Age 60 informal poll

[pilotyip]

but on one has answered how if $100K is in the upper 95% of US Income, how come it is so bad? I started this job at under $50K, bought a house, owned an airplane, and saved for my retirement.

 

[Hawker800]

Absolutely YES!

 

[CaptainMark]

but on one has answered how if $100K is in the upper 95% of US Income, how come it is so bad? I started this job at under $50K, bought a house, owned an airplane, and saved for my retirement.

sorry about the 50k..yikes...100grand is OK..but for an airline pilot it is weak...with the amount of training involved..education..and health concerns..an airline pilot or any pilot should make more than that..at least the captains..who are paid for their experience and decision making..remember..most times if you make one mistake..you get fired..then what? airline pilots are married to their companies via seniority and must live a certain lifestyle...with 2 checkrides a year..line checks..medicals...we should command greater salaries...doctors have hi incomes..and they don't get medicals or get checked every 6 months...would you want some 50,000 dollar a year doctor cracking your chest..i think not..just like i would want the best most qualified highest paid pilots hauling my family around...what is your problem with hi salaries for pilots...i guess you never had one so you want the same misfortune for everyone else...i haul boxes for FDX and i try to do it safe...efficient and on time..i have a lot of fun doing it and FDX pays me well to do it (with a great retirement i might add..afund..bfund..stock plan and 401k) and they make billions of dollars also..again sorry about the 50 grand

 

[§kyye Candy]

Let's get real

but on one has answered how if $100K is in the upper 95% of US Income, how come it is so bad? I started this job at under $50K, bought a house, owned an airplane, and saved for my retirement.

So... no wife/kids? Do you have any idea what it costs to raise kids these days? Or what the average university tuition per year is?

Do you live in a larger metropolitan area? Or must we be relegated to living in the middle of nowhere to have a decent QOL? Remember when there were COLAs for higher cost of living domiciles? Wasn't living anywhere we wanted (assuming you are up to the commute) supposed to be one of the perks? What if you are from SFO? If not, then add even MORE time away from family to the list of negatives.

For the sake of argument, assuming your stats are correct, aren't there certain jobs that should be above that 95% bracket? If so, which ones are they? Please... describe for me a profession that has more training requirements, more initial personal investment, more time away from home/family, more missed holidays and special events, more loss of income due to illness or health considerations, more currency requirements, more expenses, more sleep deprivation, etc. over the total life of a career... and LESS compensation???

And lastly, but definitely not least... why oh why, please tell me, is it fine for corporate America's CEOs to RAID the salaries, pensions and bennies of the employees who have built the companies they fleece, only so that they can then move along to the next victim? Do you really think it's a wise distribution of profit to rape the employees of what they rightfully earn, and have a new ultra-rich class at the top made up of board members and management?

Didn't anyone read about feudalism in history and why it was a poor model???

 

[Larcifer]

15 yrs of professional flying and I havn't seen 100K yet. My average earnings over that period have been less than 25K. Factor in a 100K education, 5 moves, 11 years on the bottom of 5 different senority lists, not to mention the first 4 yrs of my career, and I'm supposed to be happy with a 100K/yr. I've got 3 peers that have permantly lost there medicals in that same time frame and will never fly again. I knew all of the downside risks prior to beginning this journey but planned on being highly compensated someday to offset all of the risks and being away from home 15 days a month. The love was lost many years ago, it is a job. I love the job but hate the career.

NO, I don't want to have to fly and extra 5 years. I would retire tomorrow if I could, but that's just me

 

[pilotyip]

Hey when you are an unemployed airline pilot at age 53 and $50K is the only job offered you take it. You bust your butt for your employer and hopefully he recognizes your talents and gives you regular raises. What other options are there?

 

[CaptainMark]

hey...i'm glad for you..really! but let's not run around these boards saying that 100k is too much money...these managers are making 5 times that to sit in an office...and who is checking them every 6 months...just imagine the chaos that would entail if all pilots in this country took the day off...i think we are worth a lot for our skills...and i think deep down u do too..

 

[pilotyip]

Capt Mark, never said 100K is too much, never said people should not make more than 100K, I have just said I have never made more and I feel I have had a dcent life, own a few toys, and have decent retirement. Some people are lucky and break into the places than can pay numbers above 100K, good for them. BTW just imagine the chaos that would entail if all managers in this country took a few months off, no pay, no current manuals , no QC, no nothing, pilots would not be flying. Of course unless they wanted to come in their free time and run the place.

 

[§kyye Candy]

What QC?!

just imagine the chaos that would entail if all managers in this country took a few months off, no pay, no current manuals , no QC, no nothing, pilots would not be flying. Of course unless they wanted to come in their free time and run the place.

Great Lakes does their own Jepp updates, no QC... pilots do most everything. Not sure about current mgt., but in the past, the CP did squat... It's the great American dream ~ that the majors would love to have (and probably are on their way to.)

