Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
When I hear of pilots making as little as mid 20,000, many in the 50,000-60,000 range and few reaching 6 figures and up (150,000-2000,000) I cannot help thinking this is the most underpaid profession of all out there.
Even when you compare to the surgeon occupation...when a surgeon makes a mistake, he wipes out one person. When a pilot makes a mistake, he can wipe out a very large crowd.
How is it even possible to have someone fly a commercial plane (of any kind) for a 30,000 salary?
To me, this is the height of "unacceptable".
I do not have anyone in the family flying planes (except someone in husband's family who makes close to 200,000) ...but every time I hear of typical pilot compensation I shudder.
This is SO wrong, on so many levels.
Pay is low at first, low to mid 20's even at the better places. It goes to mid 30's to mid 40's in a couple years, then 80's to low 100's by year 4-5-6 or so. Then you take another massive pay cut a few years later if you leave to go to another, more stable, major. But you are back to where you left off by years 2 or 3 and from there it goes up. As a major airline FO you are comfortably in the low to mid 100's, as a CA by year 15 or so (at the new company, so 25 years or so from starting) you are in the neighborhood of 200k or better, sometimes 300k.
Downside is, not everyone makes it to a major. So you kinda roll the dice. There are many that never leave the commuters and are stuck making $80k-$100k their entire career and those jobs are inherently unstable. If you leave you start on the bottom once again.
Why take the risk? Because a major pilot job is cush. Many intentionally bid reserve because making that kind of money working on call going to work 4-8 days a month living in domicile is a sweet, sweet gig.
Doh! I had teachers and tried to edit to teaching. Thus my new word.
Maybe those starting out make peanuts and those making the big bux make really big bux and it skews the average.
Got it - but no way.
Sure, I would agree to give teachers some more money compared to what they make now - but I would also expect this better-paid crop to be specialist teachers (Math majors with some pedagogy/education courses teaching math as opposed to Education majors teaching math) and generally higher caliber grads than what our Education Colleges attract nowadays.
That being said, to compare the importance of what a pilot does to what a teacher does ...is a bit... too much for me.
If jr. had his paper graded wrong or didn't quite "get it" in class from his teacher, there's still hope. The situation is fixable. With the other profession...not so much.
I don't remember where I read that while most people generally agree flying is very safe, aviation, in and of itself, is an unforgiving occupation. Once you made a serious mistake...
I am not sure about that average, but I have read so many times about pilots on regional flights making well under what that average shows...
In fact, when I read further down the page, it specifies:
"The median annual wage for commercial pilots was $73,280 in May 2012".
Never mind those starting...
Even at a median annual wage of 73,280 - that's terribly underpaid, keeping in mind the nature of the occupation itself.
Quote:
Originally Posted by syracusa;
Even when you compare to the surgeon occupation...when a surgeon makes a mistake, he wipes out one person. When a pilot makes a mistake, he can wipe out a very large crowd.
Dude, you're mixing apples and oranges back and forth. Commercial pilots only need to have a HS diploma, and they don't fly passenger airliners. They do crop dusting, photography flying, search-and-rescue, and other jobs that involve few passengers or none at all, or just one.
Airline pilots are in a different category. A BA is required, more licensure that for commercial flying, and probably more flying hours logged prior to getting the job. Because of the astronomically higher responsibility, they get paid commensurately. It said median pay was around $114k.
Sounds fair to me.
Meanwhile, as someone pointed out, many teachers get paid small change by comparison, even though a BA and teaching certif. are required, and some teachers have MA's.
Why take the risk? Because a major pilot job is cush. Many intentionally bid reserve because making that kind of money working on call going to work 4-8 days a month living in domicile is a sweet, sweet gig.
Looked at it this way, it makes some sense - especially that many pilots apparently have a real bug for flying and they enjoy a lot this crazy (to me) thing they're doing. It doesn't seem to be just "a job" for them.
I would never question the 4-8 days a month schedule either.
As a passenger, I wouldn't have it any other way. You want them happy, well-rested, and with full pockets.
That being said, many people fly every day with pilots making what sounds like peanuts to me.
This gives me the creeps, considering these pilots may have to have on-the-side jobs to make ends meet.
Beginning pilots are most the lowest paid but they do get travel benefits. On the other hand, teachers who work at language schools for adults are paid even less and have no benefits at all.
Dude, you're mixing apples and oranges back and forth. Commercial pilots only need to have a HS diploma, and they don't fly passenger airliners. They do crop dusting, photography flying, and other jobs that involve few passengers or none at all, or just one.
Airline pilots are in a different category. A BA is required, more licensure that for commercial flying, and probably more flying hours logged prior to getting the job. Because of the astronomically higher responsibility, they get paid commensurately. It said median pay was around $114k.
Sounds fair to me.
Meanwhile, as someone pointed out, many teachers get paid small change by comparison, even though a BA and teaching certif. are required, and some teachers have MA's.
It's "dudette" and I thought "commercial" meant "airline"/passenger flights. Sorry for the confusion.
Quote:
Originally Posted by NewbiePoster
Because of the astronomically higher responsibility, they get paid commensurately. It said median pay was around $114k.
Sounds fair to me.
If the responsibility is ASTRONOMICALLY higher, do you find the difference between mid 70's and 114,000 "commensurate?...
The increase you get by flying passengers instead of something else is insulting as far as I am concerned.
I also heard many cargo pilots make more than airline pilots - but I am not sure this is true.
Either way, the comparison with the "teacher" profession sounds extremely off to me.
I wouldn't go simply by degree/certification requirement. It depends on what the degree/certification is in.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
