Are Pilots and Controllers Shooting Themselves in the Foot?

By Robert Mark on October 25th, 2007

John Carr’s blog – the Main Bang – posted an interesting piece the other day. He looked at pay scales for entry level controllers and found they will actually be paid less than janitors in Santa Clara County.

But people still seem to be signing up for controller jobs.

And of course, those of us on the cockpit side have even worse horror stories since many regional airlines hire pilots at pay rates way less than controllers, more in line with what Dave Mestas Jr. makes in Santa Clara County as a security guard according to John’s list … about $20K annually.

And pilots keep signing up for those jobs too.

If people stopped taking jobs at incredibly lousy pay rates John mentions in his piece, both the FAA and the airlines would have to increase their pay rates … or shut down.

Chances of this happening though when you’re searching for a pilot or controller job are pretty slim though, aren’t they?

But then FAA always has a fall back the airlines can’t claim. They’re the government … and they’re never REALLY out of money, are they?

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One Response to “Are Pilots and Controllers Shooting Themselves in the Foot?”

  1. Kurt Says:

    The problem with people turning down the controller jobs is that it would give the agency an excuse/reason to contract out more ATC. I do not feel that a safety sensitive operation like ATC can be run effectively by a company trying to turn a profit and if it ended up anywhere near where Lockheed has taken Flight Service, the delays and lack of service could tear a huge chunk out of the economy.

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