Looming pilot shortage at regional airlines...

[Lear70]

[FONT=&quot]Lear the money is not in the RJ route; it is in the cargo route, bigger airplanes, and bigger paychecks. I have seen too many of our younger pilots in their 20's approach the $100K figure.

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At UPS or FedEx, sure... Captain Mark is one of them. That is, IF you can get in there early.

As far as one of the ad-hoc freighter outfits (like the one out at YIP) and some others, the only way you can hit six figures is if you live it 20-25 days a month. $80-85k? Sure, no problem.
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As far as living on your pay got to be in the right place. One of our pilots just bought a house in ND, payments are $76/mo including taxes. 3 BR, 1 bath 1200 sq ft on a 60 x 40 lot. Purchase price $6,000. On his$80K/yr he lives like a king.

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Umm... yeah... in North Dakota. Hmmmm... North Dakota. Uhh, no thanks.
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BTW you are really a lucky guy you are flying the 727, the one plane I really wanted to fly but never got the chance

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I'm not anymore. It WAS my favorite aircraft I've ever flown, plus the picture was cool which is why it's in my avatar. The only aircraft I haven't flown that I want to is the Concorde and a 747. Maybe one of these days while I'm still flying we'll have supersonic jets again but I don't think airTran will be purchasing many of either the 747 or supersonic type.

 

[BoilerUP]

Andrew Bell, 23, an RAA graduate, is already serving as a CRJ700 captain at fast-growing Chautauqua Airlines of Indianapolis. He says student pilots worried about their career should shrug off their frustrations.

"When I was instructing and had about 900 hr., 9/11 happened. All the airlines were furloughing, and no one was hiring right away, but I continued to instruct and eventually, not too long afterward, got a job at Colgan Air. This, in turn, gave me the experience I needed for Chautauqua."

Has nobody realized the obvious: Chautauqua nor any of the other RAH airlines operate the CRJ-700... Hell Chautauqua doesn't even operate the E170! Can anybody verify that this guy is on the RAH list?

I would have thought an ASTW article would be factually accurate...

 

[BoilerUP]

Has nobody realized the obvious: Chautauqua nor any of the other RAH airlines operate the CRJ-700... Hell Chautauqua doesn't even operate the E170! Can anybody verify that this guy is on the RAH list?

Did it myself, he's a CMH-based 145 CA...

 

[pilotyip]

Actually Lear, the average YIP guy is gone from home an average of 5.5 days per month. If he sells an average of one day per month he makes another 12K per year and is gone an average of 7 days per month.

 

[Hootie9750]

Im not very good at writing in a convincing or flowing manner, but aviation is going downhill for good. Here are some points.

-Pilots drive buses, thus you will never be paid for what your worth but what the market will dictate. If everyone wanted to be an accountant it would pay like sh1t too.

-Military pilots drive wages up at the top because do you think a Major or a Colonel is going to go work at Mesa for 18k a year? But on the other hand kids with dads credit card drive wages down on the bottom. I have talked to so many daddys boys who think 30 grand a year is a great supplement to their allowance.

-Too competitive. What if there were 30 different major oil companies fighting for your gas money?

-The illusion that being a pilot will get a dork laid.

-The explosion of Aviation Academies that outright lie over the past 15 years.


All this equals NO PILOT SHORTAGE!

 

[pilotyip]

Hootie true we will never run out of pilots, but it is getting harder and harder to find quality pilots, that is a sign of the shortage. Everyone on the lower end of the hiring food chain is seeing it right now. That is where a pilot shortage starts. SWA, FedEx & UPS at the top of the chain all have the same 10,000 applications, only 5,000 of them are the pilots they are interested in interviewing. They will all interview the same 5,000 pilots; most will be hired in the next 18 months. Which means the original non-competitive pilots now become the pool from which you start hiring. The college degree no longer is a big factor because they need pilots who can fly airplanes and we get into the same situation we had in the late 80's and 90's 3000TT, 1000MEL, no degree hired by SWA, 25 years olds 2 years out of ERAU hired by FedEx. These are all signs of the growing and impending pilot shortage. It is all part of the 2007-hiring boom starting one year from now.

 

[Bringupthebird]

Gee, it took me 17 years to make 100K and that's probably the highest I'll ever see. Of course, those 350K (??) salaries mentioned didn't just fall in the pilot's laps. Those pilots had the courage to walk off the job in defense of their profession. The NWA, US, DAL pilots couldn't spell courage.

 

[Papps]

i knew that it would take me about 4 years to get where i want to be. quote] hmm. 4 years....close but keep guessing.

 

[GoingHot]

100 K isnt alot of money

$100K IS a LOT of money. Only about 5% of US workers make $100K. Even is you use the "Household Income" figure, it is less than 15% of households with income over $100K. Pilotyip's guys are mostly in the top 10% of income earners in the country, and doing something they like doing. Great place to be, by any standards.

The only problem with making over $100K, (especially without a lot of deductions) is taxes. The first five months of income for the year go to Federal, State, Local and some B!tch name FICA. If you and your employer could just get rid of FICA, your "take home" pay would go up about 14%.

 

[pilotyip]

Thank you goinghot, I sure there are a lot more on the same page we just don't hear about them. The 100K is a poverty wage carries the headlines.