Someone went there today...Pilots make too much money!

J

JGriffis

New Member
I was speaking with someone today about aviation and the comment came up! "Pilots make too much money, all they have to do is put it on autopilot, etc". Of course this got a quick rise out of me! I said that is like saying accountants make too much money, because all they do is plug numbers in a computer and let it do all the work. I quickly explained how pilots are professional meteoroligist, counselors, teachers, students, public speakers, managers, supervisors, referees...you get the point! Not to mention all the time, hardwork, dedication and money that we spend to get to that point! It in a way is equivalent or even exceeds what a doctor spends to get to be a doctor. Everytime I happen to run into these people I feel a duty to explain to them how it really is. The greatest thing about this profession is everyone that has chosen to be a pilot truly loves and has a passion for what they do! How many accountants do you think really and truly love and have a passion for what they do...I would venture to say not too many of them. That is like when I earned my ppl I had friends and acqaintences say, "what are you going to do now, apply with the airlines"?
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Yeah I sure am after about $50,000 more and about 1500 hours more of flight time. It really just gets funny sometimes. All I can say is thanks for people like all of you and websites like JC, because everyday I realize that we are few and far between!
 
What's fun is to say, "Hey, I don't diss your W-2 for flipping burgers, you shouldn't diss my W-2 for flying a $30,000,000 jet!
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"
 
or the famous question arises: "sooo... when are you going to be a REAL pilot?"

If you want to get on a happy trip, go to the Dulles air museum in DC and go into the tower. You'll see how many non-pilot people, aka "plebians," are in awe as the airliners come in to land on 1L and 1R.

Believe it or not, ours is a very esoteric art.
 
[ QUOTE ]
What's fun is to say, "Hey, I don't diss your W-2 for flipping burgers, you shouldn't diss my W-2 for flying a $30,000,000 jet!
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[/ QUOTE ]

That's great!
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Very true. People as me all the time "So, you're copilot, when do you become a pilot and get to fly the airplane?"

Ha!
 
Also along those lines, I always have people say, "so you're a student pilot, what does your instructor do sit in the back a watch you"? People really have no idea about right and left seat!
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I think Pilots use to make good money, but with all the low cost carriers ect. coming into play, they seem to be getting paid less and less.

An Average Qantas Captain makes between 200-230K AUD
a yr,
whereas a Virgin Blue (LCC) captains are lucky to make 120K AUD

The Virgin pilot still holds the same responsibilities as the Qantas pilot, so if anything, pilots are getting paid less with the continuing introduction of low cost carriers.

Aussie
 
The aussie dollar is *roughly* 2:1 with the USD, if I'm not mistaken.


So 100 USD is give or take 200 AUD.
 
Sorry, at the moment, 1USD buys 1.36AUD

So 120K AUD is Aprox. 88K USD for a captain.

I agree that money isnt everyinthing, and 50K would be great too, but im just comparing the differences.

Aussie
 
Working in the Customer Service ranks I hear those comments almost daily. It usually get a rise out of me also. I guess since we are so close to whats going on with the company everyone is ready to blame ALPA and the Pilots for our record losses. Salaries period, whether pilots or not, always count for a huge amount of expenses. Then you have CEO's who leave and per their contract get 22 yrs seniority and 16 million in retirement money. I tell some of these lesser knowledge goof I work that I would rather have a pilot making $200,000 yr flying me around that a auto mechanic. Each is a expert in their field and should be paid and repected as much. I am sure they dont tell college professors with PhDs that they can only pay then $5 hour as entry pay. If you are an expert in you field then you should get paid as such. Everyone should always want to be compensated accordingly. I get tired of hearing about pilots be overpaid. I mean on my job we might physically work 4 hours out of the day the rest is playing cards or watching TV but we arent asked to be anything less than 8 hours. And thats my soapbox for the day.
 
A lot of the 'overpaid pilot' angst comes from outright jealousy.

One of my wife's friend's husbands (did I say that right?) had a big issue about the evils of labor unions and how I made way too much money.

