Pilots making $10/hr???? You gotta be kidding me

[ramora]

List of airlines and pilot salaries.

http://www.aviationinterviews.com/pilot/airlinepayrates.html

Not a growth industry. In the Frontline video report one pilot said he moved to Captain with less than 700 hours which is amazing.

I was having dinner with a pilot friend and I said I always wanted to fly heavy airliners. I have about 1000 hours of military flight time from years ago and he said I could get a job tomorrow. I told him I didn't think it was possible and he pulled out his cell phone and called another friend who is a pilot with a regional carrier and was told, "no problem, if you have a current Commercial, Instrument, Multi and a 1st class medical you can get hired." Amazing. To think that these guys in the Frontline report are flying 100 passengers in heavily loaded planes in bad weather is scary.

Another friend who is with a major carrier said his salary was cut 50% and retirement by 40% when the airline went came out of bk. He is not too happy but still loves flying.

So if you want to pay $100-150k to get your licenses you too can make less than minimum wage. I would not bet that the big salaries (really not that big) will be there in 10 years from now however..... Probably better in the long run to get a Supervisor job with TSA. You still get to wear a uniform and work at the airport with better pay, benefits, and long term security....

Good flying

 

[DataCruncher]

ramora that's interesting, but someone else in this thread mentioned the oversupply of pilots and undersupply of pilot jobs, so why would they be so eager to hire your friend? You would think they would have a stack of resumes available for any available opening.

 

[peilthetraveler]

Quote from ramora:

List of airlines and pilot salaries.

http://www.aviationinterviews.com/pilot/airlinepayrates.html

Not a growth industry. In the Frontline video report one pilot said he moved to Captain with less than 700 hours which is amazing.

I was having dinner with a pilot friend and I said I always wanted to fly heavy airliners. I have about 1000 hours of military flight time from years ago and he said I could get a job tomorrow. I told him I didn't think it was possible and he pulled out his cell phone and called another friend who is a pilot with a regional carrier and was told, "no problem, if you have a current Commercial, Instrument, Multi and a 1st class medical you can get hired." Amazing. To think that these guys in the Frontline report are flying 100 passengers in heavily loaded planes in bad weather is scary.

Another friend who is with a major carrier said his salary was cut 50% and retirement by 40% when the airline went came out of bk. He is not too happy but still loves flying.

So if you want to pay $100-150k to get your licenses you too can make less than minimum wage. I would not bet that the big salaries (really not that big) will be there in 10 years from now however..... Probably better in the long run to get a Supervisor job with TSA. You still get to wear a uniform and work at the airport with better pay, benefits, and long term security....

Good flying

Those pay rates are a bit misleading. It sounds like alot when it says you get paid $100 per hour as most people will figure that pilots fly 40 hours per week, when many of them are lucky to get 50 hours per month of flight time. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isnt there a cap on how many hours a pilot can fly in a given month? Something like 70 hours per month? And on top of that, they only get paid for when they are in the air. All that sitting on the tarmac is working for free.

 

[toc]

'Another friend who is with a major carrier said his salary was cut 50% and retirement by 40% when the airline went came out of bk. He is not too happy but still loves flying.'


there is still lot more scope in wage cuts in airlines jobs like those of pilots, mechanics, some duties in ground staff etc. i believe the flight attendents sure do work their tails off.

it is the unions that have been hurting the airlines for three decades now. there certainly is lots of overcapacity and thus resulting price competition but wages in some airline sectors have been outright impractical. no wonder now most of the major annual checks are being done in asian countries like korea, taiwan etc.

i would cap a captain's salary at $75/hour or $150K max a year (not considering overtime if posted). further add to this the yearly bonuses of top management cannot exceed certain dollar figure no matter how many billions in profits have been made. we all know what management bonuses did to the banking sector in the last two years.

 

[myoffices]

Quote from aegis:

Umm, let me get this straight.

You need so many hours to become an experienced pilot, but you're not required to be an experienced pilot to work as a flight instructor?

Somehow the trainer guy just lost his cool image. I alwasys thought the trainers were lazy do gooders who loved the industry but hated the bureaucracy )

 

[Thermactor]

Quote from ramora:

List of airlines and pilot salaries.

http://www.aviationinterviews.com/pilot/airlinepayrates.html

Not a growth industry. In the Frontline video report one pilot said he moved to Captain with less than 700 hours which is amazing.

I was having dinner with a pilot friend and I said I always wanted to fly heavy airliners. I have about 1000 hours of military flight time from years ago and he said I could get a job tomorrow. I told him I didn't think it was possible and he pulled out his cell phone and called another friend who is a pilot with a regional carrier and was told, "no problem, if you have a current Commercial, Instrument, Multi and a 1st class medical you can get hired."

