"Why Pilots Should Make $200,000 aYear" essay thing

[Rez O. Lewshun]

I don't think it is supply and demand....

It is how much money your company makes and how much you can negotiate....

 

[Turkey Shoot]

No, only the Knight Rider is as American as apple pie. Just ask Chuck Norris.

You should banned for such an offensive link! I just washed my eyes with soap and that image is still seered into my retinas.

 

[FN FAL]

You should banned for such an offensive link! I just washed my eyes with soap and that image is still seered into my retinas.

hehehehehehehehe...don't be hater!

 

[A Squared]

Oh, yeah!! That'll will win them all over.

Well, no actually all that's going to accomplish is solidly reinforce the public's image of an airline pilot of a greedy, overpaid, arrogant self centered a$$hole.

Hey folks, if you're trying to win people over to your side, perhaps there are better ways to do it than calling them "ignorant" and "whining non-achievers" Ya think?

There really isn't much to admire in this essay. All that chest thumping about military service? Yeah, real impressive. I bet the bit about flying Cobras over the jungles of Vietnam really makes a big impression on the garbageman who was down in those same jungles, on foot, with an M-16 and the certainty of spending the night in the mud with nothing between him and Charlie but a Claymore mine, while the pilot went back to base, had a shower, a beer in the club, and slept in a cot under a roof. OH yeah, he'll be impressed by your need to make $200K !

All that self serving crap about the dangers of airline flying. Oh, please. Airline flying is about as safe as it gets as far as occupational dangers. According to the BLS there are 64,720 airline flight crew in the US (2004, data) that same year there were 3 aircrew fatalities in airline flying. That's 4.6 fatalities per 100,000. That's nothing, dead (no pun intended) average. The nationwide average for all workers is 4.1 fatalities per 100,000. loggers and fishermen have fatality rates 20 times that of airline pilots, construction workers and garbage collectors have fatality rates right around 10 times that of airline pilots. Taxi drivers, truck drivers, delivery drivers, electric linemen, roofers and farmers all have fatality rates more than 5 times higher than airline pilots.

The idea that airline flying is a hazardous profession is not only completely wrong, it's offensive to somone who does work in a dangerous industry. Couple that with the fact that the author dwells on the dangers to the pilots, but conveniently ignores all the passengers who die also when an airliner crashes, one is left with the inescapable concolusion that the author is not only grotesquely ignorant, but so arrogant he places his life and those of his buddies on a higher plane than the lives of the travelling public.

Instead of slinging this piece of drivel around as something pretty cool, we should all hang our heads in embarrasment that our ranks contain such a jack@ss, and those who know him (his name and airline is on one of the links) should give him a vigorous blanket party, because he isn't doing anyone any favors with this cr@p.

 

[A Squared]

Too many have forgotten the sweat and studying and work required to get a ticket.

Yeah, I remember it very well, and what I remember was that it really wasn't very hard. I also remember getting professional registration in a completely unrelated field. I remember that just to sit for the final registration exam (there was more than one) required a minimum of 4 years of college with a degree in that discipline and 6 years of practice in this field. I remmeber that the exam took 8 hours. I remember that it was a lot harder than my PPL, IR, CPL, FI, FOI, ATP and FE exams all put together. I also remember that you could not buy a book with all the questions and all the answers to that exam.

Becoming a pilot really isn't all that hard.

