Buckeye said:
It seen a lot of jobs for SIC/ Co-pilot on many different types of jets that only pay $25,000 to maybe $32,000. Most of these jobs are for Lear 35's and CE-550's. Is this typical? The reason I am asking is, that I know a lot of guys that are the "Chief Pilot" of a 1 plane 2 pilot operation, that operate like this. I know for a fact that the "Chief Pilot" is making quite a bit of money may be even more than he should, and the other guy is scraping to get by. Is this type of scenerio ego driven or greed driven. I have spoken to a few of these guys and they make it sound like they are doing someone a favor to allow to be their co-pilot and get paid for it. All of their aircraft are required two pilot operations (all Part 91). Or is this driven by the current state of economics. I would think that these individuals aren't helping the welfare of aviation.
First, if you are talking about a Part 91 corporate job (not Part 135 charter) then I agree those salaries are low. However, keep in mind that the two particular types you list (CE-550 & LR-35) have historically always been the lowest paying; pilots with experience in both abound, so part of the answer can be chalked up to the laws of supply and demand.
Personally, I think the salary of such a position should be much higher, because in our profession I think responsibility for lives and company assets trumps unadultarated supply and demand. As far as relative salaries go, a baseline rule of thumb is that an F/O's salary should be about 60% of a Captain's...as in a line Captain...who's duties consist of piloting the aircraft and all that entails, and not much else.
Now, I'm not going to defend anyone's over-inflated ego ruling over a little aviation fiefdom, or outright greed if indeed it applies, but I sensed a semi-faceciousness to your use of "Chief Pilot" (perhaps it was your use of quotation marks), so I'm going to play the role of the devil's advocate (since I think we all agree nobody wants to work for an egomaniac).
You frame your question regarding the disparity as if there can be only two possible answers; "Is this scenario ego or greed driven?" Ask yourself this. How many "hats" do the Chief Pilots in question wear? Many Chief Pilots in these operations are completely unsupported in what they do, and wear the hats of Captain, Chief Pilot, Director of Ops & Mx, and Dispatcher all at once. As the focal point of the Company's attention for their multi-million dollar asset, such a Chief Pilot writes endless reports, submits budgets and forecasts, contracts mx and shepherds the aircraft through inspections, educates bean-counters, control costs, answer for any screw-ups, and generally make sure everbody's a happy camper, not least of which is the FAA. I did it for 4 years (and yes, I made sure the F/Os were well-paid), but believe me, BY FAR the easiest part of the job was playing "line Captain". Handing in the paperwork for that particular flight/trip and then going home after tidying up the airplane is unthinkable.
My question to you is this; if you got a LR-35 SIC position that paid $45,000 per year to start, but found out your Chief Pilot was making $100,000 would you feel slighted? You would only be making 45% of his salary. Are the duties and responsiblities above and beyond a regular line Captain's job worth that extra 15%? Do you think the Company thinks it's worth it?
Now, if the Chief Pilots you refer to DO have other in-house Company employees to support them (a chief of Mx to deal with all Mx issues, a Dept. Manager to deal with personnel issues and the FAA, a dispatcher to make travel arrangements, etc.) and such a disparity does exist, then your observation has merit.
If you ever get a chance to manage such a flight department, do it. Don't plan on having much of a life, but it will give you a whole new perspective on what keeps and operation ready to go and in the air.
