I think it is the number one overrated job. We don't get paid for all the time we spend planning and prepping the airplane. I don't know of any job where you show up and don't get paid for the majority of your job description.

 

Chef is kind of the same. They don't get paid for a lot of prep work and are usually salary capped at 8 hours, and do more like 10 to 12 hours of work for 8 hours pay. In a way Chef is similar to Airline Pilot, you do it because you love it.

I've only met a couple of airline pilots, the most recent one being a Southwest Airlines pilot who showed me his experimental ultralight several years ago. Both pilots were very content with their work and were flying because they were so passionate about aviation. I would think a career as a pilot is for many the same as a career as an actor--you do it out of passion for aviation, just as an actor does it out of passion to perform. I am sure there are many stresses in the life of an airline pilot, but I suspect for the ones who love their job, the joys are so much more.

 

John

They should add Flight Simulator developer to that list.

 

Medium Salary: So poor we have to wash ourselves with a rag attached to the end of a stick

 

.... with a rag??? I lived in cardboard box in middle of road ...........

 

Seriously, try running your own business during a downturn and having to pay staff and taxes before you pay yourself. :lol: :lol:

I think it is the number one overrated job. We don't get paid for all the time we spend planning and prepping the airplane. I don't know of any job where you show up and don't get paid for the majority of your job description.

 

What is the situation like over where you are for getting into the business?

 

I've been keeping up with various threads on pprune and it seems in Europe the big recruiters such as Easyjet and Ryanair have started a race to the bottom for contracts and Ts&Cs that is making the industry a nightmare for anyone who wants to get into it. Pilots-to-be have been suckered into their way of getting into a jet - pay circa £100,000 for training and then get a flexible contract at the end of it flying a shiny new B738 or A320 instead of working their way up through lights, business jets and turboprops. But their flexi contracts are rubbish - they are contracts and so they don't get the benefit/protection of being an employee. The latest I have heard of is UK Easyjet FOs being sent to a base in Berlin for a take home pay of €1900 a month. That is very very poor for the RHS of an A320 in Europe. But the airlines love it as it's a way of getting cheap, flexible crew without having to give them all the extras of making them proper employees of the company. The training organisations love it as they have people queueing up to pay them £100k to get into a jet. Other pilots that have taken the traditional route hate it as they often get passed over for the cheap cadet pilots. The industry really isn't a good place to be starting out at the moment it seems.

The latest I have heard of is UK Easyjet FOs being sent to a base in Berlin for a take home pay of €1900 a month.

 

Surely that's some sort of base rate supplemented by sector payments etc. You could pick that up as a supervisor/middle manager in a chain store without any qualifications at all.

No, that's all in I believe:

 

The pay is 52 euros per block hour as the final step, I believe. It starts at forty-something initially, I think. You will most likely not fly more than 700 block hours per year, so you get 700 x 52 € = 36.400 €/year. Using Lohn- und Einkommensteuerberechnung you get about 1.900 €/month net. You are probably better off at wizzair.

 

That's for some, though not all.

Browsing the Avsim Forums is also a very stressful low paying job :LMAO:

They should add Flight Simulator developer to that list.

 

Medium Salary: So poor we have to wash ourselves with a rag attached to the end of a stick

 

Really? I thought it was a lot of money coming in since the prices for FS addons are pretty high and probably thousands are being sold

Surely that's some sort of base rate supplemented by sector payments etc. You could pick that up as a supervisor/middle manager in a chain store without any qualifications at all.

 

Probably, but the crucial difference is no one sits outside the mall dreaming of being the manager of a Gap store...

 

Human resource managers know that pilots will do anything to fly, and they milk it for all its worth.

 

How else can one explain the whole Pay to Fly phenomena, where people pay relatively large sums of money to work for free.

The article seems to reflect the day and age we live in. Everybody wants all the good stuff without having to make an effort. Just listen to this: Being a surgeon is an overrated job because it's stressfull and you have to go thru extensive studying and training. Come on, give me a break.

Probably, but the crucial difference is no one sits outside the mall dreaming of being the manager of a Gap store...

 

Human resource managers know that pilots will do anything to fly, and they milk it for all its worth.

 

How else can one explain the whole Pay to Fly phenomena, where people pay relatively large sums of money to work for free.

 

Well then it really is a race to the bottom. The novelty of flying for free (or very little) will soon wear off when your financial situation means you can't keep a partner, can't get a loan/mortgage and can't get home for the weekend because your working unsociable hours. Not to mind the fact that you're probably in serious debt to get your butt into the cockpit in the first place.

 

This is only going to lead to serious performance issues in the long run and goodness knows what way that will end up. When will pencil pushers ever learn that the bottom line is only one factor in running a successful business. It may look good for some time (Apple springs to mind) but if you take liberties the wheel will come full circle.

That must be one of the most useless articles I have read in a long time. It reads like a high school student wrote it.

That must be one of the most useless articles I have read in a long time. It reads like a high school student wrote it.

 

Yeah, surprised I didn't see journalist on that list.

..and this is the most overrated thread

Really? I thought it was a lot of money coming in since the prices for FS addons are pretty high and probably thousands are being sold

"Thousands?" More like "hundreds," truth be told. There are (and have been) very few exceptions that actually have broken past a thousand sales over time.

 

They should add Flight Simulator developer to that list.

 

Medium Salary: So poor we have to wash ourselves with a rag attached to the end of a stick

I'm so poor I can't even afford to pay attention! :p0305: