Pilot Top ten in income -- Riiiight
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Cleared_ILS_RWY_9L
New Member
I broke even about 6 months into my aviation career in 1989. I started A&P school in March of 1989 at Lively Aviation School, and tuition was $125. per semester, in state. In October 1989 I got a job at Ace Flying School cleaning up after the Mechanic, dumping the trash in the classrooms, etc......it paid 70 bucks a week. A few months later, I got hired by Jerry's Caterers, and I ate like a king! I didn't go grocery shopping for a year until I turned 21. At that point grocery shopping pretty much equalled a beer run. A few months later I graduated A&P school, and went back to Virginia. I got hired as a lineman pumping AvGas and moved into maintenance after I fixed a helo that my supervisor broke over the weekend, not just any helo, but that is another story.
I worked the 8-4 Mon-Fri General Aviation Mx. with another mechanic who was old even then, I saw him again last year, and he is still rockin!
The FBO owner wanted a new image for the Shop and brought in a new D.O.M. The new D.O.M. wanted to make the FBO a Mooney repair shop. The other mechanic told me to get the heck over to this other shop to work on Biz-Jets at RIC, he made a phone call and I got a job. One of my few regrets is that I was at this new job for only 3 months, and then I joined the Navy. I don't regret joining the Navy, but I was recomended by a good man, and I left just a few months later, and that's just not cool.
So, there I was, in the Navy, making money hand over fist, using payroll deduction to buy a $1,000 EE savings bond every month to go to school, starting in Sep 1993, until Mar 2000.
In April 2000, I started lesson 1 PVT at Comair, and I finished my Multi-Comm a few months later in November. The G.I. Bill payed 60% of the training cost, including the Flight Engineer training at AeroServices in Feb-Mar 2001.
I took a job with a regional in Apr 2001, and made decent money as an RII mechanic with AW release, a lot more than the FO's made, and then I got hired to be a 727 FE. I'll make more in 6 months than I spent on all of my training in Aviation.
I worked the 8-4 Mon-Fri General Aviation Mx. with another mechanic who was old even then, I saw him again last year, and he is still rockin!
So, there I was, in the Navy, making money hand over fist, using payroll deduction to buy a $1,000 EE savings bond every month to go to school, starting in Sep 1993, until Mar 2000.
In April 2000, I started lesson 1 PVT at Comair, and I finished my Multi-Comm a few months later in November. The G.I. Bill payed 60% of the training cost, including the Flight Engineer training at AeroServices in Feb-Mar 2001.
I took a job with a regional in Apr 2001, and made decent money as an RII mechanic with AW release, a lot more than the FO's made, and then I got hired to be a 727 FE. I'll make more in 6 months than I spent on all of my training in Aviation.
tonyw
Well-Known Member
Yes, I am very familiar with the debt situation with both doctors and lawyers, since my brother and sister have those degrees. My sister started paying off her debt when she started her first year of her residency. She wasn't getting rich, but $22K is a hell of a lot more than a CFI makes, and then she got a lot more by the last year of her residency.
As for law school, you're right about the debt. But then, my brother is getting about $35 an hour as a "temporary" attorney plus overtime for any hours over 40 he works. Since they only hire "temporary" attorneys when they are desperate, he's getting about 50-55 hours a week. So, in one week, he makes about the same amount of money as a CFI makes in a month. Oh, yeah, did I mention he gets benefits as well?
On top of that, the odds are that no matter how bad the economy gets, both of them will be able to find jobs. Not so with aviation.
As for law school, you're right about the debt. But then, my brother is getting about $35 an hour as a "temporary" attorney plus overtime for any hours over 40 he works. Since they only hire "temporary" attorneys when they are desperate, he's getting about 50-55 hours a week. So, in one week, he makes about the same amount of money as a CFI makes in a month. Oh, yeah, did I mention he gets benefits as well?
On top of that, the odds are that no matter how bad the economy gets, both of them will be able to find jobs. Not so with aviation.
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