If you had to do it all over again, wouldn’t it be great to be an airline pilot? The uniforms, the respect, the great pay, jetting here and there to exotic locales. Steamy layovers in Bali with co-workers willing to engage in activities of a grown-up nature. Oooh la la! Dean Martin playing the heroic, debonair captain in Airport, while George Kennedy clears the runway under the frowning icy glaze of Burt Lancaster.
Which is, of course, like all good fantasies, a fabrication of Hollywood and Arthur Hailey. Quoting out of this article, the fantasy is crumpled in the ditch.
A starting pilot at Trans States, a regional airline that flies for American under the name American Connection, earns $22 a flight hour, with 74 hours guaranteed a month, according to AirlinePilotCentral.com, which tracks pilot salaries. That translates to an annual starting salary of $19,500. A pilot flying 1,000 hours a year — the most allowed under federal rules — would earn about $22,000.
To put it simply, the two people up at the pointy end of the aircraft are earning enough money to starve to death is most large cities. There have ben anecdotal reports of airline pilots at regional and even some well-known main line carriers, using food banks to make ends meet. Are the folks that we trust to do a safe, professional and competent job, focused entirely on the well being and prudent operation of the aircraft?
At $22,0000 a year, the answer is no. They’re worried about money: Do I pay the electrical bill, or the water bill this month? Do I have enough groceries in the house to feed my kids, or my spouse? Can I make the rent this month, or do I have to do some creative juggling with the credit cards, phone bill, health care premium and car payment?
Consequently, up and coming commercial pilots are bailing out of the career in record numbers, leading to shortages of qualified pilots at the larger regional and main line carriers. The carriers are adapting by rushing prospective trainees through qualifications faster and setting the bar lower if only to get some kind of warm body in the right hand and left hand seats. They’re not raising the wages of course, as that would cost money and jeopardize the bonuses for the boardroom beasts.
Which means the person ultimately responsible for your flight, the pilot in command, is focused on doing absolutely nothing that could potentially risk their job: Things like asking for repairs to be done that are safety-critical, or asking for a little more gas in the tanks, in case bad weather means diverting to another airport. Asking for things like that can get you branded a ‘troublemaker’ or ‘too cautious’ or ‘not a team player’, which means you might not get as many flight hours as someone else who says and does nothing to ruffle the feathers.
Feel like taking a flight this holiday season? When you get on board, ask yourself if the two people at the pointy end can actually afford Christmas, especially if they have a family. Then ask if they’re truly focused on your well-being. We know the airline management doesn’t give a damn.
The only reason the pilots worry about safety is this: The Pilot is always the first on the scene of a crash.
It sure isn’t for the money and most certainly isn’t the glamour.
RoadDave 