Lear FO Pay

[JasonAZO]

Just curious what some other folks out there are making, either in the 20's or the 30's, we fly all 35's and 36's. Our salary for FO's is 2k/mo and up to 3k/mo after 90 days with 40/day perdiem while on the road with a 20 on, 10 off schedule, and pushing for a 14/7 schedule now, averaging about 80-90 hours a month with a fair ammount of international flights (mostly the islands and South/Central America. Captains make 60/year salary... no bennies, which makes me want to go elsewhere.

LJ35 & BE30, BE20
FO: Start at 26,500 + 1,000 each year up to fifth year
PIC: Start at 36,500 + 4,000 each year up to fifth year
Schedule: 6 on, 2 off; 10 to 70 hours per month

Bennies are the worst I've ever had (I know, at least I have some), it comes out of your salary (the figures above INCLUDE bennies). $1000 deductible, minimum $20 co-pay just to see any doctor, $10 to $40 for prescriptions (most drugs fall in the $20 to $40 range). Insurance for a family runs about $8000/year (so subtract that from the salary figure above). I was paying $6000 a year with better coverage at a previous employer.

The LJs average about 4 overnights per month (so, not bad there). The BEs are always flying overnight, so you sleep in whatever hole of an FBO you happen to be at.

There is a rumor we get 5 days of vacation per year; I have not had a vacation request approved yet.

Oh yeah, no life insurance, no disability. You're on your own there. We do have a 401k however. Most people don't participate because they are scrounging up cash for food.

Sadly, after researching some of the regional carriers, I'm inclined to stay here. There just doesn't seem to be any benefit to jumping ship for less pay.

I may sound a little bitter.

 

[iflyabeech]

Its those who take these jobs who are to blame. The crappy company that hired you would have to raise the pay if there weren't suckers who would take jobs that pay less that pumping gas at your local station!

LJ35 & BE30, BE20
FO: Start at 26,500 + 1,000 each year up to fifth year
PIC: Start at 36,500 + 4,000 each year up to fifth year
Schedule: 6 on, 2 off; 10 to 70 hours per month

Bennies are the worst I've ever had (I know, at least I have some), it comes out of your salary (the figures above INCLUDE bennies). $1000 deductible, minimum $20 co-pay just to see any doctor, $10 to $40 for prescriptions (most drugs fall in the $20 to $40 range). Insurance for a family runs about $8000/year (so subtract that from the salary figure above). I was paying $6000 a year with better coverage at a previous employer.

The LJs average about 4 overnights per month (so, not bad there). The BEs are always flying overnight, so you sleep in whatever hole of an FBO you happen to be at.

There is a rumor we get 5 days of vacation per year; I have not had a vacation request approved yet.

Oh yeah, no life insurance, no disability. You're on your own there. We do have a 401k however. Most people don't participate because they are scrounging up cash for food.

Sadly, after researching some of the regional carriers, I'm inclined to stay here. There just doesn't seem to be any benefit to jumping ship for less pay.

I may sound a little bitter.

 

[JasonAZO]

Its those who take these jobs who are to blame. The crappy company that hired you would have to raise the pay if there weren't suckers who would take jobs that pay less that pumping gas at your local station!

I totally agree. I looked for a non-flying job for a little over 18 months. I have nearly a decade of experience in the insurance industry (we have two very large insurance companies headquartered in town here) and I couldn't get anyone to talk to me except aviation businesses (when I finally started getting desperate).

Almost all non-aviation employers think you will leave them the instant an opportunity opens up to fly. It's incredibly difficult to convince someone that you will be willing to work for what you know is more money doing a non-flying task when they think that all pilots are filthy rich.

And with this company, or any other 135 operator in this area (UPS country), there are probably 5x as many applicants as hired pilots. We are absolutely saturated with pilots. We just hired a truckload of pilots in the past two months; for the first time in years, we have more pilots than airplanes. So, sadly, if I weren't here building time, someone else would be in my place. One positive note (if you look at it that way), turnover is high enough that we typically upgrade to captain in 6 months or less.