Pilot Pay

chris325ci Rookie

Watch this vid. Very sad...

Michael Moore: Pilots on food stamps. [VIDEO]

AlaskanMatt Junior Member Alaska

I got as far as "Michael Moore" and then stopped reading...

Cirrus12 Epic Member So. NH

It's actually a decient video. If you know anyone who flies for a regional you know how absurdly little they get paid.

DOD_ATC Senior Member Chicago, IL

FRONTLINE: flying cheap: watch the full program | PBS

Another good story about regional airlines and the Colgan Air crash in Buffalo.

jarhead0863 Trusted Member Grand Forks, ND

I watched both videos, both were very good. Well worth the watch.

RdRunnr12 Site Editor

Michael Moore is a douche bag, but yeah, the life of a pilot just isn't what it used to be.

That guy in Catch Me if You Can really lived it up!

Cirrus12 Epic Member So. NH

Well, in Catch Me if you Can he was following around Captians and FOs in the majors who were flying much more advanced aircraft. Michale Moore was talking to FOs on small commuter planes in small regional airlines.

drsarp22 Rookie

This is a joke.

Yeah first officers get paid nothing flying for regional airlines.

There are tons of pilots out there. All of them wnat to break in to the big leauges and make Captains pay at major airline one day. The airlines pay them little because of supply and demand. The new pilots that want to get into the industry are willing to work for very little for payout in the end. Notice he only talked about the FO's not the Captains. You think Doctors in residency or lawyers that start out clerking make serious money, hell no but they do it for the experince and the payout in the end. When I was an Amn doing ATC I was making around the same money a FO at a regional airline would. Why? Because I put in my time making nothing and getting experince so I could get into the FAA and make good money. Also the senior pilots at air carriers cant stand that all these young people accept the low pay because it hurts the Senior guys from a bargaining perspective. The reason senior pilots are getting paycuts are because there are so many young pilots out there willing to work for low wages. I had a guy in my classes in college that flew for American Eagle, no degree, little experince, but he was getting paid and raking in flight hours while he was finishing his degree, he knew what the deal was.

atp2atc Junior Member Boston, MA

I understand what you're saying about sucking it up at first and paying your dues to get to the better pay, but its not just the pay that bothers pilots. One of the big things is having zero job security even during good economic times. I agree a doctor has it rough at the beggining, but the difference is that after a pilot pays his dues at his airline and makes it to captain or just to a senior Fo spot he could get furloughed. Then if he goes to another airline he has to pay his dues all over again. If a doctor gets laid off or leaves for another hospital he doesn't start from the beggining. Also pilots are mostly based in major cities where cost of living is too high so they are forced to commute, which leads to fatigue issues and poor quality of life. I know when pilots talk about their career is sounds like we're whinning and saying we have it bad and everyone has it easy, but there are issues that need to be changed.
I definitely agree with you about younger pilots hurting the career by taking these jobs. I was guilty of it myself. Pilots are their own worst enemy, theres no unity. Amerijet recently went on strike and I forget the exact numbers but it was sickening to see how many of the pilots were scabs.

Dream_Land Newcomer Las Vegas

My first post so go easy on me, I don't like the way pilots are always being blamed for the overall crappy airline conditions, Moore is an idiot that likes to take things out of context and dramatize the real conditions.

Conditions in the industry have changed over the years and some airlines are slow to keep up, so who gets penalized, the pilots. Not really sure how it will end up, I think the good ole days are gone, it's a new world of $30.00 fares, no food, charge extra for everything, mostly because this is what the public wants, so even though you can still make around 300K a year at SWA, I feel that the mega salaries are a thing of the past, but still a worthwhile career.