Sky Regional Direct Entry Captain Posting - What a Joke

[Lightchop]

I made 15k more than that last year driving a truck.

90K a year to drive a truck? Or more? How come I can't find these jobs on the internet.

Agreed, pay at Sky is out to lunch though.

It's not just driving the truck. While it's just a little single axle truck and all you need is your airbrake endorsement you need to be able to pull a 200 pound fuel hose into people's backyards, and do that about 30 times a day without spilling a drop, that's why the pay is good. Most new guys quit in about a week. it's more about 70k, the overtime makes it 90k, I'm at 95k now, still one more cheque before the year is up

Oh, so you DON'T make that just driving a truck. Ok. That makes more sense.

[C-GGGQ]

90K a year to drive a truck? Or more? How come I can't find these jobs on the internet.

Agreed, pay at Sky is out to lunch though.

It's not just driving the truck. While it's just a little single axle truck and all you need is your airbrake endorsement you need to be able to pull a 200 pound fuel hose into people's backyards, and do that about 30 times a day without spilling a drop, that's why the pay is good. Most new guys quit in about a week. it's more about 70k, the overtime makes it 90k, I'm at 95k now, still one more cheque before the year is up

Oh, so you DON'T make that just driving a truck. Ok. That makes more sense.

Well in that case there is no job "just driving a truck" they all require paperwork, manual labour, equipment inspections, trip planning, etc. It's remarkably similar to 703 ops

[Lightchop]

It's not just driving the truck. While it's just a little single axle truck and all you need is your airbrake endorsement you need to be able to pull a 200 pound fuel hose into people's backyards, and do that about 30 times a day without spilling a drop, that's why the pay is good. Most new guys quit in about a week. it's more about 70k, the overtime makes it 90k, I'm at 95k now, still one more cheque before the year is up

Oh, so you DON'T make that just driving a truck. Ok. That makes more sense.

Well in that case there is no job "just driving a truck" they all require paperwork, manual labour, equipment inspections, trip planning, etc. It's remarkably similar to 703 ops

Ok so now were comparing 703 ops to a $70k a year truck job. Ok.

[jakeandelwood]

90K a year to drive a truck? Or more? How come I can't find these jobs on the internet.

Agreed, pay at Sky is out to lunch though.

It's not just driving the truck. While it's just a little single axle truck and all you need is your airbrake endorsement you need to be able to pull a 200 pound fuel hose into people's backyards, and do that about 30 times a day without spilling a drop, that's why the pay is good. Most new guys quit in about a week. it's more about 70k, the overtime makes it 90k, I'm at 95k now, still one more cheque before the year is up

Oh, so you DON'T make that just driving a truck. Ok. That makes more sense.

And a Sky Regional Captain is "just flying the plane" maybe they get paid more to do all the other stuff associated with safely getting their passengers from A to B

[Lightchop]

It's not just driving the truck. While it's just a little single axle truck and all you need is your airbrake endorsement you need to be able to pull a 200 pound fuel hose into people's backyards, and do that about 30 times a day without spilling a drop, that's why the pay is good. Most new guys quit in about a week. it's more about 70k, the overtime makes it 90k, I'm at 95k now, still one more cheque before the year is up

Oh, so you DON'T make that just driving a truck. Ok. That makes more sense.

And a Sky Regional Captain is "just flying the plane" maybe they get paid more to do all the other stuff associated with safely getting their passengers from A to B

Yeah sure but you don't see any 705 pilots hucking bags or fueling/spraying planes. I still don't see how you can compare the two at all.

[confusedalot]

Oh boy........

May I point out an obvious fact of life....

Now, I am, and my buddy are older, so my buddies payscale is at the top.

Having said that, he made 390K US at american airlines flying a 737 on a normal, meaning easy, schedule.

A pilot job is a pilot job. A truckers job is a truckers job.

Truckers work really hard and deserve more than what they get as far as I am concerned.

But they do not have to go through pilot training. It is not the same thing.

So, comparing salaries is like comparing a programmer to a data entry technician.

If you want pilot salaries in Canada to reach international levels, perhaps it is time to dump the defeatist attitude and stand up for a change.

For anyone who thinks that operating a truck is similar to operating a plane, a big surprise is awaiting. Sure, you get stuff from point a to point b, that is the only common similarity.

Things are changing ever so slowly here, keep the inertia going if you want real change.

[C-GGGQ]

I have in fact done both and honestly long haul trucking is ridiculously similar to single pilot 703 ops. However I think we were (at least I was) trying to point out how stupid it is that air Canada's starting pay which is not an entry level job is now 10-30k less per year than an entry level trucking job. Rather than trying to justify it. Pilots license is 10 times more and 2 years vs 6 weeks. Pilots deserve better.

[goldeneagle]

Pilots license is 10 times more and 2 years vs 6 weeks.

Not a valid comparison. To do the class 1 license for the truck in 6 weeks assumes you start with an unrestricted class 5. The aviation equivalent then, start the cpl course when you have a ppl with a couple hundred hours in the book. I can say from experience, that takes 3 weeks. A few months after I did the cpl course, I did a multi-ifr, that took me another 3 week session of full time at the flight school. Total time investment from ppl to cpl with multi-ifr, 6 weeks over 2 sessions of 3 weeks each. the only difference between this and the trucking course is how much you end up spending in the process.

Even the vaunted ATPL is not really a major achievement. After working in the industry for 2 or 3 years, take a weekend crash course and you can breeze thru the tests on Monday. Again, been there, done that, then submit a logbook, and voila, you get the ATPL. It's less effort than getting a red seal plumbing ticket, which involves a 4 year apprenticeship with 6 weeks in school on each of those 4 years.

Reality is, there is only one barrier to entry for flying, and that is cost. Here in Canada, it's still well within reach of anybody that wants to spend the bucks, so we have a surplus of entry level pilots looking for entry level jobs, always have, and as long as we have viable general aviation in this country, we always will. As long as there is a surplus of qualified folks, there wont be upward pressure on wages, and in fact, downward pressure will continue until supply and demand reach equilibrium. That is how a free market works.

[C-GGGQ]

However, most people have a class 5 to start vs a ppl. Very few have a ppl for their daily life and THEN decide on cpl etc. Usually most students decide I want to be a pilot for a living and then go through the whole process.