A few months of pontificating about how much I sacrificed to get to where I was, the risks involved, and how little 'net' freedom (apart from commuting, recurrent, schedule changes, etc) I actually have, he started to turn around.

But then after a few too many beers he finally came clean. He was admittedly green with envy because I fly and get paid well for doing so. He's stuck in an office playing the office politics game and I'm flying a jet, or have the ability to grab Kristie on a long weekend and fly to Europe. How I supposedly have the perfect job because "after all, you have all of those hot flight attendants that think you're a god or something" (I'm s t i l l trying to figure that one out.) in clear earshot of Kristie.

Reminding him that I was making crackhead wages and living with 8 other guys in Marquette while he was out partying, enjoying state college life and taking the low-risk approach during his early 20's started to sink in.

From what I've seen over the past eight years of flying to pay the mortgage. 99% of that anti-pilot angst is pure jealousy. Either economic jealousy, or jealousy over the fact that you're doing something that many people breathlessly attempt to emulate on MS Flight Sim.
 
I'm jealous, but in a very warm, positive sense of Copaman. MS in Electical Engineering so he can build and design gadgets and can program the hell out of a computer so he can engineer software.

Man, if I had those scientific "opposable thumbs" I think I'd be zillionaire by now. I have so many ideas but no way of bringing them to fruition, it drives me nuts. Kristie knows what I'm talking about! I'm the dork that screams "Hey, I've got an idea!" but no way of building anything
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Aviation is fun, but it ain't 'all that'.
 
Well, you and Copa are buds, so why not put your two heads together and invent?

You seem to have wicked smarts, as does Copa - Get together man!!!
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[ QUOTE ]
A lot of the 'overpaid pilot' angst comes from outright jealousy.

One of my wife's friend's husbands (did I say that right?) had a big issue about the evils of labor unions and how I made way too much money.

A few months of pontificating about how much I sacrificed to get to where I was, the risks involved, and how little 'net' freedom (apart from commuting, recurrent, schedule changes, etc) I actually have, he started to turn around.

But then after a few too many beers he finally came clean. He was admittedly green with envy because I fly and get paid well for doing so. He's stuck in an office playing the office politics game and I'm flying a jet, or have the ability to grab Kristie on a long weekend and fly to Europe. How I supposedly have the perfect job because "after all, you have all of those hot flight attendants that think you're a god or something" (I'm s t i l l trying to figure that one out.) in clear earshot of Kristie.

Reminding him that I was making crackhead wages and living with 8 other guys in Marquette while he was out partying, enjoying state college life and taking the low-risk approach during his early 20's started to sink in.

From what I've seen over the past eight years of flying to pay the mortgage. 99% of that anti-pilot angst is pure jealousy. Either economic jealousy, or jealousy over the fact that you're doing something that many people breathlessly attempt to emulate on MS Flight Sim.

[/ QUOTE ]and with that... you'd be surprised at how often us wives get the "you sooo lucky to be able to just take off and fly" and "your so lucky" this and that just makes me ill after a while cuz i'm thinking -> dang, I work hard that this everyday and have been for the past upteen years, your man comes home every night.. mine doesn't etc etc... but still to this day I'm considered "lucky", pshaw...luck has nothing to do with it, work does!
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Luck's got nothing to do with it!

Tell them about the challenges of dating someone whose headsets cost more than he made in a month sometimes!
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or how when they were chasing the guy with the neat car (and a tiny apartment) you were with some broke CFI!
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oh I know... but I've already tried all those stories and still get the same thing..."lucky"

I no longer know what to say when someone even says "your lucky" now because it's the same people that say it over and over again... you can't sit there and pound it into their heads 24/7.

the most I could do is say "well, if you didn't buy that new car, you could go too" and comebacks like that just wouldn't accomplish anything!

so in essence: I feel your pain guys! haha
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See I always thought the flight benefits would be awesome - however being in AU with my mate who flew 'strand by' I can tell you it is hardly a luxury - more of a stree creator.
 
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