Most CEO types do NOT do enough work to justify their paychecks & bonuses by far ~ they just skew the earnings statement for the board members to keep their jobs.

 

[pilotyip]

skye candy are you telling us the airline could run without the FAA mandated part 119 management?

 

[PCL_128]

skye candy are you telling us the airline could run without the FAA mandated part 119 management?

Legally? No. In theory? Absolutely.

 

[BigFlyr]

YEA! The "age 60 rule" was contrived of old and obsolete data and therefore should be revised. Furthermore, since pension plans are becoming a thing of the past with airlines, there needs to be a way to close the gap between the age at which one can receive SS payments and is forced to retire.

 

[LarryinTN]

15 yrs of professional flying and I havn't seen 100K yet.

I broke $100k in my 17th year.

 

[pilotyip]

See looks like a couple of pilots with some impressive credentials are on board that 100K is a not something to be ignored as a poverty wage.

 

[CaptainMark]

See looks like a couple of pilots with some impressive credentials are on board that 100K is a not something to be ignored as a poverty wage.

15 years..17 years...if it took that long what i see is good pilots flying for managers like you not paying what they are worth...

 

[pilotyip]

Capt Mark you give me way too much credit, I am just a score keeper, and clerk, ground school instructor, check airman, and all around pain in the butt to upper management, and a very lucky pilot to be where I am right now. But not as lucky as you getting hired at FedEx two years out of college.

 

[§kyye Candy]

Legally? No. In theory? Absolutely.

What PCL said!

 

[CaptainMark]

Capt Mark you give me way too much credit, I am just a score keeper, and clerk, ground school instructor, check airman, and all around pain in the butt to upper management, and a very lucky pilot to be where I am right now. But not as lucky as you getting hired at FedEx two years out of college.

i guess we are both lucky..lets keep it that way...

 

[§kyye Candy]

See looks like a couple of pilots with some impressive credentials are on board that 100K is a not something to be ignored as a poverty wage.

a) nobody said it was a "poverty wage"... but it's not the Ritz, either!

b) who knows what anyone's credentials are - it's a message board!

How do you think most any professional with equivalent training/investment would react to having a 100K paycheck?

 

[§kyye Candy]

P.s.

Capt Mark you give me way too much credit, I am just a score keeper, and clerk, ground school instructor, check airman, and all around pain in the butt to upper management, and a very lucky pilot to be where I am right now. But not as lucky as you getting hired at FedEx two years out of college.

I notice, in addition to all of these extra duties, you have in your profile some military a/c experience... must have been a lot easier to buy a home/plan for retirement with a pension check coming in!

 

[CaptainMark]

he is a little out of touch..that's all...

 

[pilotyip]

Reserve retirement, my son, reserve retirement, did not see a penny of it until two years ago. Still had to buy a house 9 years ago or pay 25 years of captial gains on 5 shouses I had owned. It is nice to have as I approach retirement, but it is available to almost anyone on this board who wants to go for it.

 

[pilotyip]

Capt Mark what am I out of touch with? The fact your are a FedEx Capt and I am a lowly non-sked freight dog at YIP? That I should not post what I see as orrect becasue my views have no valve when they are not in agreement with a Fed Ex Captain at the top of the food chain? Again what am I out of touch with?

 

[pilotyip]

skycandy I least I do not hide who I am with a cute profile with no real information about who you are.

 

[CaptainMark]

all these posts in a row..give somebody else some space...as for your question...the younger generation!

 

[pilotyip]

Capt Mark you seem to be on a roll yourself, Out of touch with the younger generation, I was here first, the younger generation is out of touch with the guys who built this business

 

[CaptainMark]

you built fedex..? hey thanks... enough dude..see ya

 

[PCL_128]

Again what am I out of touch with?

With the value of $100k in 2006 dollars, not to mention the true worth of your skills and experience as a professional pilot. You've been stuck at that horrible non-sked for so long that anything seems good. You've never made over $100k because USAJet refuses to pay a fair wage, so you decide that $100k is some magical number. You find flying easy after 30 years of it, so you go around saying that "you can even teach a monkey to fly." It's sad, really.

 

[CaptainMark]

yeah..what he said...!

 

[pilotyip]

I determine the wage I am paid by my company is a fair wage, it is all they can afford. If they paid us more they may not be profitable, able to attract capital, and grow the business in a rapidly changing market. So my under $100K job is better than what I would face if the company failed. I have shopped over the past few years and no where could I make more than I make now. $100K jobs are tuff to come by, look at all the posts of those who also have never made that number. BTW I have never said you could teach a money to fly, I have said it is an easily acquired skill, anyone with a certain level of comprehension and desire can learn to fly an airplane. Check Asquared posts he agrees. BTW also it is 40 years