FearlessFreep
Well-known member
- Joined
- Feb 23, 2002
- Posts
- 330
Why do top tier "professional" athletes, who in the big picture are only playing a game, actors who are only entertaining us get paid such astronomical salaries? They make substantially more than the average doctor who is doing a whole lot more than just entertaining people.
There are a lot of inequities out there, and you can take it to many different degrees.
Back to pilot's being paid too much and the basis of their education and experience. Pilots may not have the same amount of "higher" education that a lawyer or doctor may have, but that does not make the job any easier. Actual piloting skills may be easily attained by those that have the aptitude (not everyone has the ability to think in multiple dimensions). In the USAF they used to have an expression - "We can teach a monkey to fly be we can't teach them to think". Piloting proficiency has a substantial amount of information that can only be imparted directly by experience. Training is something that we have to do constantly, more so than a lot of other careers, so there is more "education" being accomplished than what might initially be observed - it is just not done using the "standard" models of matriculation.
The reason that everyone thinks pilots should be paid less, or that they are overpaid is directly rated to automation. If Airbus Industries had their way there would be no overpaid trained monkeys sitting in the front. Automation has been killing jobs for centuries. The public perception is that the contempory pilot just pushes buttons. I had a highly educated doctor say to me "you just push a button to make the airplane land -right?". He figured that since I was flying a large airliner that's all it took!
I work in Widebody ACMI freight evironment as a 4 year Captain with a base pay substantially lower than 100K a year. I watch "Airline" pilots with an unbelievable infrastructure and other support systems that just jump in and drive making a whole lot more than me and working a lot less. I guess it's just the way it goes. The lower tier doctors, lawyers, actors and athletes and a myriad of other professions are in the same boat - Some get the high pay and some don't.
I wouldn't trade what I do for anything. Could things be better, yes but the basic job fits me. Yes, some more compensation and less time out on the road is definitely in line.
It's all perspective. There are a number of careers and/or jobs that do not fit the average categorization of work performed verses compensation. You cannot use the same yardstick in evaluation of these. Being a pilot is just one of those jobs.
In short, some of us are underpaid and some are overpaid, it's just the way of the world. Good luck changing it.
Not that it is very scientific but occasionally the Parade Sunday paper magazine will do a survey of what people are paid. It is always shocking to see the regional and career differences. It's a real eye opener. There's a lot of overworked and underpaid people out there.
Sorry if this is disjointed and/or the misspellings - just got in from a long hard trip.
Good Luck To Us All!
There are a lot of inequities out there, and you can take it to many different degrees.
Back to pilot's being paid too much and the basis of their education and experience. Pilots may not have the same amount of "higher" education that a lawyer or doctor may have, but that does not make the job any easier. Actual piloting skills may be easily attained by those that have the aptitude (not everyone has the ability to think in multiple dimensions). In the USAF they used to have an expression - "We can teach a monkey to fly be we can't teach them to think". Piloting proficiency has a substantial amount of information that can only be imparted directly by experience. Training is something that we have to do constantly, more so than a lot of other careers, so there is more "education" being accomplished than what might initially be observed - it is just not done using the "standard" models of matriculation.
The reason that everyone thinks pilots should be paid less, or that they are overpaid is directly rated to automation. If Airbus Industries had their way there would be no overpaid trained monkeys sitting in the front. Automation has been killing jobs for centuries. The public perception is that the contempory pilot just pushes buttons. I had a highly educated doctor say to me "you just push a button to make the airplane land -right?". He figured that since I was flying a large airliner that's all it took!
I work in Widebody ACMI freight evironment as a 4 year Captain with a base pay substantially lower than 100K a year. I watch "Airline" pilots with an unbelievable infrastructure and other support systems that just jump in and drive making a whole lot more than me and working a lot less. I guess it's just the way it goes. The lower tier doctors, lawyers, actors and athletes and a myriad of other professions are in the same boat - Some get the high pay and some don't.
I wouldn't trade what I do for anything. Could things be better, yes but the basic job fits me. Yes, some more compensation and less time out on the road is definitely in line.
It's all perspective. There are a number of careers and/or jobs that do not fit the average categorization of work performed verses compensation. You cannot use the same yardstick in evaluation of these. Being a pilot is just one of those jobs.
In short, some of us are underpaid and some are overpaid, it's just the way of the world. Good luck changing it.
Not that it is very scientific but occasionally the Parade Sunday paper magazine will do a survey of what people are paid. It is always shocking to see the regional and career differences. It's a real eye opener. There's a lot of overworked and underpaid people out there.
Sorry if this is disjointed and/or the misspellings - just got in from a long hard trip.
Good Luck To Us All!
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