How do you people survive financially???

I'm that pilot. 135mins, 1300 tt, CFI, CFII, 4 years teaching, 1000+ dual given, and I'm out. I'm at the railroad. Made 50K this year and I was in training. I had 2 months where I would have been at the equivalent of 124K/year. Granted I worked my butt off, but first year. During the summer it rocks. The winter... well I'm furloughed for now and rather happy. Lets just say that. Oh and I still get benefits and a stipend while furloughed. How many airlines do that?

I'm a 7 year, 2nd airline, eternal FO.

I'm on day 3 of 4 of my last trip as a 121 pilot.

I start a non-aviation job in 10 days and will get better than a 100% pay raise.

How's the new job going, Tram?

Im curious to see what type of job you took when you left aviation, Tram.

Ramen noodles have become my best friend

It's going better than I could have asked for, really. One of the biggest concerns was will I miss flying for a living. Well, I still kept my part time Mu2 gig, I'm getting to fly more often because I'm home. I'm flying several airplanes at the local airport rather than just the 1 or 2 I was flying before.

I'm often at the airport when 9E will show up and I haven't once looked over at the ramp and said "Man, I wish doing THAT.." I have seen a jet or two fly over and I've thought "Wow, it sure would be fun to go do that for a little bit" but that thought is always followed by "I sure am glad I'm not sleeping where those guys are tonight." As a matter of fact, I was out at the airport a little bit ago and saw the RJ sitting on the ramp and the only thought I had was "Poor guys, it's the 4th and they're stuck in MSL."

Getting out of aviation as a career was a really tough choice for me though. I had to obviously weigh all the options and decide if aviation was worth staying in. I was miserable at my current position/company but I knew if I stayed, I had a "shot" at going to a major. I couldn't leave just for any job. I had a decent prospective to make 6 figures one day - even if I stayed at a lowly regional. I'm already making better $$ than if I had upgraded 2 years ago (and I get my 2nd raise in the last 3 months next Monday) at 9E and if everything goes like it "should" I'll be making senior widebody FDX pay in less than 15 years. I'd never be a CA at FDX in 15 years, much less making 20 year widebody pay. I personally think the majors are sunk and I don't see it ever getting back to what it was. I've watched my fathers schedule progressively get worse and he's at "the place to be."

So, back to the question - should I get out? Well, I started asking everybody I flew with, rode with or had in the jump seat one question..

"If you knew what you know now, would you be an airline pilot?"

Every one of them said no. Every. Single. One. I only had one guy tell me I was an idiot. He's a 9E FO and he's still there. And he is trying with everything he has to get out and he's stuck looking at lateral moves. Most of the 9E CA's at my seniority levels are making quasi-lateral moves as well.

More than monetarily, I think I made the right choice. Life is much better. I'm enjoying the big and small things. I have jalapeno's that I have been able to water every day in this blistering 105*F heat we're having here in Bama, I tuck my girls in every night. I get to go church when the doors are open. I've had multiple people tell me I'm in a better mood more often - especially my wife. Every time I see my pops leave for a trip, I feel bad for him. He retires in November, Lord willing for him.

I'm Homer Simpson's real life doppleganger. Bascially, I'm an FO of a nuclear reactor.

Work nights to help

I will make just over 70, given anticipated overtme of a couple of weeks at my 1 year anniversary. I am home 99% of the time at night and only work two weeks out of the month.

However, I fly a single engine airplane which isn't very sexy for the logbook. I don't really care about that, though.

Sent from my SPH-D700 using Tapatalk 2

Wow, is that true? I mean just over $70K after one year at Baron in 208s?

I have never made less than 40k in a single fiscal year in aviation. I'm in my 3rd year flying professionally, and will do a bit better than 60 this coming year. I now work 2 weeks a month, and it looks like I'll be flying maybe 20 hours a months... tops. I rather enjoy making flying appliances move through the air, but not all the time, because I like to do other things to. They also give me a middle class wage to do it. I can't complain.

Not sure what he means, but I believe Spira has "moved up" to the PC-12 for Methods. I work there, too, and I think the salary expectation sounds about right for darkest New Mexistan where he works (there's a slight pay bump if you agree to be based in the Third World). If you're not looking to get Rich, it's a pretty awesome job.

I work for Air Methods now on the PC-12. I was at Baron for about 2 years and was making about 41k at the time.

Oh ok, I went to their website. I saw helo mins but didn't see fixed wing mins. What kind of fixed wing times do they look for and what types of fixed wing aircraft do they have (just PC-12s?)? Also, is there a posted pay scale somewhere? I only saw entry pay of about $58K, but I think that's helo. Thanks!

I searched some posts and saw about $1K yearly raises, is that accurate? If so, what does it cap out at?

Mins are like 2500 TT, I think?

Pay is the same between fixed wing and helos. They have mostly PC-12s and some King Air 200s. Base pay in 2012 starts at 58, but some bases have a hard to fill stipend. Others have a cost of living adjustment based on the Consumer Price Index (up to 160% of base pay.) Overtime days are paid at time and a half, so 58,234 / 182.5 (normally work 182.5 days a year) gets your daily rate, multiplied by 1.5 gets ~$478 a day for overtime days worked.

Did you ask guys who just got into this fairly recently or some of the older guys? I can understand the pre-deregulation or pre-9/11 guys not knowing what they got themselves into since things changed but people getting into this today should know all the negatives of the job and what to expect. 6+ year upgrades, possible reset on first year pay if furloughed, you may never make it to a major, should be willing to move around at least 5 times, etc. What did people not know before they started training in a 172?

will do nething 2 flyz!

I'm just curious how you made that happen when you were at AMF? It says gross monthly pay of $2,333 x 12 months = just shy of $28K for year one. I'm thinking about a similar path with my wife and kid and trying to plan.

I was at AMF for roughly a year. Middle of fiscal year to the next middle basically. I made enough money with my before job, and now make enough with my after to make up for the 6 months in the fiscal year of crap pay.
Also consider that there was a tiny bit of OT plus Korean pay, so the 28k is a bit low.

I see.