So you want to be an airline pilot Part 2 - The Big $$$

[JTrain]

The guy did a Part 2 - The Big $ to the hilarious "So You Want To Be An Airline Pilot" YouTube video.

Laughed myself silly, mostly because its all true.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KosfmCMIGhA

Enjoy

[iflyforpie]

That's one thing I don't get about this industry. Why on earth can't pilots be paid by each hour they are at work? Accountants can figure out fixed salaries and overtime for the rest of aviationdom, why not pilots? If AMEs were paid like pilots, there would be no airworthy aircraft left.

[Beefitarian]

The first time he finger quotes, "on duty" was pretty funny.

[double-j]

I don't get how this is so funny, I couldn't even get through the whole thing..

It seems it is a pilots national past time bashing the hand that feeds them. Perhaps in the US this has more validity but for me, I don't seem the need to piss and moan on some cheesy home-made video editor.

I have been with my airline for just under eight years and they afford me all the comforts of a well compensated career.

Not crying at my job..

Jj

[YOWza]

hand that feeds them

pfffff

[double-j]

hand that feeds them

pfffff

YOWza, perhaps you can tell me which airline you work for and all the pros and cons of your agreement..

Flight schools don't count as airlines I'm afraid. Even if they supply the epaulettes

[Meecka]

That's one thing I don't get about this industry. Why on earth can't pilots be paid by each hour they are at work? Accountants can figure out fixed salaries and overtime for the rest of aviationdom, why not pilots? If AMEs were paid like pilots, there would be no airworthy aircraft left.

And you think our pay is so spectacular!?

I'm gonna speak for myself only here... so don't take this as gospel.

Generaly, AME's get relatively shit pay considering the resposibility resting on our shoulders. We are not that far off from what pilots (k... the non-aircanada multy-billion-hour- captain) gets. Again I'm speaking for myself here, you get the aircraft airworthy because that is our job. Not just that, it is our obligation, when I work on our aircraft I always have both the need to fix the thing, as well as the fact that there is a human being strapping this thing to his ass when i am done forefront in my mind. No matter how shit the pay, I realize that you guys getting home to your families depends rather heavily on me doing my job in the most professional way. I suspect it is the same for many AME's.

[Meatservo]

I don't get how this is so funny, I couldn't even get through the whole thing..

It seems it is a pilots national past time ...

Jj

mm. Agreed, except it's "pastime", or "pass-time", meaning something that one does to "pass the time", as it where.

[iflyforpie]

That's one thing I don't get about this industry. Why on earth can't pilots be paid by each hour they are at work? Accountants can figure out fixed salaries and overtime for the rest of aviationdom, why not pilots? If AMEs were paid like pilots, there would be no airworthy aircraft left.

And you think our pay is so spectacular!?

I'm gonna speak for myself only here... so don't take this as gospel.

Generaly, AME's get relatively shit pay considering the resposibility resting on our shoulders. We are not that far off from what pilots (k... the non-aircanada multy-billion-hour- captain) gets. Again I'm speaking for myself here, you get the aircraft airworthy because that is our job. Not just that, it is our obligation, when I work on our aircraft I always have both the need to fix the thing, as well as the fact that there is a human being strapping this thing to his ass when i am done forefront in my mind. No matter how shit the pay, I realize that you guys getting home to your families depends rather heavily on me doing my job in the most professional way. I suspect it is the same for many AME's.

I think you took what I said in the wrong way Meecka. I was saying that there would probably be a mass-exodus of AMEs from the industry if we were paid like most pilots, not that we wouldn't do our job professionally. If you ever started on the road to commercial flying, you'd find out how good the regular Joe AME has it. I would have literally starved on an average low-time pilot's paycheque. To get the big bucks takes years and luck, and there are big bucks for AMEs too if you are creative and motivated.



Lets pretend that AMEs were paid let's say $50 an hour, but only when they were using their tools on aircraft. No pay for getting work cards out of the control dock and filling them out. No pay for going to the maintenance library and getting reference material. Even no pay for setting up your tools or cleaning up the work area. Do you think you would be better off? How motivated are you going to be to stay longer to depart a plane if at the last minute a generator craps out and only one or two mechs can fix it (and get paid), but they need everybody to get the plane out of the hanger a few hours later?

Sure, if the pot is sweet enough it might work out better, but there is no reward for extra work put in.

Yeah, the big airline captains making a few hundred an hour with guarantees and nice schedules are doing much better than most AMEs, but what about the F/O or Regional Pilot, or the lower tier pilots and instructors that make up the bulk of commercial aviation? The hourly pay still might sound somewhat reasonable, but you need to consider all of the hours you are required to work.

Normal full-time employment is 2080 hours a year. Pilots are regulated to fly less than 1200 a year (which would be insane at airline level) and is more typically between 500 and 1000 hours a year. Most of these jobs require a full-time commitment (no moonlighting or extra jobs) so the hourly pay need to be anywhere from double to quadruple to equal the hourly wage of a full-time employee at another vocation.

So you see where it makes people's blood boil to see instructors making 20 and change per flight hour, because it winds up being pretty much minimum wage if you divide it by their duty hours. And makes my blood boil even more that pilots are accepting these wages (maybe with some ground instruction time at a lower rate and a piddly base allowane).

Getting a full-time salary that doesn't change with what type of work I am doing, but does change with the hours I work, is the only reason I am employed as a pilot right now. Otherwise I would just go back to wrenching and get a homebuilt.