How much did you make last year?

LoadMasterC141

LoadMasterC141

Well-Known Member
Alot of people seem to think this is confidential hush hush stuff, but I really believe this would help people getting into the field. If you don't wanna share, totally understandable. I can promise that as I progress through the ranks of the airline world, I'll continue to share detailed info to help others.

Seeing as everyone has a W-2 in their hand, I believe the info to be fairly available right now.

So I'll kick it off:

Position:
Airline:
Years at Airline:
Gross Earnings:

Position: FO
Airline: Rhymes with Schmeagle
Years at Airline: 1
Gross Earnings: $27,232

(My example is fictional here is my real life, non airline answer)

Position: Cube Monkey (Logistics Analyst)
Airline: Grocery Distributor
Years at Airline: 4
Gross Earnings: $73,592
 
Position: Training Captian
Airline: Amflight
Years at Airline: 6 months
Gross Earnings: $12,000 (rough estimate, my W2's are in the mail but I know the number)

Position: FO
Airline: Express
Years at Airline: 6 months
Gross Earnings: $7,000

Again, rough number. I know I made about $19,000 this last year between the two, I'll break down the exact numbers here once I file my tax return when I get home in a few days.

The year previous to this I made $11,000 as a flight instuctor.
 
Position: FO
Airline: Pinch-a-nickel
Years at Airline: 1 year and 6 months as of Dec 07
Gross Earnings: $25,788.98

I'll break that down for ya further. I flew about 7 hours shy of 1000 hours last year, and I got "bought off" of about 4 trips. So that's about 80 hours of flying I got paid for without actually flying. So, there's really not much I could have done to make any MORE money last year. I essentially got paid for flying roughly 1100 hours when all was said and done. Check this little tid bit out: If I had just flown my 75 hour guarantee, I would have made a whopping $19,664.10. That's GROSS folks, not counting taxes, union dues, insurance, etc. Factor in insurance and union dues, and it drops to $17,928 (still no income tax taken out on that figure, either). Some people count per diem as income, but I don't. It's not a set figure you can budget month to month. What happens if your company goes all day trips like the ATL flying? Per diem gets shot in the head. But for those figuring on that, I got $4,750.54 last year. That's about 3340 hours away from home, or on average 65 hours a week. So, for the hell of it, we could say I worked 65 hours a week on average. Take my gross pay, and I got $7.72 an hour if you figure being on duty as being at "work."

Conclusion: even at 2nd year pay, PCL FOs are VASTLY underpaid for the job they do. Those of you looking to take out those huge loans for JetU in order to get to an RJ, pay attention to those figures above and see if you can survive on that. There's also no guarantee that you'll be able to fly as much as I did, either.
 
Position: Pilot
Airline: Charter/Fractional
Years at Airline: 2.5 years/6 weeks
Gross Earnings: Approx $43K (Salary)

Hours flown: 350ish.
 
Position: F-15E Flight Lead, approximately 369 hours TPIC this year
Airline: Uncle Sam Airlines
Years at Airline: 13
Gross Earnings: $68K base pay, plus housing allowance, medical care, overseas cost-of-living allowance, 4-months of tax-free income while in Afghanistan, and a $25,000 retention bonus. In all, close to $125,000 (round number).

The actual numbers are a little skewed because:
- I live in the UK, where the housing costs 2-3 times what it costs in the US, and we get paid more to cover that
- I spent the summer in Central Asia, where my base income was tax-free
- This year I signed a 5-year contract to stay in, adding $25K to my earnings this year.
 
From Jan to Sep 2007 I made $55,214 as an Army Captain. (This isn't really inclusive because of the non-taxables. I would have normally grossed 87K/year)

I also moonlighted as a flight instructor and made $2012 during that time. (I have a feeling my flight school under-reported this - I'd have to dig but I think I made more.)

From Sep to Dec 07 I made $9,047 at Airnet. (My run pays about 38k/ year)

0 Army hours flown.

199 Part 91 hours flown.

384 part 135 hours flown.
 
Position: Captain, CRM Facilitator
Airlines: ExpressJet
Years at Airline: 3 1/2
2007 Gross Earnings (Pre-Tax): $79,490.17

I flew around 600 hours as a Captain in 2007, and was off-line as a CRM Facilitator for a total of about three months. We get a $14 override for all classes we facilitate, so that helped bump up my earnings for the three months while off-line. However, we also do not normally get per diem for this time, so it really isn't that far off from someone who is flying 900-1000 hours for the year.

