Looming pilot shortage at regional airlines...

[Flying Ninja]

CaptainMark,

Don't forget that the NYC sanitation guys also have a pension to wake up to after retirement. I do see a problem with garbage collectors making more than pilots. But my question is, what are you guys all doing about it? I guess the better question is, what CAN you guys do about it?

 

[SennaP1]

NorthDakota

I don't think kings live in North Dakota.

Why not Minot?

Freezin' in the reason.

 

[punkpilot48]

I dont know about shortage but there are way to many pilots at TSA.

Come on six guys on reserve for what 140 lines....man I bet they will never fly. You can also tell there are too many pilots by them already junior manning on the first day of furloughs. I bet things would get better if they furloughed a few more.....

All this has led me to believe that India must have a different way to do math.

 

[FlyBunny]

Looming shortage my a$$... Their are plenty of dumbasses running around with checks for 35k to pay for a job through one of those pilot mills... 6 months to BE 1900 FO then 1 yr till CRJ FO YAY! and they "pay" you about 7 thousand of your 35k back what a deal!

Don't be JEALOUS because someone has the means to write a check for $35K. If you were in their position with no job...but $35K could get you one, you'd do it in a heat beat. I know I would have!

There's NOTHING wrong with it. Nothing at all. Didn't you spend much more on your flight training than your first year pay? It's not the beginning you have to worry about...it's where it would eventually lead you...most likely a better pay when you upgrade to a captain...and with all due respect to all my pilots friends who always talk about not making much...have you ever realized that what you make per hour basis? It's not bad at all...for a less than 100 hour/week work...no each one of you put yourselves in a scenario where you're working other forty hours per month making $10-$12 per hour and you have just increased your annual pay by about $5000.

Please don't be JEALOUS of those who have more money and means during their training than you did!

Bunny

 

[Flying Ninja]

I agree. Don't be jealous of people with more money than you do. There will always be people with more money than you. In aviation, it's those that have money to survive that makes it, and those that have a crap load of money that can sit around and wait for a job. If money wasn't an issue, I'd fly for the fun of it and give my check back to the airline.

As for the hourly wage point you brought up, not everyone went from $10-12/hour to an airline job. Some people move down from $50/hour down to $19, which is a bit of a wake up call. The brochure definitely makes it sound a lot more attractive that's for sure.

 

[Lear70]

Don't be JEALOUS because someone has the means to write a check for $35K. If you were in their position with no job...but $35K could get you one, you'd do it in a heat beat. I know I would have!

You "WOULD" have? Bunny... ummm... you DID. Why are you arguing 3rd person as if you weren't one of those people who forked out a bunch of money at a pilot mill to get a chance at a PCL interview?

I gotta call some people... I've GOT to find out who you are... too funny.

There's NOTHING wrong with it. Nothing at all.

Keep telling yourself that...

Didn't you spend much more on your flight training than your first year pay?

No. I graduated MTSU with all my ratings and an $18,000 student loan, no help from "daddy dearest". My first job made me about $22k, the next year $36k, the next year $52,5k, then a drop to $48k, then a jump to $84k at 29 years old.

Conversely, you people buy all your ratings for about $20k, then slap down ANOTHER $35k to $50k, JUST to go to work for $18,500 a year. It's not jealousy, it's me over here laughing my ass off at the STUPIDITY!!! PATHETIC.

and with all due respect to all my pilots friends who always talk about not making much...have you ever realized that what you make per hour basis? It's not bad at all...for a less than 100 hour/week work...

OK, first: you need writing classes.

Second, a "100 hour/week work"? 100 hours of work in a week... let's think about that, that's a 5 day trip working 20 hours a day? Huh? Smoke crack lately?

Most of us put in about 50 hours a week "at work" (that's ON DUTY), as in a 4 day trip with 12 hours of duty per day, 6-7 hours of flying. If you're an F/O making $18.00 per hour of BLOCK pay, that means you're making about $9.00 an hour for every hour at work. My wife makes $13 with a high school diploma, no college, and didn't spend $85,000 to get that job.

no each one of you put yourselves in a scenario where you're working other forty hours per month making $10-$12 per hour and you have just increased your annual pay by about $5000.

Huh? Again, writing classes, please... Guess you should have spent that money on a degree after all.

