than me and an uneducated kid from the street raps a tune and makes a million………..?? Where are our values?

70. 70 No AP Pilot 18 January 2009 @ 3:05 am

    This blog hit it right on the mark! I am a 1st year regional airline pilot flying that Beech 1900 turbo prop with NO auto pilot for 16K. And I LOVE it. I knew the cost before I signed up like everybody else did. So why did I do it? Because I have to fly. As was mentioned previously it’s in our blood - we can’t do anything else without sacrificing a piece of our soul. If you have trouble understanding this read “Fate is the Hunter,” by Ernest K. Gann. My father is a pilot (and after the post 9-11 pay cut makes around 80K after flying for 28 years) as his father was, and these days the ONLY way to reach the golden jobs without going through the military (by no means a sure thing either) is to try and survive the Regionals. We lose pilots every month to FAA violations, company testing, close-calls that scare them away, schedules pushing them too far, and of course overload of BS from management (a.k.a. Tara). Yes we are under-paid, and HELL YES WE ARE ALLOWED TO BITCH ABOUT IT, but we will continue to do our jobs with every bit of competence and safety as we will after those of us who make it land higher paying jobs. To Doc: I have a lot of respect for what you do, but just because you are underpaid too doesn’t mean we aren’t, and I don’t believe for a second that you never complain; to Lars: I will pay my dues, but don’t forget how much it sucked before you made it; and to Tara: you are an ignoramus.

71. 71 Dave the pilot 19 January 2009 @ 11:46 am

    I’m a regional co-pilot flying those small jets. I made 30,000 for 2008, I am 26 years old and have 2.5 years airline experience. I flew turbo props and made less, I flew single engine cessnas and made even less…The captains that I fly with even on reserve (meaning on call for 20 days a month, yet seldom get used to fly) made 55,000 and if they were working those 15 to 20 days a month they made 80,000. It’s all relative, until passengers get over the sticker shock of inflated tickets we will continue to be shit on, with or without unions…In the original article our writter mentioned the 25K the blow up doll made in 1982 adjusted for inflation (I said 4% in my math) in 2009 the doll should be making 72084.21 man I wish I would have trained there…

72. 72 Prop Jock 11 February 2009 @ 11:01 pm

    Very interesting reading and some very, very good observations. I am a Corporate Captain on a CESSNA 172. I have logged more than 21,000 hours in type, mostly touch and goes. Every once in a while have to fly in night VFR conditions and required to bring my Nathan’s weaner and little bag of Fritos for a snack.
    Last year my boss paid me $837,000 plus a new car and a credit card. And, I got to pork his wife
    last Tuesday…I hope my salary was not computed in the national average. If so, this could be the reason for the figures being so high !!

73. 73 jane 13 February 2009 @ 2:46 pm

    Today 50 people died, a regional plane. Buffalo.

74. 74 Joshua Barsch 13 February 2009 @ 2:51 pm

    Jeez…that’s terrible.

75. 75 flyin boxes 14 February 2009 @ 2:27 am

    To all regional pilots and legacy passenger guys and gals for that matter quit crying and do something about your crappy wages. stop letting the airline you work for pay crap. grow a pair and stop flying.

76. 76 guppy 14 February 2009 @ 3:57 am

    First, this Tara person is either in airline management, or is an uninformed, uneducated private pilot. Sorry to be harsh but with her commentary there’s no question.

    I guess you could say that I’m one of the relative lucky ones. The road has not been easy however.

    I started as a flight instructor making roughly $500 per month. I did this for nearly two years until I finally landed a job with a Regional Airline. Mind you, this does not include my time in college.

    Once at the Regional, I made a whopping $16,000 my first year with about $3,000 increments throughout the next three years. After three years I was able to upgrade to Captain on a turboprop airplane. This increased my salary to roughly $45,000 per year. I remained a turboprop Captain for two years. On my sixth year with that airline I was able to hold Regional Jet captain. This was where the money was! This move increased my salary by about $10,000. After six years with this airline, jumping through all the hoops that an airline pilot has to go through, including simulator checks, oral exams, written exams, and medical exams every six months, I was finally making a livable wage. All this could be taken away in a blink of an eye had I failed any of these tests or medical exams.

    Airline pilots depending on whether they’re First Officers or Captains, have to put their jobs on the line every year or every six months through these exams. Not to mention all the other factors we have to face on a daily basis while operating in congested airpace and airports. You bust an altitude, cross a hold short line, or misunderstand a clearance, and your career is also in jeopardy. Add to that, constant concerns about our finances because of all the cuts that airlines are making. At best, you keep your job but with no real hope of increasing your salary. You try not to think about it but it’s human nature. Our well being and that of our families’ are just as important to us as it is for our customers.

    Back to my origanal point. After six years at the Regional level I was fortunate enough to get hired at a so called, Major Airline. Major Airline because I am now flying a 737, but I had to take a paycut for the privilege. My salary went back down to about $38,000 per year. Back to tightning the budget yet again. I am now in my second year with this airline and my salary has improved to about $60,000 per year. After 10 years of hard work and financial struggle, I’m finally making a livable wage.

