Oh-ryan
Occasional User
- Joined
- May 13, 2004
- Posts
- 534
Yeah it's sad to see people on this very thread pointing to those wages and saying they are good. Not even decent in my opinion. Virgin Blue DID help lower wages in Austrailia. Before Branson came in and low-balled the market FO's at Quantas made as much as captains at VB make. Pathetic...
If Virgin America ever gets off the ground I hope every Alpa pilot refuses to allow those guys to jumpseat. Untill we put our foot down the downward spiral will continue. After Virgin America there will be more if it's succesful.
All right here goes... $129,000/year for bus captain... not bad. At the risk of starting another mil vs civ topic all I have to say is that kind of money is not bad at all. Your average military bubba who serves 20 years as a pilot will be lucky to see that kind of money. In a job in which he/she is overwhelmed with non-flying duties, long deployments and flying into war zones 129 grand is about 20 grand more than an your average O-5 will make. And for what... you fly a hundred or so folks around the country a few days a week and you go home (or to a crash pad/hotel). I am not saying that the flying is easier or that military pilots are better, all I am saying is take a look at the whole package.
Yes I know we "volunteered" to serve and I am proud to have done so. I never joined the service cause I thought it was gonna be easy or that I would get rich. But if you wanna pay me 129 grand to fly a plane around the states 3 or 4 times a week and tell me I never have to worry about when the next eval cycle is for my 4 dozen sailors, or when we absolutely, no kidding have to be done with work ups so we can deploy on time, or that I need to get fitted for a bio/chem warfare mask and take my anthrax shot... well then sign me up.
Again, no complaints about my career path, and military pilots are not better than civvie pilots. Pay me an honest salary for an honest days work... and 129 grand sounds pretty fair for what's being asked in return. Sorry if I am bringing the industry down.
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