Why are regional airline pilots paid so poorly?

[Hacp]

Because of the unions. While union workers make 100K a year, the guys who play by the rules get 20k.

 

[ggnl]

here's a good NY times article about it

 

[miketheidiot]

Originally posted by: apac
Heard some story on the news this morning about the investigation into the Buffalo plane crash. They concluded that it was due to pilot fatigue and ignorance of policy. Blame was placed on the pilots for not getting enough sleep to work, and chatting in the cockpit under 10,000 feet (sterile cockpit rule).

Also mentioned but not touched on was the fact that the pilot made 24K/year and the co-pilot only 16K/year. WTF. The co-pilot of an airplane responsible for 49 people makes as much as a full time McDonalds employee? Man I'd feel like shit if I had that job, no wonder they don't care about coming in to work at 100%.

I go to a school take is also the worlds #1 flight academy, the people who want to be pilots will do it no matter what the income, and there are aot of goons who want to fly airplanes inspite of the poor income.

 

[TangoJuliet]

Originally posted by: SacrosanctFiend

Originally posted by: TangoJuliet
The regionals generally start at a lower salary then when you progress to the larger planes/airlines you get a bump in salary. For example, Southwest requires that you have a minimum of 3,000 flight hours when applying for the job. Now, I don't know about you but on average to rent a plan it costs $150/hr so that would be around $450,000. Most pilots become flight instructors and get hired with a regional until they have x amount of hours to apply for the big boys.

Now, if you think the regionals are low paying you should also look at air traffic controllers. On average the vets make $100,000/yr whereas a new hire is making $18,500 to start $30,000 after the academy and maybe an increase to $50,000 after 3 years. I say maybe because you can be failed out at any point during training. You don't see a raise until you check out on 25% of the positions which can take anywhere from a year to 3 years.

All of that was imposed on the new controller workforce back in 2006 and the union and FAA have been at odds since. It is being worked on as I type as both sides have gone back to mediation on getting a new contract for the controllers.

Sure in this CJC case the pilot made $24,000 and the co-pilot $18,000 and they were responsible for about 50 people. Controllers are responsible for much more then that - for example LGA has 1400 daily operations a day. Say on average there are 100 people on each plane we are talking about 140,000 passengers/day that controllers are responsible for.

I think your opinion might be a little bit biased. 18k while you are in training is good. A lot of people have to pay to be trained. 30k after you graduate is not bad, especially considering that you still aren't a fully certified controller, and you rarely act outside of a team.

I'm not surprised to see this post from you...I've seen it a few times before.

Sure, it may be a little biased

I know very few people that had to pay for their on the job training aside from college. Only until maybe 2 years ago the FAA only hired students that graduated from special (ATCCTI) approved colleges or were ex-military.

I also know very few people that can survive on $30,000/yr living in a high cost of living area such as NY or CA. Most trainees will continue to make $30,000 until they certify on 25% of the positions which in some cases can take 3 years. You can be certified on 10% of the positions, working live traffic on your own ticket making $30,000 while the guy sitting next to you is doing the same thing making $130,000.

 

[DrPizza]

As crappy as $16k sounds, you're assuming she was working full-time. She only flew 700-some hours. Her actual pay was 20-something an hour.

 

[DrPizza]

Oh, and as I live in the area, I've been following the story quite closely. Looks like the airline is really, really screwed when it comes to the lawsuits.