On average, I flew about 85 hours a month, and had anywhere from 13 to 16 days off. Average days off since I've been in the Branded operation has been 15 off with an 82 hour line value.

I don't really like discussing earnings, but I figured that it might be beneficial to see that it is possible to make a livable wage with a decent quality of life at the regionals. If I lived in base, my quality of life (and earnings potential) would increase quite a bit. Not to mention, my expenses related to commuting would go down.
 
Position: Airport Service Agent (i.e, Gate, Ticket Counter, and ramp)
Airlines: ExpressJet
Years at Airline: 1
2007 Gross Earnings (Pre-Tax): $21,334.81
 
ChrisH said:
Position: Airport Service Agent (i.e, Gate, Ticket Counter, and ramp)
Airlines: ExpressJet
Years at Airline: 1
2007 Gross Earnings (Pre-Tax): $21,334.81
Click to expand...

"If I had just flown my 75 hour guarantee, I would have made a whopping $19,664.10"

lol. :(

------
Position: Customer Service
Years at 'Airline': 0.6
2007 Gross Earnings (Pre-Tax): $5639.83 theoretical pay extended to full fiscal year: $12,004.63

Position: Garde Manger
Years at 'Airline': 1 month (officially)
2007 Gross Earnings (Pre-Tax): $1012.00 (officially)

Total 2007 Gross Earnings: $6651.83

Ballin'.

<3 paying off student debt, working 35 hours a week, going to school full time and also trying to fly 2-3 times a week without driving my gf crazy.
 
skydog said:
Hacker15e said:
Position: F-15E Flight Lead, approximately 369 hours
Click to expand...

Do military pilots typically fly this much?
Click to expand...

It depends.

Fighter guys obviously fly less than heavy guys.

Over the last 9 years I have averaged about 200 hours/year. In my operational fighter assignments I have flown more hours than in my Training Command instructor tour. My lowest was 139 hours (although I was grounded for approx 5 months of that year with a medical issue, so the number is skewed) and my highest was this year.

I attribute the bump this year to 4 months of flying while deployed to Afghanistan. On deployment I flew a lot more frequently and for longer duration than I typically do at home station.
 
As an Army helo guy, I too averaged 200 a year. Higher in deployment years, lower in garrison years. Next to nothing in staff years. Ugh.
 
ComplexHiAv8r said:
Any costing to what your commuting is costing you?
Click to expand...

I believe you mean commuting related expenses. Of course, gas to and from the airport at home, which would be the only cost associated with living in base. Then added parking costs depending on which airport I use to commute. In a pinch, I've been required to use Economy Parking which is $12 a day. Then a crashpad, which is only $100 in my current base, but was formerly $150 to $200 depending on the location. Transportation to and from the crashpad is approximately $25 round trip in a cab. When I was staying in hotels, back when my schedule was mostly commutable, hotels cost approximately $55 to $85 a night out the door.

There are also expenses related to sheets and towels for the crashpad, food, and so forth.

Most importantly, the biggest cost is the time lost at home. When I have an early show time, I may have to leave 12-15 hours prior to my trip. If I finish after 6:00PM, I normally have to stay the night, which is one more night away from home.

All of this is why I am looking for a "permanent" job with bases I would enjoy living in. I can't say that is the case at my current company. I love where I work, but man, our bases are terrible. Those who live in base can make about 25% more than those who do not, simply by the ability to fly more productive, non-commutable trips, and to pick up open time. We have day trips worth 7 hrs and 17 minutes in open time... It's just an evening's worth of work. That right there is about $500 at my pay rate.

Seriously... Live in base.
 
There's something to be said for living in base, but there's also something to be said for hating where your base is.

I've lived in base and hated every second of where I was living, and I've commuted to the other side of the country to a schedule that isn't that amazing and I'll take the commute over moving to Newark, Cleveland, Houston, San Antonio or Los Angeles (again).
 
I had 3 jobs this year so this is all combined.

Flight instructor at KFME, Flight instructor at KBWI, and F/O in training at ASA
All that together gave me a little over 18k.
 
Position: FO
Airline: Regions Air
Years at Airline: 2 months of '07
Gross Earnings: Not sure.. They didn't send out W2's...

Position: FO
Airline: Pinnacle
Years at Airline: 6 months
Gross Earnings: $11,000...
 
Not flying for a living yet, but here's my take in for the year.:banghead:

Position: Maintenance Control/AOG Desk
Airline: Comair
Years at Airline: 1 Yrs 3 mos (Dec 07)
Gross Earnings: $29,993.58
 
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