Pilot's, highest paid profession per the government!

[TexasFlyer]

Okay, for the second week in a row the San Antonio Sunday paper is writing about pilot's. Here is this weeks shocking figures to me and it tops last weeks comments on how pilot's and flight attendants have medical problems from working in a pressurized cabin and breathing re-circulated air. So make sure you are armed with this information when you go to that airline interview since airline pilot's all make such great money (I wonder what percentage actually clear $120K+ a year out of all "airline pilot's??? --- I would include regional / commuter pilot's since after all they have regular schedules and work for an airline since then the stat would be more truthful about how most professioanl pilot's are not so lucky when it comes to compensation).

"Wages rose briskly last year for a small percentage of highly skilled workers, including nurses and airline pilots... These are among the findings of the Department of Labor's 2004 National Compensation Survery, released this month, which reports hourly wages across more than 450 occupations covering 81 million workers... Despite the turmoil in the airline industry, the average hourly pay for pilots was $113.82 last year, up 15.6 percent from 2003 and the highest for any job category measured."

Anyone care to comment on this, or maybe write the Labor Department about reflecting things accurately?

[Doug Taylor]

They haven't a clue that a $100/hr airline pilot at 75-80 hours per month doesn't compare to a hourly worker earning $20/hr for a 40-hour work week.

Government, clueless, same-ole-same-ole.

[FlyOrDie]

[ QUOTE ]
....the average hourly pay for pilots was $113.82 last year...

[/ QUOTE ]

What they don't say is that airline pilots work low hours. So what if you make a $100+ an hour you only end up working a few hours a week compared to normal hourly wage earning jobs. My dad talks about when he got out of college and was stoked to be flight instructing for $20 an hour, until he realized that he was only flying 6 hours a week.

After the dust settles from the latest batch of bankruptcies it will be extremely interesting to see what direction this rollercoaster industry takes. I wouldn't count on pension plans because they seem to worked well in the industrial age but are becoming a thing of the past.

[mpenguin1]

Well Polling is only as good as the question, & the research gathering. For the polling data did they do a sampling of pilots around the area and by types of pilots, who knows.

Perhaps around the area for the polling there were no regional pilots & 12 year major airline pilots.

If you are really curious, write to the paper to see if you can get how they did the polling data.

[TXengineer]

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (www.bls.gov) has some pretty good data. I'd say its the media and its eternal selective news reporting that's to be slammed not the department of labor.

http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes532011.htm - Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers
http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes532012.htm - Commercial Pilots
http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes532021.htm - Air Traffic Controllers
http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes532022.htm - Airfield Operations Specialists

*edit

http://www.bls.gov/ncs/ocs/sp/ncbl0727.pdf

That's the publication the newspaper probably used, which does list the mean weekly hours as 20.5. (page 7). Reporting error is 7.1%.

[Doug Taylor]

Yup, but they're still responsible for crosschecking and verifying data before they present it.

If the government invaded Venuzuela on account of Pat Robertsen, is it Pat's fault or the government's for false information or the government's fault for acting on incorrect, unverified data?

[TXengineer]

Maybe it was the wording I used, but the point I was making was the San Antonio paper only reported on one category of pilots and one aspect (median hourly wage) to sensationalize the BLS' 2004 reports. I'm a bit confused on where you were tying your analogy to since the BLS doesn't take data from or make statements based on articles published in the San Antonio paper; its quite the reverse.

[Minnesota_Flyer]

In other words, the BLS figures appear to be accurate -- it's the San Antonio paper that misinterpreted the numbers. That's not the gubmint's fault.

[Toonces]

I wonder when they will print something about overpaid news reporters. I wonder How much Tom Brokaw makes? I could probably find out, but I am too lazy right now.

[UNDAV8R]

Well, events could also have skewed the numbers. For example, are there more pilots furloughed this year than last? If so, remember, the furloughed ones will be at the low end of the payscale, raising the average for those left.
Statistics - you can make them say anything you want!

[Kristie]

[ QUOTE ]
In other words, the BLS figures appear to be accurate -- it's the San Antonio paper that misinterpreted the numbers. That's not the gubmint's fault.

[/ QUOTE ]so what should ya'll do? i say write an "opinion article" and send it in to the san antonio paper pointing out their facts are "sensationalized" and not accurately verified facts and if they're going to be revered as accurate media staples, they need to backcheck their work!!

if you want to make changes, ya gotta start somewhere and by bombarding the media who *screwed up* with opinion articles that all say basically the same thing says more than you think it says!!

at the least, one would be published (if not more than one) and at least one person will read it and have his/her mind changed for the better!

[buffalopilot]

Doug, your statement does not make sense. A $100/hour airline pilot times 80 hours is $8000/month. A $20/hour worker times 40 hours/week is $3200 per month. Pilots earn much more than that at $100/hour!!

[kellwolf]

You forgot income tax.....

[Kristie]

ya.. take out a good 40% for income tax, max monthly on medicare, max monthly on soc security.. plus at least $200-$300/paycheck for union dues.

