FOs flying to near the max -- how does the pay work?

[Quack]

Yeah but PylotOnDaRise, look at their second year and upwards pay. Almost EVERY airline that isn't considered to be a regional has crappy first year pay, most likely because you are still sitting on probation and are a liability to the company. But that money is made up the second, third, fourth, etc. years as the career proceeds. If people weren't so willing and ready to take jobs at $20,000 flying airplanes with people's lives in their hands for christ's sake, maybe we wouldn't all be arguing about this. Yeah you can consider making 40,000 a year as a regional pilot, but that is not the argument. YOU are a pilot, not a garbageman that is HOME every night doing a job that requires absolutely NO education. Someone could pay me $300 per hour to fly a 172 the rest of my life and I'd do it. It's not what you fly, but the lifestyle you live and the ability to earn a decent wage doing it!

 

[shamrock]

Someone could pay me $300 per hour to fly a 172 the rest of my life and I'd do it. It's not what you fly, but the lifestyle you live and the ability to earn a decent wage doing it!

Preach on, Brother Quack!

 

[CptMurf]

PER DIEM IS NOT SALARY!!!!!

If your company did not pay it, you could tax deduct it anyway. Do not count this in your pay comparisons please. The bank does not count it in pre-approving you for your house, so don't count it here.

I don't know any regional FO making 40K their second year. Maybe their 4th. If you want a fair comparison ask what average credit is......At XJ (as a middle line holder) I would say about 87 hours average (sometimes 75 sometimes 105) I would guess around 85-90 hours a month for most airlines. Then go to airlinepilotcentral.com and get the payscales for their airline.

 

[N590MA]

I agree, but let me throw in another angle.

Most 2nd year FOs, so it seems, make close to, or in some cases more than the $40K you mention. A few have said they have made close to $50K.

If you look at the starting pay for even places like CAL and UPS, their first year FO pay is only $30/hr. Is it safe to say that there is a reason the regionals pay first year FOs so little? Is it safe to pull someone straight from Cessna 150s and place them into a jet, and then pay them large sums of money? Or, do you give them a year or so, at less than desirable pay, and make sure they can handle it, and then in their second year give them the $40K you mention first year should be making?

Not to start a pay debate, but many of the salaries you all mentioned in the "Compare your pay" thread are not that different than what people in your typical average american career are making. Especially those captains pulling in $70K or more. Note that the average american income is somewhere around $45K.

I don't think most 2nd yr regional FO's make anywhere close to 40K a year, I'm a 5th year FO at XJ and I fly close to the "max" and will be lucky to make 40K. Maybe you were thinking Major FO's pay rates? Not trying to flame this but, to clarify.

 

[sweptback]

I don't think most 2nd yr regional FO's make anywhere close to 40K a year, I'm a 5th year FO at XJ and I fly close to the "max" and will be lucky to make 40K. Maybe you were thinking Major FO's pay rates? Not trying to flame this but, to clarify.

I don't know. It could be possible. I think if you had a payrate of low-to-mid 30s, which some regionals do, it would be possible if you worked your tail off. Especially if your contract provided for some decent soft time.

I don't think it would be easy, and you'd probably have no time to spend it, but I'm sure some guys would figure out a way to do it.

Now, a 2nd year FO flying just a normal schedule, not breaking their back? No way.

 

[MarineGrunt]

I don't think most 2nd yr regional FO's make anywhere close to 40K a year, I'm a 5th year FO at XJ and I fly close to the "max" and will be lucky to make 40K. Maybe you were thinking Major FO's pay rates? Not trying to flame this but, to clarify.

Pulled from another thread:

Originally Posted by Smoked Toilet
SkyWest
2nd year RJ FO
95-100 block / month; 110-120 credit / month
2005 $53,115
2% 401k match
$1.60 / hr per diem

 

[PilotOnTheRise]

I don't think most 2nd yr regional FO's make anywhere close to 40K a year, I'm a 5th year FO at XJ and I fly close to the "max" and will be lucky to make 40K. Maybe you were thinking Major FO's pay rates? Not trying to flame this but, to clarify.

I don't know if you mean you are a 5th year FO at ExpressJet, or Mesaba, because isn't Mesaba "XJ" -- just confused because some people refer to ExpressJet as XJ as well? Either way, congratz on being a 5th year FO, as I assume it puts you pretty close to upgrade, and a much deserved pay raise.

I didn't take your post as a flame at all. Where I get the $40K for a second year FO is from a couple of threads. One, from the "compare your pay", which I started, in which a 2nd year SkyW FO quoted having made $53K. The other thread from awhile back comparing ASA and SkyW pay, in which a couple of 2nd to 3rd year FOs quoted salaries in the $40K to $45K range. Maybe these are rare, or I misread them.?

 

[swampfan]

Work all the angles

My last pay stub for 2005 (all as a regional 2nd year FO) showed just over $53,000 (incl about $5k per diem). This was with an avg of 72.5 hrs block per month, working 189 days for the year. Pays to know how to work the system.:beer:

 

[BluDevAv8r]

An FO who knows how to work the system can credit 1300 hours at XJT, which would yield roughly $43,000 pre-tax, not counting per diem of another $5000-$6000 in tax free per diem. These assumptions also include not going below the contractual 12 days off minimum.

-Neal

 

[PilotOnTheRise]

What do you mean by "work the system", and how does one "work the system"