this post was submitted on 25 Dec 2023
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Better wages and work life balance would also solve the pilot shortage. It's one of those jobs where companies over rely on people's passion for the profession in lieu of treating and paying them what they deserve.
A decade ago, my pilot friend informed me that after 4 years of college, starting pay was $18,000 a year. After a year of experience suddenly you're making 4 times that. Not a lot of people can afford to make that measley income for a year. It's not a sustainable way to recruit talent.
Then there's the issue is being on call when you're the lowest seniority in you're position where they can call you anytime a pilot calls in sick and you have to be at the airport in 30 minutes.
You can make a lot of money, but there's a lot of bullshit to deal with at the start of your career.
You're also gone from home all month and don't see your family, sleep with a bunch of other poor pilots in a flop house, then come home and get your crappy paycheck for less than minimum wage after you do the math of how long you were away from home.
Not anymore for most pilots. Pay has skyrocketed.
For a recent example, Southwest Airlines pilots just won a 50% raise over 5 years, including 29.15% immediately.
That thankfully isn’t true anymore. Pilots are now very highly compensated from the jump.
I remember back in the 80s (middle school career days) commercial pilots were near the top of paid professions, topping 100k on average.
Lowering the costs of flight school would help more, making shitty money is one thing. Making shitty money when you dropped 200k to get there is another.