[buffalopilot]

Are you telling me pilots get more taxes taken out than other workers? NO! So the pilot is making good money. In NY we get approx 20% income tax.

[TaterSalad]

[ QUOTE ]
Are you telling me pilots get more taxes taken out than other workers? NO! So the pilot is making good money. In NY we get approx 20% income tax.

[/ QUOTE ]

Sure the pilot is getting more tax taken out.............you said it yourself, 20% income tax. The important part there is the percentage. If the overall taxable wage is higher, the amount of $$ in taxes is higher. Besides, I would assume that a salary of around $100k/yr is in a higher tax bracket than the other example, also equating to a higher level of taxation/less money in the check.

[casey]

[ QUOTE ]
Doug, your statement does not make sense. A $100/hour airline pilot times 80 hours is $8000/month. A $20/hour worker times 40 hours/week is $3200 per month. Pilots earn much more than that at $100/hour!!

[/ QUOTE ]

im an airline pilot who makes 21.50/hr @ 75 hrs/month.

and yea, to answer your question further down, although its not a "tax" per so, ALPA takes 1.92 % of your check once you are off probation as dues.

[Kristie]

huh...we're not talking state taxes here.. altho that's just a small portion of the whole tax situation. maybe you'd like to see how much one pays in taxes per year at the current rate?! you'd be surprised!

I make about $55K at my job, get i think about 28-36% taxes taken out for federal, not including state taxes and/or medicare, social security...

but my pilot hubby here, makes about twice what i do (or used to before the 32% paycut) and gets about twice as taxed...the way we see it, with everything included (even union dues), he brings home only half of his actual gross pay. he typically will pay off the max social security amount (per year) within about 4-6 months. if you ask me, for a guy whose probably not going to get any social security (with the way things are going), that itself is a shame...all that money lost!

[Maximillian_Jenius]

Wow...you guys are getting killed in taxes!
I thought that I was takin it with no vaseline being single and not owning a home!
I'm really surprised whoever in your case cause your both married and homeowners.
Would having more deductions (like for example) kids see more money in your pocket?

-Not saying have kids but just wondering if that was entered into the equation hypothetically if your taxation rate would fall signifigantly. Or even at all?

-Matthew

[Kristie]

I tell you what... I really don't see any difference - tax wise - between being married and single..but if you own a house, you definately see the benefits!!

well, you get some taxes back when you have kids, but remember, your also adding costs to the equation. to me, it doesn't even out...$1500 a year back for one kid isn't enough now a days (seems to me) to make it viable since you have more expenses in a year than what you dish out for everyting needed. if you want to have kids, you wantg to have them to have them.. not to lower your taxes!

but then again, i don't have kids.. so maybe someone who does will have a much better answer than my non-parental answer is!!

[Ralgha]

Even assuming the $100/hr pilot only takes home half of that, that is still more than the $20/hr 40 hour week worker makes BEFORE deductions.

[pullup]

[ QUOTE ]
huh...we're not talking state taxes here.. altho that's just a small portion of the whole tax situation. maybe you'd like to see how much one pays in taxes per year at the current rate?! you'd be surprised!

I make about $55K at my job, get i think about 28-36% taxes taken out for federal, not including state taxes and/or medicare, social security...

but my pilot hubby here, makes about twice what i do (or used to before the 32% paycut) and gets about twice as taxed...the way we see it, with everything included (even union dues), he brings home only half of his actual gross pay. he typically will pay off the max social security amount (per year) within about 4-6 months. if you ask me, for a guy whose probably not going to get any social security (with the way things are going), that itself is a shame...all that money lost!

[/ QUOTE ]

I'd get another accountant ASAP

[shooter13]

[ QUOTE ]
Even assuming the $100/hr pilot only takes home half of that, that is still more than the $20/hr 40 hour week worker makes BEFORE deductions.

[/ QUOTE ]

Ok you are talking 80 hours of working time right? I would imagine that Doug is away from his home a lot more than 80 hours a month. All it takes is one 4 day trip to have that done. It seems to me that a pilot is working a great number of hours that they aren't getting paid for. Doing actual work or not, when you are away from home, you count that as time at work. I guess that is just my definition.

[flyover]

[ QUOTE ]
Would having more deductions (like for example) kids see more money in your pocket?

-Matthew

[/ QUOTE ]

Definitely the funniest thing you've ever posted. (Wiping coffee off of screen.)

[Ralgha]

Well the pay that pilots get factors in the time they're not working and is seen (by management) as compensation for that too. If pilots got paid by the duty hour, do you think the hourly rate would stay the same? Not a chance. They would be adjusted to provide the same end result for a lesser hourly amount. Think of it more like a salary than an hourly wage. Personally I would rather get paid by the duty hour even if it didn't add up to any more pay in a month. Of course I also think the traditional seniority system is an antiquated system thought up by someone who was half asleep at the time and didn't want to put more work into it.