Comments on: Dollars and Sense

By: Steggy

Steggy — Fri, 16 May 2025 01:47:19 +0000

“The justification for the lousy pay was always one of thin margins.”

That “thin margins” excuse was also the one offered for deferring maintenance as long as was legally (and sometimes illegally) possible. I seem to recall that ramp checks were more a wink-and-a-nod activity than a serious attempt to catch an operator overloading or under-fueling his planes, or dispatching equipment with mechanical maladies. A certain, defunct “airline” in Downeast Maine brought that means of shoring up thin margins to a high art.

In those days, I approached traveling on a regional with the same trepidation as approaching a malnourished bear.

As the old wheeze goes, you only get what you pay for. $15K per year in the 1990s was what a reasonably-motivated warehouse worker could earn at the time by driving a forklift. How any airline executive expected to get good talent in the cockpit for such coolie wages completely defies logic.

By: Chris

Chris — Wed, 08 Jan 2025 00:17:14 +0000

Been reading you for years and years. My HS junior is interested in flying as a career. Any good (current) resources out there to help him learn both what it takes to become a pilot (various paths) and then what it’s like to be a working pilot? Thanks!

By: Patrick

Patrick — Sat, 09 Nov 2024 17:15:06 +0000

In reply to chandelle.

I don’t dispute the gist of your comment, but trying to quantify the job in terms of hours is misleading. How many hours you fly, or how many you are paid for (not the same thing, normally), doesn’t represent the time actually spend “on the job.” A more accurate measurement is to consider how much time a pilot spends AWAY FROM HOME. Figure about half the month, give or take.

I average, probably, twelve days each month on the road. Sometimes only ten or eleven, sometimes fifteen or sixteen. I won’t get into the nitty-gritty of how we bid our schedules, but we have a fair amount of control over how much we want to work — another great benefit of the job.

By: chandelle

chandelle — Sat, 09 Nov 2024 06:31:25 +0000

Other than it can mess with your circadian rhythms, a pilot’s job is a dream. Find me another enjoyable occupation where you’re limited to 100 hours of work a month, and 1000 hours a year! 🙂

By: Kevin T

Kevin T — Sat, 09 Nov 2024 02:28:07 +0000

Yup, I remember your Salon days. I first read your column on a Palm Pilot without an internet connection, that only refreshed the content when you set it in a cradle connected to your computer and pressed Sync. “Hand in hand is the only way to land…”

By: Rich H.

Rich H. — Wed, 06 Nov 2024 20:07:43 +0000

To save others a click, $15K in 1990 is equivalent to a little over $37K today (BLS Inflation Calculator). Yikes. I’m sure glad things have changed for the better!