surreal1221

I think his point was speaking of the 300K a year pilots. . . although I don't know any. . . 250k is a large amount of money to be flying a sky bus around. I'd be happy with my top 5 years being 130-150k a year. . . and the way it's going, it'll be that way. Hell, could be less. Not that'd I'd be *****ing and moaning about 250k a year, I'd gladly take it.

LAfrequentflyer

Unions are the best thing that happened to the 135 helo world operating in the Gulf Of Mexico...Of course, pilots have to work together to improve thier conditions not eat their young as the saying goes...

I believe in the power of collective barganning. Unions fail / disappoint when thier leadership decides to not leader the fight...

-LAFF

rickair7777

The old 2000 vs. 2200 goof? I've done that myself and I've been in the f-ing military for 20 years!

Be honest about it, admit your mistake, talk about what you learned, and you should be able to get hired at another regional immediately.

rickair7777

You think so huh?

Let's do some math...

Comparing a pilot with a non-aviation professional...assume both need a degree, so starting at age 23 let's look at their typical incomes:

Pilot:
Age 24: Flight training: -50K
25-27: CFI Avg. 22K
28-32: Regional FO: Avg. 30K
33-38: Regional CA: Avg 65K
39 - 46: Major FO: Avg. 80K
47-59: Major CA: Avg. 140K
Career net Income: $1.82M


Non Pilot Professional:
Age 24-28: Avg. 60K
28-35: Mananger: Avg 85K
36-45: Dept Head: Avg 100K
46-55: Senior Manager: 130K
56-65: VP: 200K
Career Net: $6.48M



This assumes a talented individual (you will not make it to the majors if you are mediocre). It also assumes no furloughs or lateral transfers necessitated by slow upgrade...this is a VERY optomistics, best case scenario.

Also, since the pilot's income is heavily loaded towards the end of his career, he will get absolutely raped on taxes on his best earning years. The other guy gets to spread the income out so as to better avoid tax liability.

Those overpaid airline captains are in reality just making up for all of the dues paying they did during their first three decades in aviation.

I assumed the pilot will stop working at 60...he could always get a job at starbucks for 16K/year.

CL65driver

Hmmm.... looks like we're all $crewed, union or not

Then again, I'm just starting out in the world of 121 flying..... what the heck do I know? Sheesh... it sucks being green

FlyerJosh

Rick,

You left out the costs that were incurred by non pilot types... todays front page article of the USAToday was a story about how all degrees out there are headed upwards.

I also disagree that it takes a pilot 4 years to get from CFI to their first regional. I personally did it in 8 months after finishing my flight training, and know of plenty of people that make it in less than 24 months, which I would say is the average time needed to build the requisite 1000/100 that most regionals are looking for...

Likewise, I don't know that your times regarding the other positions are quite centered as well, but without salary surveys I can't tell how accurate your info is.

I don't disagree though that things aren't what they used to be and certainly I know plenty of my peers from high school out there that make more than I do outside of the aviation world.

C175

yes, but when fuel prices soared in the early 90's, most(if not all)of the swa employees contributed a portion of their paycheck to compensate. I can sincerely say that no other airlines employees would do that. my point: swa pilots make money because the company does. If swa hits the skids, the pilots will do everything they can to help(e.g. take voluntary pay cuts without whining about it). would AA, UAL, DAL etc do that. No! first they would make matters worse by going through legal means and such. swa pilots are a different(and better -imho) breed and should never be mentioned in the same breathe as the pompous a$$es that i AM referring to

C175

Sorry, the above was a response for mike

CL65driver

just a little off topic here, but what do you guys think is gonna happen when the SWA fuel hedge is up?

captjns

They pay normal contract prices like the rest of the industry does. Net income further reduced by the higher cost of the fuel. The rest is up to SWA as to how they will deal with ticket prices. With summer around the corner the demand for seats will go up, therefore paving the way for higher airfares until after Labor Day.