 

[30West]

In my years as a flight instructor and later sim instructor/check airman I did learn one thing. Not "everyone" is cut out to fly airplanes. Fewer still are cut out to be airline pilots. But that is not limited to just aviation. Personally I'm not smart enough to design software or be a Wall Street wiz. I could learn to do it, but I'd never be able to reach the professional levels of either trade. As a flight instructor, I flew with many folks who were at the top of their respective positions- Doctors, Successful business owners, lawyers, etc. But once airborne had absolutely no aptitude or natural ability. Obviously folks like this aren't stupid or they wouldn't be where they are.
As a simulator instructor, I have seen many folks wash out who are otherwise good pilots, just not cut out for airline flying. Doesn't mean they are not good pilots.
That being said, I will never apologize for what I make as a pilot. I have worked hard for the last 18 years since I took my first flying lesson honing and practicing and doing all I could do to get where I am now. Not a single opportunity or flight hour was handed to me on a silver platter. I happen to take pride in my profession and would never prostitute myself for the sake of one more hour in my logbook.
A quick show of hands- How many here think Al Haynes shouldn't have been paid his salary?
To all the non aviation professional folks who might be on this board- Instead of wondering why pilots get paid too much, why not ask yourself why you aren't getting paid what you are worth? I'll go out on a limb here and guess other high paying professions aren't busting their asses for years to get where they are, only to have to constantly justify themselves to everyone?
Why is it that doctors are allowed to be paid high salaries so they can afford to pay off the costs of their education, yet as pilots we're just expected to suck it up and just be "happy we're flying". Pilots have bills and mortgages just like everyone else.
BTW no I don't make 200k a year and never will in an airplane, but I do feel I am paid what I am worth and make no apologies.

 

[redd]

A Squared. well said, and fitly put.

 

[pilotyip]

30 West, again the pilots you are about do not have the adequate level of skill to become a pilot, but anyone with a certain level of skill and desire can fly an airplane safely and professionally. The cost of becoming a pilot is way less than that of becoming a Doctor. You do not need to go to college and spend 100K to get your ratings. Just guessing 5K Pvt., 20K Comm, mel, inst. 3K CFI, under 30K you have all the ratings you need to start a flying career. Listen to A squared, he seems to have it all figured out.

 

[PCL_128]

It is still a great job at $100K per year

Arrggggggggg!!! You have got to stop saying that! $100K ain't what it used to be, my friend. The top air line pilot salaries are about 1/4 what they were in 1977 when corrected for inflation. That is truly abysmal, and we deserve much better. How about $90k a year? Is that "still a great job," pilotyip? How 'bout $70k? Maybe even $50k? Where do you draw the line about how much it takes to be a "great job?" Here's a thought: stop apologizing for the lowering of the bar, and let's work on moving it back to where it belongs.

 

[cjs]

Big fcking deal. How much should firefighters make? $300k? Or cops? How about $400k? Bus drivers should make around $100k because one wrong move and boom everyone in back is dead. While we're at it, parachute packers should make $500k. Get the point? Whoever writes this crap must have an ego the size of Rhode Island. Flying aircraft is just another job, and your market value is based on two things: supply and demand. Anything else is just bleary-eyed bellyaching. Waaah, I don't get paid enough. Then fck off and get another job, people are waiting in line for yours.

 

[gkrangers]

Then fck off and get another job, people are waiting in line for yours.

And they are willing to take it no matter the compensation. sad.

 

[A Squared]

That is truly abysmal, and we deserve much better.

It always gets down to that, doesn't it? I *deserve*. It is always astonishing the staggering sense of entitlement that so many pilots have. (and ironically, they are often the same folks complaining bout others' sense of entitlement)

No, what you deserve is what you can convince someone to pay you, and that, like it or not, is driven to a large degree by supply and demand.

 

[gkrangers]

It always gets down to that, doesn't it? I *deserve*. It is always astonishing the staggering sense of entitlement that so many pilots have. (and ironically, they are often the same folks complaining bout others' sense of entitlement)

No, what you deserve is what you can convince someone to pay you, and that, like it or not, is driven to a large degree by supply and demand.

obviously we SUCK at convincing.

 

[A Squared]

obviously we SUCK at convincing.

That may be, and I can assure you that the author of the "why pilots should make $200K" essay isn't convincing anyone with his inaccurate and arrogant rant.

 

[PastFastMover]

Then fck off and get another job, people are waiting in line for yours.

Exactly what line of work specifically are you employed in cjs?