Freight Pilot Salary/Can you life?

What is the starting salary for a new pilot flying freight? And does that salary increase over the years, or majority pilots leave to fly else where?

Anywhere from 20k through about 50 depending on location, equipment and company. Some stick around at some of the better companies, some stick around and the not so good ones simply because they get tied down(or have just given up, idk), but I would say most move on. Most 135 freight is the like regionals of the 135 side. You move on if you can.

My first and only 135 job paid about 40. I had a 12 hour duty day with about 7.5 of flight time run though.

My current job pays about 30k and I have a 14 hour duty day with about 4.5 of flight... so I don't think the duty day or flight time matters, rather location and company, equipment actually seems to not matter near as much as the former two either. In fact the highest paying entry level freight jobs I know of are all in piston singles. Not twins, and certainly not turbine.

Our company is very secretive about our pay scales for some reason or the other so I just have to respect that. However, our company has a lot of lifers for such a small company along with many 5 years plus peeps. You can make it work comfortably as a lifer here.

Where do you work? If you don't mind me asking...

I work for a different company, but ditto what Hugz said.

I'll get about 45k net pay at Flight Express flying a measly 210 and Baron if I stay for the year. You won't get that as a regional FO unless you can acquire a metric crap ton of over-time pay. I've heard of FOs at Air Whisky clearing 60k, but that life has to just be awful to do that. The general rule I was told is over 10 years old, but when looking at 121 pay rates, take the hourly rate and multiply it by 1000 and that's about what you should net. So getting above 40k shouldn't be an expectation.

Jhugz works at just about the only good paying freight airline left. I'll leave it up to him to divulge those numbers if he likes. They're higher than just about anyone else, put it that way. Like he said, they're very very sneaky about ANY information. haha Airnet and Flight Express are the only other two I can think of off the top of my head that actually pay what I would call a damn decent wage.

The thing with freight is that you are stuck living where ever you're based. No freedom to commute and live where you want like with the airlines. No big stretches of time off. Two of the HUGE plusses I see with 135 vs. 121. Now if you get a good paying job living where you want with your close circle of friends and family in that same city, I can think of nothing better than being a freight pilot. I'm only a 4 hour drive in any direction from most of my close friends and family and a weekend just isn't enough time. For me at least...

Don't lie, you don't have any friends.

Granted, it was in Airnet's better days, but when I flew freight, I was on a 8 on/6 off schedule as a floater (reserve pilot essentially), and then also when I was based in STP it was the same schedule. I lived in FL and commuted in and out on our airplanes mostly. Nothing like going from +30C to -25C in a matter of a few hours via Learjets.

Didnt jhugz company get outbid by martinaire in the dakotas this summer? Money flows to the lowest bidder. Sad as a worker but true.

We got three of their routes, though the reasons for that are a little more complicated than strictly pilot pay.

Not really.

HEY!

Are we really going to do this dude? You know damn well thats not the truth, I'm not going into it on a forum, but you know that's incorrect.

I knew this would happen! Haha. Come on guys duke it out! Lets see some blood!

Just zebra cakes!

Eh pat and I are friends IRL too. With that said I'm not going to go into it either on here.

Slim jims and Mountain Dew too!

Yeah i know. I just remember the phone call you both had earlier this fall over all this. It sounded pretty heated.

I was hoping for a death match though!