Re: Pilot salaries- how to avoid dying in a plane crash-yout
If I was back in high school today, knowing what I know now, I would still want to become an airline pilot. As far as training goes, I would try to do it cheap and whichever way gave me the most bang for the buck, but I would still do it.
The pilot pay of yesteryear is gone forever, along with the do-do bird and the Saturn EV1. There has been a "transfer of wealth" of some sort from the majors to the regionals/commuters. Pay at the majors has come down, and pay at the regionals has gone up. Pay at the regionals, while not what the majors are paying even now, is still very livable especially as a CA. As an FO, if you are like me, you build your life around about a $25,000 a year job and when you are making more than that you are living it up.
You often see people brag about how much time they have off. That is great! The year before I upgraded I averaged over 17 days off a month. But I didn't earn half of what I earned last year. If you are willing to work, you can make decent money - in my domicile there was a fairly middle of the road FO who cleared almost $60k last year. That is on a 50 seat RJ. Certainly livable. As a junior CA you can clear $100k.
I have to wonder if many people who are pilots ever had a "real" job before doing it. It's been my experience that those who complain about the job most have not - and those who are career changers or just worked before coming to an airline don't complain that much.
In case many haven't noticed, China makes pretty much everything we consume these days. The jobs that supported those products are long gone. Pay across the board for the middle class has gone down, and as such is dragging down everyone's compensation save for Congress who can vote their own pay raises and the select top 1% of the population.
