Airline Pilot makes top 25 jobs list from 2005-2009

Chris_Ford said:
Sounds good to me!!! I'll gladly pay $50k to get to sit right seat of a shiny new prop and make six figures! They must've included the 2 after the decimal point.
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Every time I hear "the average so and so makes such and such," I think of Robert Reich's quote.

As you'll remember, Reich is tiny. And he was fond of saying the average height of me and Shaq is six feet.
 
I flew him up to ISP years ago.

He's shorter than you think he is!
 
I still think airlin epilots make above average salaries despite paycuts (at majors and corporate level, heck even some of the top guys at reigonal break the 75 K mark (avg salary in American double income)
 
Ask a furloughed pilot who paid $50,000+ for his training whether or not he makes higher than the average salary Chris. If you are still conscious, tell us what he says.

Man, those ladies are fighting over you. Do you wear the deuce stripe?
 
CaptainChris87 said:
I still think airline pilots make above average salaries despite paycuts (at majors and corporate level, heck even some of the top guys at reigonal break the 75 K mark (avg salary in American double income)
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I made more than that last year and I'm still 10 years away from being a "top regional guy." When you compare our wages to the national average, yup, we come in higher. When you compare it to what the average airline pilot used to make, it's way lower!
 
FlyWhiteSox said:
Ask a furloughed pilot who paid $50,000+ for his training whether or not he makes higher than the average salary Chris.
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So football players who make 2 million dollars then get cut aren't making higher than the average salary of a US citizen? The salary only gets paid if you work the job, you know... So ANYONE who is unemployed is making less than the average salary. Some pilots seem to think that this "getting furloughed" is a unique part of the airline business, when they don't realize that there are plenty of others who get laid off, forced to ship off somewhere obscene.

Just remember what your next best alternative is, and if you'd make more money and be happier doing that, then do it. If not, join the baseball players union and complain about not being able to live on an amount of money that >50% of the population wishes they made.
 
The average person doesn't have the training nor the education of an airline pilot. If you want to compare things, you need to compare apples to apples.
 
tonyw said:
The average person doesn't have the training nor the education of an airline pilot. If you want to compare things, you need to compare apples to apples.
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Not always. Let's say you did your flight training and have a BS from a local CC or correspondance course. That would cost less than a 4 year degree at Stanford, Harvard, etc etc. So those people who have that higher education are all employed as well?

There are plenty of investment bankers with MBAs who have lost their jobs and things like that. Unemployment is not something that only happens in this industry.
 
tonyw said:
The average person doesn't have the training nor the education of an airline pilot. If you want to compare things, you need to compare apples to apples.
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Which would really be relevant if salaries were based purely on "training or education." Training and education only figure in as a restriction to supply.

As long as there are more (trained and educated) people linining up for seats than there are seats, the pressure on salaries will be down. It's like complaining about gravity.
 
flyover said:
Which would really be relevant if salaries were based purely on "training or education."
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Exactly. See: professional sports. In baseball, there's something like 4-5 college graduates. In hockey, I'm sure there are very few. Basketball few as well, and football clearly having the most, but most of the richest players were in the NFL when they should've been getting their diploma.

The "training" and "education" card is something played by people who have both to try and justify getting paid more, and to ostracize those who don't have it. It's ego-centric, but that's what type of people they are :)
 
tonyw said:
The average person doesn't have the training nor the education of an airline pilot. If you want to compare things, you need to compare apples to apples.
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Well, I guess an arguement to that would be... you could compare someone who has a Bachelor's and Master's in Social Work, then ask them how much they make in the Social Work field. I bet it won't be higher than $30,000 per year... $20,000 starting out!
 
Gentleman.

Place your bets.

2 pages? 3 pages? 4-plus?

Also, for the video daily double, you'll double your winnings if you can guess not only how many pages the thread is going to grow to but also guess when someone says the four letter 'n' word (a fascist regime which took power in post-Weimar Republic Germany)
 
Doug Taylor said:
Gentleman.

Place your bets.

2 pages? 3 pages? 4-plus?

Also, for the video daily double, you'll double your winnings if you can guess not only how many pages the thread is going to grow to but also guess when someone says the four letter 'n' word (a fascist regime which took power in post-Weimar Republic Germany)
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4+ easily, page 9, JT busts it out.
 
flyover said:
Which would really be relevant if salaries were based purely on "training or education." Training and education only figure in as a restriction to supply.
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A point well taken, but I think it's ridiculous to talk about "average income" when that average includes people under the special needs provision at the Goodwill on one end and rocket scientists on the other end. And then superhumans like me who bust the curve.:D

A far better and more valid comparison would be for college educated professionals.

And I just want to tell you good luck. We're all counting on you.

There, got the Airplane reference out of the way on page one!
 
I think it is a gross over-generalization to sum up the downward trend of pilot income as simply an issue of worker surplus. This is not Econ 101 and all things are not equal.
 
tonyw said:
A far better and more valid comparison would be for college educated professionals.
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Yes, it would be more valid for you since it moves the average salary upwards. Other than that, it's hardly valid.

First of all, you don't need to have a college education to fly for an airline. It might make you more desirable, but not necessarily required.

Second of all, average income is exactly that, AVERAGE income. Amongst everyone. And here comes a shocker, pilots make more than average. I'd even go as far to say that they likely make more than the AVERAGE college grad.

If you want to throw in some filters to that, what about a pilot with a MA or PhD? Wouldn't he be making much much less than his average cohort? So clearly, pilots are underpaid!

Just because you went to college doesn't make you better than anyone, and if that's the sole reason for going, then you have failed miserably. College is there so you can learn things. Does knowing more facts about 17th century art make you better than anyone else? If you say yes, I'm hoping that you enjoy the "Kollege Kool-Aid"!!!
 
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