    I know that had I chosen another career, my starting salary would’ve probably been what took me 10 years to achieve as an airline pilot. The people who make $200,000 and $300,000 in this career are very, very few. In fact, I don’t think that 99.9% of us, current and future pilots will ever see that kind of salary. The CEOs and RLA have made certain of that.

    As if that wasn’t enough, some of our politicians whom naturally favor the fat cat CEOs want to further degrade our profession by allowing a pratice called cabotage. For those that may not know, it is allowing foreing airlines to to fly point to point within the United States. This move would not only put many more of us in the unemployment lines, but would put further downward pressure on our salaries. So I ask you, do you really want pilots that are constantly worried about how they are going to pay their mortgage while at the controls? Would you trust your surgeon or anesthesiologist with the same concerns while providing you care? If the answer to that question is “no”, I would hightly suggest you discourage anyone you encounter that wants to be an airline pilot, far, far away from this career. It simply isn’t worth the time, money and sacrifice one has to put into it anymore.

77. 77 flyin boxes 14 February 2009 @ 5:39 am

    great post guppy i sure wish every airline pilot in the country would just take one day for themselves like valentines day a halmark holiday except maybe take our day off on say the day before thanksgiving. not an industrial action just a day off. too bad we are our worst enemies and cand stand together for once.

78. 78 guppy driver 25 February 2009 @ 2:15 pm

    I won’t even justify Tara’s comment with a response here. Lar’s, I highly doubt your salary, even at FedEx or UPS which are by far the best places to be a pilot right now, without some management override (LCA, Chief Pilot, etc) or whatever it is you call “overtime”. I have been with a “Major Airline” (one of the big 3) for over 9 years now and don’t break 83,000/year. Oh yeah, I am looking at a second furlough in a couple of months. It is funny that you are sitting so comfortable at your perch, because there were many sitting there at my airline too before 9/11. I’d be wary of the Chinese (or anywhere else) cargo carriers that could find their way into our country and nip away at the stronghold that UPS and FedEx have. Several years from now, you may be sitting in the same situation that “our” 38 year 747-400 Captains find themselves in now. 60% paycuts, lost pensions, etc. If there is one thing I learned in this industry is that you are never stable and never get confident in your good fortunes. I agree that passengers should be concerned, but not about the professionalism and capability of their pilots, but more about the attitude being displayed by nearly every management’s disregard for safety in lieu of spreadsheets and balance sheets. It took a long time to build up our industry’s safety record, but it only takes an instant for it to come crashing down.

79. 79 pilot wife 25 February 2009 @ 2:18 pm

    Yeah - too bad things like bills and responsiblities and fear of having no job at all drive us back to our low-paying airline job much like autopilot drives us from cruise altitude point A to cruise altitude point B on a blue-bird weather day. If only we could all throw our non-pilot responsibilities out the whiskey hatch and just quit our jobs in a stand of solidarity to demand higher pay. Boy, that’d show ‘em.

80. 80 guppy driver 25 February 2009 @ 2:24 pm

    Oh yeah, I forgot about 747. Your numbers are so ancient that I have to laugh. Are you really that disconnected from what the current salaries are in the industry. Maybe you have been on Mil Leave for the last 9 years! Welcome back to the REAL world. Read these posts from the pilots flying out there, your examples are laughable.
    In spite of being a tool though, thanks for serving our country.
    I know there are a lot of occupations out there that do not make a salary that is equivalent to their duties and responsibilities(especially teachers and soldiers), but this is a great post because those occupations do not have the misconceptions on salary that the pilot group has.

81. 81 Flyguy 25 March 2009 @ 11:18 am

    I think the best way to get the message out to the masses about how horrible pilot pay is, now, is to educate folks on the actual amount of hours we fly in a month or are even allowed to fly in a month. Most folks see that Mr. Pilot in the regionals makes $21/hr….$32/hr…etc. and uses the usual 40 hour work week formula and calculates the “Oh you guys all make $100K a year right?” response. 99% of the folks in the back have NO IDEA that we aren’t allowed over 100 hrs a month and many times we don’t come close to that figure, especially in this economy.
    I tell people all the time that if you can see me, I’m not getting paid…….thats right……from the van ride at 0′dark thirty to the cockpit door closing, I’m getting paid next to nothing ($1.60hr per diem).

    Look at the outrage right now at the billions wasted in the financial sector when lives were ruined (Bernie Madoff victims). I believe if the public were as informed about the low pay of the pilots flying them around vs. airline CEO pay packages, their horrible “rest” requirements and the overall lack of morale as they are on AIG, Enron, Tim Geitner, etc…that the public would demand change which would empower the pilot group to stand up and stop accepting these worthless contracts. Yes the RLA handcuffs us tremendously but it about time we as pilots just continue to vote no until we need to strike and if we get let go because of it, thanks for the favor.

    Yes, I’m a regional F/O making 1/8th of what it costs to make ends meet. Livin’ the dream.

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