Quote:
Originally Posted by Bakkels
Wait, I think I must be misinterpreting this. Are you talking about a commercial airline pilot job? Does that make 18k in the US nowadays? That's a ridiculously low wage.
Aside from that, I feel your frustration. It's a damn shame to see talent go to waste, especially if he's practically forced by economic circumstances.
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No he didnt have a commercial airline pilot job... he did not have the required flight time to get many jobs like that, and there are just not many places that take a low time pilot hiring at the moment... he was just doing odd flying jobs when they came available, which is not something that comes up frequently.
as for the airline pilot pay i talked about
:
take a look at
Mesa airlines, they are
probably the lowest paying regional carrier in the United States. (remember... just because the airplane says United Express or US Airways express on the side doesnt mean the airplane has
anything to do with those companies other than a code share agreement behind the scenes)
year one new hire first officer makes $19.00 per flight hour with a guarantee of 76 hours of flying per month. The pilot may fly more or less than the guarantee.
so, before taxes that translates to $1,444 per month - or - $17,328 per year. Remember this is
before taxes and other costs like insurance benefits etc.
but, if you hang in there... within 5 years you will reach the
salary cap of the first officer position at an annual income of $23,712 - again before taxes etc.
one of the higher paying regional airlines is American Eagle.
new hire annual salary just over $21,000
salary cap for the first officer position there comes at 8 years at $32,659
it takes between 5-7 years to get a captain seat depending on the carrier, and once a captain seat is secured, the pay rate usually increases by about 45%
The airline industry is set up for "movement" meaning that regional airlines hire pilots who will be First officers. as senior captains leave the airline to go to places like FedEx, American, Delta etc this creates a vacancy and everyone moves up in seniority. eventually the new hire pilot has moved up in seniority enough to become a captain.
for the past 10 years there has been little to no movement. American Airlines for example - has not hired a "new" pilot in about 10 years.
at the moment, there are pilots at the regional level who have been with those companies for so long that they are making a decent living... and it is simply not worth it to many of them to resign to take a new job at another company because they will take a massive paycut for the first 3 or 4 years of employment at the new company.
the result is "stagnation" - everyone is inching their way up the seniority list, and hiring and shedding of pilots is only about 10-20 per month. ideally regional carriers should be shedding and hiring about 60 to 80 pilots per month if not more.
EDIT:
he is qualified as an instructor because the school's degree program required the flight instructor certificate - not because he
wanted to be a CFI. I told him to bite the bullet and flight instruct... he does not want to do this because he feels that he would not be a good instructor because he has no instructing experience.
my logic is that every flight instructor, at some point had "zero" experience as a flight instructor. at some point you need to do like i did so many years ago when faced with a course load of new students... 1) give yourself a pep talk in the mirror 2) when that doesnt work, vomit. 3) wipe the vomit off your chin and go out there and just try to enjoy the fact that someone is paying you to fly something.
after a couple of months, it wouldnt bother him any more.
on the plus side, he may yet do that. but he needs something to pay the school loans off with and humpin it around the pattern in 100 degree texas heat isnt going to bring him that many sweat sogged dollars.