Ten most overpaid jobs

[105viking]

how dare any of us try to earn a good living and provide for our families. this crack baby needs to do an piece on regional FO pay.

 

[Swass]

I'm an insurance broker who makes a decent living. I get paid for how many lives are on the plan that I sell. If the company has 200 EE's then I get a certain commission based on the participation (EE's and their dependants etc.). The companies that I contract with pay between 5 and 7 % commission on premium billed to the company.


Sometimes I come across a group that has 1,000 plus members on their plan, the same commission applies. Am I worth the money that the Ins. companies pay me? At the end of the year I find out come renewal time. Now, I know there are a ton of people in my business barely making due with what they are paid. I also know of several unscrupulous (sp?) folks in my industry that make several times what I make, sometimes bordering on the illegal. If you think that being a professional pilot is hard then try being an insurance salesman, they get hammered every day and normally don't make shizznit.

Sorry for the rant.

 

[dkwid]

Not to defend the journalist but as I read the article he clearly wrote "Major Ailrine" pilots. In particular those of the failing cariers and the one major, Delta. He also was quick to point out the HUGE difference in pay from these pilots and those on Regional pay and the monstrous gap between the top end of the Delta guys and gals and those at cariers such as Jetblue and Southwest.,

That's what I read at least. Did others see it differently?

 

[SuperFLUF]

Reply from Pummer

I sent this guy an email with my point of view on his story. You may or may not agree with what I wrote. But his response is so typical of someone who has NO idea what we do and therefore shouldn't write a story like that without doing some real research.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

> Chris,
> You forgot to include writers who do stories on
> "overpaid" professions without much research.
> Pilots overpaid because mechanics are the real
> heroes? All machines break at sometime or another
> the more complicated they
> are the more things that can go wrong. Its true that
> a pilots job is not as
> difficult as it used to be but so is the brain
> surgeon's job. Where are
> doctors on the list? The mechanics do their job
> well and most are well
> compensated for it. But when an engine shuts down
> at 41,000 ft what good is
> a high paid mechanic and automation going to do for you if you
> have a former city bus
> driver in the cockpit because the educated people
> who used to be pilots have
> left for higher paying jobs?
>
> Just a thought.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
His well thought out reply:
> thanks. i was on a plane whose engine "flamed out"
> at 41K feet just six
> months ago. the first officer told me we could have
> continued on allthe way
> to chicago from over connecticut with one engine.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
My response:
You are correct. However NOT with the autopilot on and NOT with a pilot that does not know what he is doing. Of course he is going to skip the details of the difficulty behind it. Any pilot who tells the passengers horror stories is a bad pilot. Passenger comfort and calm is part of the job. My example of an engine failure was only to make a point in reference to your comments about new automated airplanes and mechanics.

Thoughout the world an individual's paycheck is really the maximum he can get based on demand, bargaining, job market conditions....etc and many other factors. I'm sure you know this. The difficulty of the job is only part of it. Speaking just within the microchasm of what I know, piloting, the hardest working pilots are ususally the lowest paid because they work for or own companies that have very small profit margins. In the passenger airline world, a pilot for Cape Air for example, flys by himself with ten passengers, in a low tech, high workload airplane out of high density airport like BOS. In addition to more difficult piloting duties, he is also the copilot, flight attendant, and baggage handler. In some cases he may even have to perform ticket agent and customer service responsibilties. Yet his pay is quite low, probably not even adequate for the average family. Pilots get paid more for flying bigger airplanes only partly because of the greater amount of lives they are responsible for. The main reason is because the revenue is there and that is what they could negotiate just like upper level corporate managment negotiates their contracts.

Don't worry too much Mr.Pummer, you'll probably get your wish soon enough anyhow. Someday the US will allow foreign carriers to fly in our domestic market (probably without reciprocation) and who knows what kind of turmoil that will bring when US carriers try to compete with the Mexican, Central and South American carriers that pay their pilots 30k per year. Ever take a look at their accident statistics?

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

 

[Wankel7]

I was reading an old APA newsletter and came across this open letter.

Left side http://www.rx7club.com/attachment.php?s=&postid=2343101

Right side http://www.rx7club.com/attachment.php?s=&postid=2343107


It was in pdf format and the only way I could export it was an image. Then the only way I could host it was to make the file smaller by spliting it.

 

[mckpickle]

Posted on the Calex Board.