BS
BS
BS
BS
Which regional is hiring?! Thousands on pprune and APC would LOVE to know.
It's not 2007 anymore. The industry is in such incredibly bad shape I can't find enough words to describe it.
Besides, a 50 seat Canadair CL65 IS NOT A HEAVY AIRLINER, unless you're coming from a Beech Bonanza or Cessna 172.

 

[jnbadger]

Quote from Maverick74:

it was about $250 an hour for that aircraft.

So work for a small carrier making little to nothing, probably working another job on the side until you get up to about 5,000 hours. At that point you can apply to the airlines. Even then your salary will be small as co-pilot for a small 727 or DC-9. But again, the name of the game is building hours and seniority. Within about 5 years, you will be making close to 6 figures for working 3 to 4 days a week. In 15 years you will be making 150k to 200k a year.

Obviously the ideal way to go is the military. You get the best training in the world and you can go straight to the airlines once you leave. But getting in is very hard.

It's right around 100 bucks for a 172 wet right now where I live. Add 25 bucks for an instructor.

The second paragraph is right on. My bro is a capt for southwest making around 250k/year. But he's been there for 16 years, and worked for many regionals before that, many of which went under while he was with them. He also did the instructor thing to build hours. He's 48.

Other than the costs involved, your post is spot on. It is a grind, but a rewarding one if you can hang.

 

[ET99]

Quote from Maverick74:

Let me help you understand. As someone who at one time had a private pilot's license. Learning to fly is very expensive if you don't go to either one of the military academies or through ROTC. After one get's their private pilot's license, they need to start building hours. I don't know what the hourly rate is now for a single engine Cessna 152 but back when I did it, it was about $250 an hour for that aircraft.

Now, no young pilot has the money to simply rent a plane by the hour to build up the necessary flight time, so the ideal path is to become a flight instructor. They don't make shit, usually not much more then minimum wage. But you're thrilled to get paid because you are basically letting someone else pay for your flight time. The student will pay the $250 an hour for you. Once you get about 500 hours, you go for your IFR. Once you get that you keep up the flight instruction, again earning minimum wage until you have maybe 1500 hours or so and then go for your multi-engine.

Once you have this, you can now apply for a job working for a regional carrier flying multi-engine aircraft. Again, getting paid to build hours. The key here is not your wage, but the fact that someone else is paying for your flight time. Do you have any idea what it would cost the young pilot to pay for 2500 hours of flight time? A multi-engine plane will cost over $500 an hour plus fuel.

So work for a small carrier making little to nothing, probably working another job on the side until you get up to about 5,000 hours. At that point you can apply to the airlines. Even then your salary will be small as co-pilot for a small 727 or DC-9. But again, the name of the game is building hours and seniority. Within about 5 years, you will be making close to 6 figures for working 3 to 4 days a week. In 15 years you will be making 150k to 200k a year.

Obviously the ideal way to go is the military. You get the best training in the world and you can go straight to the airlines once you leave. But getting in is very hard.

Think about it this way. Look at a doctor. They have to spend 4 years in undergraduate school, then spend 3 to 5 years in medical school then another year or two doing a residency. That's over 10 years!!! And what do they get paid??? Nothing!!! In fact they spend close to 200k to basically work 10 years with no pay. Why do they do that? To become a Doctor!

It's no different with becoming a pilot. It's all about building flight time. And these young pilots will do anything to get those hours for as little out of pocket cost as possible. It's unfortunate that you don't understand this or the media for that matter. It's actually a pretty good life and whenever I talk to pilots, they tell me they could not see themselves doing anything else with their life.

It's no different with becoming a trader...

 

[Ghost of Cutten]

Is it just me or will the job of airline pilot become obsolete in a decade or two? Surely computers and fly-by-wire will be safer, as well as a hell of a lot cheaper. Am I missing something here...if you are a pilot I recommend you save 50%+ of your gross and start attending night school to get a future career.

 

[9999]

Quote from Ghost of Cutten:

Is it just me or will the job of airline pilot become obsolete in a decade or two? Surely computers and fly-by-wire will be safer, as well as a hell of a lot cheaper. Am I missing something here...if you are a pilot I recommend you save 50%+ of your gross and start attending night school to get a future career.

As someone wrote before, computers can fly airplanes just fine. Unfortunately, there are still some moments when all hell breaks loose. Then the best computer in the world is useless. So, what are you gonna do?