Are you trying to say someone should get a side job on their 2 or 3 days off a week just to make another $5,000 per year so you can get by on the sh*t pay you're making?

Yeah, that's a GREAT solution. Let's not fix the problem with low entry wages and pay-for-training PUKES, let's just get another job and subsidize management's bonuses while they laugh their a*ses off at us. Brilliant, truly brilliant (hint, that's sarcasm).

And no i wont do it for less then im making now, REASON i left Colgan, More money, better company, better equip.. Is chautauqua my final resting place sh*t if it is I F%^ked up royally. But in 2 or 3 years ill move on to hopefully a legacy carrier and make descent money by the time i HAVE a family and BUY a house.

Umm,,, you might not want to plan on that 2 or 3 years to get to a legacy carrier.

There are a FEW who will make it that fast, just to have the rug pulled out from under them during furloughs (my sim partner these last two months, hired at NWA at 28 just to get furloughed the last 5 years), and a VERY FEW might actually make it through without a hiccup, but they're in the minority.

To do that, you'll have to have VERY GOOD "Ins" at those legacy carriers; too many pilots out there to just "luck" into a legacy job with 5,000 or so hours with 3,000 hours PIC. Most pilots getting hired these days are between 7,000 to 10,000 hours and that's WITH internal recommendations.

Just saying watch out for your "dream". Like you, my dad was 25 years USAirways with the 20k per month paycheck and I thought I had it made to get on at USAirways by 25... then it was 30... then 9/11 happened.

The point is that life deals you ups and downs. Taking sh*t jobs just for that brass ring at the end of the rainbow only drags ALL of us down when the industry becomes what it is now... I wish you luck, but I highly doubt MOST people will see a major airline job before they're 30-35,,, not in this market.

 

[Murdoughnut]

you're dreaming!!!..100k is nothing these days...trashmen in nyc make more that that...my buds wife is a secretary for a builder and makes 100k...many no unskilled jobs make 100k....the point is this is skilled labor....it would take me 10 minutes to learn the trashman's job....how many years for the trashman to get qualified to fly a widebody jet around the globe....see the RJ captain is making less than the trashman...noone see a problem with that?..hey D'angelo..u make less that a NYC trashman.!!!

I make $50k and it's more than enough for a comfortable living. When I taught and made $32k, it sucked because my friends were making more, but it was still a comfortable living. Granted, there are a few places where $100k doesn't get you as far ... NYC and SF being the two most notable. But I live in a high cost of living city (not as high as either of these two) and middle of the road professional pay here is between 40k and $50k. On this salary, people are able to afford nice homes, boats, expensive dinners ... etc.

Short of living in NYC or SF, or having an enormously large family, I think the person who makes $100k and says it isn't that much money has stretched themselves too thin. Let's face it, anyone who owns a car worth more than $30k is a financial fool, but I seem to be surrounded by them where I live. The list of what Americans "need" has grown, although most of the additions are things few people in fact "need". Dateline did a really good story on this not too long ago (I think it was Dateline) where they followed this family who was b!tching because the wife had to get a job. They went through all of their unneccessary expenses and they were far beyond what this woman could make in the workforce.

Just something to think about.

 

[pilotyip]

Who cares if you make less than a NYC trashman? If you are doing something you like, why would yoyu want to be a NYC trashman just for more money? Fly because you like, the rest takes care of itself.

 

[CaptainMark]

Just something to think about.

just think about this..i make plenty of cash...couple houses...lots if investments...toys..etc....but that is not the point...i'm glad you are happy with 50k..not me....i live well below my means and still have nice things... i am trying to set myself up to retire at 50 (14 more to go)....i enjoy life BIG time....the point is we should be paid what we are worth...am i worth 220k/yr?....absolutely!!! and then some...fdx thinks so and so do i....i am providing a skill for them and they pay me for it and the company makes billions of dollars....we have a great management team that grows the company and the pilots fly the aircraft day after day and night after night all over the world....100k is chump change for the job that we do safely every single day....along with 2 checkrides a year and 2 medicals which both can ground you if u have a bad day..i believe we are worth so much more...don't sell yourself short....and i am not demeaning other pilots and their salaries ..i am saying i think they deserve a lot more(bad management aside)...100k sucks but 50k swallows!!!!

 

[pilotyip]

Isn't nice to be out of touch with the rest of the world where 100K is viewed as a decent living.