Captain Duane E. Woerth response!
14 November 2003

Dear Mr. Pummer:

I read with some interest your recent story on the 10 most overpaid professions in the U.S., in which you included pilots for major airlines. That was certainly an odd choice since the only salary expert you quoted told you that, “You wouldn’t want to board a plane flown by a second-rate pilot.”

Well, thanks to the finest cadre of pilots in the entire world, you never will have to board such a plane. Today’s airline pilots are the most qualified and well trained professionals ever to climb into a cockpit. The 66,000 members of the Air Line Pilots Association, whom I have the privilege to represent, deliver millions of Americans and thousands of tons of cargo safely to their destinations year after year, decade after decade.

These pilots fly around the clock, every day of the year (including weekends and holidays) in a demanding, increasingly complex – and dangerous – environment. My members make a good living, but believe me, they earn it every day. Keep in mind that pilots at the major U.S. carriers have been extremely hard hit, with thousands on furlough and pilots at United, US Airways and American making deep concessions to help keep their airlines economically viable.

As for the actual figures, pilots at Northwest Airlines (my company) earn about $35,000 in their first year. Veteran captains who do earn six-figure salaries are the backbone of the airline and a critical resource for every other pilot in the system. Meanwhile, at commuter airlines such as Mesaba, pilot pay ranges from about $17,000 a year for new pilots to $24,000 a year for third-year pilots. A Mesaba captain with over 14 years of experience earns about $75,000 a year.

Remember, airlines consider that pilots are “working” only when their airplanes are moving. Time spent flight planning and performing required pre- and post-flight checks is not counted, although they’re still on duty and responsible for your safety. Add in time waiting in airports between flights, and it's not uncommon for pilots to work a 12-hour day but only be paid for five. In fact, the typical pilot spends over 300 hours “at work” each month.

Please revise your list.

Sincerely,
Captain Duane E. Woerth
President
Air Line Pilots Association, International

__________________

 

[Hansel]

All a writer would need to do to substantiate his reportings , is quote numerous threads on these forums where the pilot has said how easy their job is and they can't believe they get paid to do it.

 

[A Squared]

The article posted by wankel appears to do more harm that good in improving the public's image of pilots. Let's take a look at some of this through the average Joe's eyes. The article trots out the tired old .... "we're special, we spend so much time away from home" line. Umm yeah, so do long haul truckers, offshore oil workers, North Slope oilfield workers, traveling salesman, manufacturer's tech reps, merchant seamen, overseas construction workers, and many, many, other workers, many of whom spend more time away from home under less favorable conditions, with less time off for a lot less money. Your average non-pilot reader knows this and quite reasonably asks; "What makes pilots so special?"

Incredibly, the writer attempts to portray airline flying as fraught with dangers....please, Flying for a major 121 carrier is pretty safe as occupations go ... compare the statistics to construction workers, loggers, firemen, longshoremen, policemen, farm workers ... occupations that actually are dangerous. A number of accidents are mentioned to emphasize the dangers of being a pilot, but the writer seems oblivious to the fact that these pilots died surrounded by hundreds of passengers who died also. One is left with the impression that in the writer's view, it is the pilot's deaths which are the important aspect of these crashes, (The Price") never mind that in half the accidents mentioned, the pilots' actions were at the root of the accident. Sorry, it's going to be hard to sell the average joe on the idea that a pilot deserves a quarter of a million dollars a year because if the pilot screws up and kills all his passenger, the pilot gets killed too.

When the writer delves into his tirade on war, it seems that he thinks only pilots go to war and get shot at. When he's thumping his chest about flying Cobras in Vietnam, the guy reading just might not have been working on a master's degree, he have been down in that jungle, knee deep in mud getting his ass shot off in a war he didn't volunteer for. (pilots don't get drafted) If the reader saw combat service in any of the wars mentioned, he just might resent the implication that wars are won by pilots.

While I'm sure that it felt good to the writer to vent his spleen a little, I think your average non-pilot reader will be left with an image of pilots are arrogant boastful elitists. Maybe sending "open letters" such as this to the newspapers really doesn't serve our interests in the long run.

 

[GuppyPuppy]

Maybe he could write an article titled "Ten most underpaid jobs in the U.S.".

I would guess the number one, most underpaid job is a pilot.

GP

 

[A Squared]

Maybe he could write an article titled "Ten most underpaid jobs in the U.S.".

I would guess the number one, most underpaid job is a pilot.

GP

Yeah, that's the thing, you don't see those sorts of articles, the ones about the regional FO's who qualify for public assistance. Even diring the Comair strike that was rarely mentioned other than in the local (to comair cities) news.