Ramp Romeo
Well-Known Member
$20,000 a year is enough to get by.
Although I no longer work down in the ramp, (stepped up to corporate), I did many years at the starting wage of $7.50, with a quarter raise each YEAR! No overtime allowed. And I'm not the only one. Everyone down on the ramp with me in that triple digit heat were able to pull it off.
Granted, I had it "easy" because I rent, I have no children, don't have the newest car and I am unmarried. So that whopping $13,650 (BEFORE TAXES) a year went a lot farther for me than others. But let's face facts, I choose to rent instead of buying a house I couldn't afford. I don't have children because I'm responsible enough to not have children when I can't afford to raise them, I ride a 22 year old motorcycle to save on gas expenses, and I have a crumby used 13year old truck for the rainy days. Instead of marrying some chick I dated for a few months, I will be marrying (This friday in fact) the woman I have dated for over 11 years! (Eleven yearsg!)
$7.50 an hour was enough to get me by, in my own 500 sqft+ appartment in a very nice part of Phoenix AZ. There's no secret to it, budget your rent, food, gas, utilities, etc. I buy generic hamburgers and buns. I don't need 8,000 channels in super surround liquid plasma lcd HD 72" blah blah blah, I have a 12 year old 27" I got from craigslist with basic cable. I don't go partying and drinking every night. I buy my wardrobe at walmart, and I make them last for years. My friends say I have no life becasue it's 5 days of wake up-work-home-sleep. My weekends consist of low cost diversions such as mountain biking, ham radio, and shooting (9mm and .22 because everything else is too expensive)etc. Want to save even more money? Swallow your pride and get a roomate. (Although I never got to that point).
As for the cost of paying back loans, I remind you the best flight training in the world is free, in the US military of course. But if you insist on flying, and insist on going via private training, then you have to accept it's a long difficult road. If you want instant gratification, try automobile or motorcycle mechanic.
That being said, if you can learn to live on ramper pay, then pilot pay is just as easy (difficult) to adjust to.
Single Ramper pay= 13,650/yr. First year F/O= $20,000
That means all other things aside, you now have an extra $529 a month. That should be just enough to pay for all that flight training you have to pay back. (Once again, you should still be frugal, not everyone has to attend Pan-Am, or ATP; Places like Ari-Ben, and White Air will suffice)
If I sound like a jerk, I'm not. I'm just pointing out that 1) $20K is enough to get by. 2) If it's not enough to get by, it is/was your own decisions and actions that cause it not to be enough to get by. And 3) It takes a lot to become a commercial airline pilot, but it takes even more to remain one.
It's not impossible, it's just difficult. Tough it out, be a man/woman, and live the dream.
And YES, $20K is low, quite low in fact, but in the end, others have done more with less, and they do it everyday.
People have complained about public teacher pay for years, it remains low but people still do it. NYPD is the largest agency of it's kind in the nation, and has some of the lowest pay in the industry, no one has ever solved that problem, but they still have thousands of applicants per year. And pilots will continue to desire higher pay, but it will continue to be low; nonthless, someone will still do it (for less).
Although I no longer work down in the ramp, (stepped up to corporate), I did many years at the starting wage of $7.50, with a quarter raise each YEAR! No overtime allowed. And I'm not the only one. Everyone down on the ramp with me in that triple digit heat were able to pull it off.
Granted, I had it "easy" because I rent, I have no children, don't have the newest car and I am unmarried. So that whopping $13,650 (BEFORE TAXES) a year went a lot farther for me than others. But let's face facts, I choose to rent instead of buying a house I couldn't afford. I don't have children because I'm responsible enough to not have children when I can't afford to raise them, I ride a 22 year old motorcycle to save on gas expenses, and I have a crumby used 13year old truck for the rainy days. Instead of marrying some chick I dated for a few months, I will be marrying (This friday in fact) the woman I have dated for over 11 years! (Eleven yearsg!)
$7.50 an hour was enough to get me by, in my own 500 sqft+ appartment in a very nice part of Phoenix AZ. There's no secret to it, budget your rent, food, gas, utilities, etc. I buy generic hamburgers and buns. I don't need 8,000 channels in super surround liquid plasma lcd HD 72" blah blah blah, I have a 12 year old 27" I got from craigslist with basic cable. I don't go partying and drinking every night. I buy my wardrobe at walmart, and I make them last for years. My friends say I have no life becasue it's 5 days of wake up-work-home-sleep. My weekends consist of low cost diversions such as mountain biking, ham radio, and shooting (9mm and .22 because everything else is too expensive)etc. Want to save even more money? Swallow your pride and get a roomate. (Although I never got to that point).
As for the cost of paying back loans, I remind you the best flight training in the world is free, in the US military of course. But if you insist on flying, and insist on going via private training, then you have to accept it's a long difficult road. If you want instant gratification, try automobile or motorcycle mechanic.
That being said, if you can learn to live on ramper pay, then pilot pay is just as easy (difficult) to adjust to.
Single Ramper pay= 13,650/yr. First year F/O= $20,000
That means all other things aside, you now have an extra $529 a month. That should be just enough to pay for all that flight training you have to pay back. (Once again, you should still be frugal, not everyone has to attend Pan-Am, or ATP; Places like Ari-Ben, and White Air will suffice)
If I sound like a jerk, I'm not. I'm just pointing out that 1) $20K is enough to get by. 2) If it's not enough to get by, it is/was your own decisions and actions that cause it not to be enough to get by. And 3) It takes a lot to become a commercial airline pilot, but it takes even more to remain one.
It's not impossible, it's just difficult. Tough it out, be a man/woman, and live the dream.
And YES, $20K is low, quite low in fact, but in the end, others have done more with less, and they do it everyday.
People have complained about public teacher pay for years, it remains low but people still do it. NYPD is the largest agency of it's kind in the nation, and has some of the lowest pay in the industry, no one has ever solved that problem, but they still have thousands of applicants per year. And pilots will continue to desire higher pay, but it will continue to be low; nonthless, someone will still do it (for less).