I’m glad I did not get hired when I was originally interested in an airline career. Luckily for me, I did not have enough time when I was applying at the majors around 2000 or so. By the time I had the flight time, I wasn’t interested anymore and couldn’t have afforded a career change even if I had been.

I’m thankful now I never got an airline job, as well as a handful of other flying jobs I thought I wanted but never got. Corporate flying has been rewarding and it is where I plan to stay.

This pilot must be in the top 30% of the pilot seniority list. He must be earning about $120,000 per year plus international override. The company puts 15% of his salary away each year on his behalf. If his was the only airline in the world and he had no comparisons to make, would he still be discontented?

He also would make a lot more money as a harbor pilot (boat captain) or a major league umpire. If he had gone to medical school and decided to specialize in orthopedic surgery and completed his four year internship and residency followed by a one-year fellowship, he could get an offer to start at about $450,000 per year, perhaps in Honolulu at the ripe old age of 33.

Jumping to the bottom of another list is risky. It appears the freight airlines offer much more job security (and presently a lot more money), but they will phase out their three-man aircraft and combined with the age 65 rule, he would move slowly up their list. FedEx and UPS have already stopped hiring.

The freight airlines offer more money now which is frustrating to him and it’s difficult to determine if the passenger airline pilots will be able to recover to the freight airline pilot pay level, given the financial losses of the former and the profits of the latter.

Conversely, the freight airlines will be the first to convert to a one-man cockpit or even a UAV to carry freight. The USAF estimates a good percentage of their bomber aircraft will be unmanned within the next 15 to 20 years, so the concept is not that far-fetched.

I would stick around for the union showdown with management, for there surely is one on the way.

Louis

But look at some of the regional airlines that are absolutely seeing a pilot shortage right now. Some can’t even staff flights. Heck American Airlines and United both have cancelled flights because they don’t have enough pilots and they still treat people like dogs.

I think it will take more than a pilot shortage to fix this kind of thing. It will probably take a prolonged strike and even then, management will be reluctant to agree to anything.

While the folks in the office often call the pilots a bunch of whiners (Whine … mmm, I have to figure out a way to use that word) they were often jealous at the same time that they couldn’t become aviators.

Now of course I don’t think I’ll say much about their intelligence since they drove us into bankruptcy and eventually shut us down.

Most of us lost much less than our author here, some vacation and other items.

But to the issue of the higher ups collecting, it hit us squarley between the eyes when they paid a few managers $25 or $30K to hang around after we shut down to clean things up.

What really galled all of us is that these folks never gave a second thought to what the line employees had lost.

We all did get money about six or seven years later from the bankruptcy court. As a pilot my take was $88.

And our CEO David Hinson? He went on to become the Administrator of the FAA in DC.

Go figure.

When the coach no longer considers himself one of the team, you’ll never be considered as such.

Unfortunately, what the industry needs is a pilot shortage. A big one. Companies are going to have to recreate the teamwork environment as part of a way to make the job look attractive again, not to mention increased pay, benefits and overall working conditions.

You have to do what’s best for you. If I were in your shoes, and money didn’t play a role, I’d kick.

Of course if you need every cent of your paycheck, you’re in a bit of a corner.

And he ended up flying puerto ricans to New York.

Read the book, you can’t win against “the numbers”.

I personally think it’s ridiculous the way the airlines treat their pilots. I learn what I can about the airline industry through books, magazines and websites like this one, and the things the airlines have put their staff through in the past 10 - 15 years is atrocious. As a “civilian,” I am wholly impressed by the skill, talent, and dedication displayed by the men and women who consistently and safely pilot the thousands of planes that are in the sky at any given moment, and think they should be appreciated and fairly compensated. While the executives collect their outrageous salaries and bonuses (which they arguably put in a lot less time and hard work to earn than those they oversee), they treat the talent who actually fly the planes like common easily-replaced bus drivers (no offense meant to bus drivers, just trying to make a point!).

As the article implies, upper-level management’s pleas that everyone must sacrifice to ensure survival ring hollow when their own reward does not reflect the lean times they insist are upon the industry. They should be ashamed, but never will be, as their primary interest is lining their own pockets, not making sure those who do the actual work are taken care of.

Sadly, most of what I’ve just said could apply to any number of industries. It’s the way business works, and probably won’t change anytime soon (especially since those in the best position to change these things are the same who would suffer most if things WERE to change). The higher-ups ride along on the backs of the underlings, allowing them to do the real work while they attend their “business” golf outings and “meetings” in the Bahamas, all while getting paid so much more to do so much less.

Every time I hear a jet overhead and look to the sky in hopes to catch a glimpse and marvel at the technology and how far we’ve come, I feel a pang of regret that I’m not able to be one of the lucky few with the knowhow and skill to pilot such magnificent machines. Then I usually think about the other aspects of the job that aren’t as desirable (like those mentioned in the article) and realize that I sadly probably wouldn’t be willing to take the bad with the good.