A pilot's salary.?

Question

Do u have any idea how much a pilot earns? Both commercial and private.

Answer 1

As Doggzilla and Andrew have said, Private pilots can't legally get paid for flying. Some instances where it moves into the gray area is (in the States) where you're employed as a government employee such as a police officer, and you end up on the flight patrol wing.

As for how much you get paid in commercial, the lower ranks at GA the pay is really bad. It's enough to get yourself by if you're single but if you're not then it's hard. The airlines are better in comparison but you do need about 1500 hours before they even consider you. And that has to be about 1300 *paid* hours as a commercial pilot, meaning you can't just fork out the money to boost your hours.
With most airlines, as a second officer, you can earn between US$40,000-50,000. As a senior first officer its around $100,000, a captain is slightly more.

Unfortunately with the increase in low-cost airlines, the pay scale for airline pilots has decreased quite a bit. It's no where near as good as used to be and I don't see that changing any time soon.
Besides, if you really want to be a pilot, with the amount of money you have to fork out if you don't join the military or a cadetship; all of the crappy jobs that you have to go through in order to get a *opportunity* to become an airline pilot; early mornings; late nights; having to put up with passengers who don't understand why you can't take off when there's a thunderstorm over the aerodrome and no money, you really have to love flying and be dedicated enough to enjoy all of the above problems. Becoming a pilot isn't something that anyone can just wake up and say 'Oh, I think I'll become a pilot.'
So if this isn't research for a book or something similar, I'm sorry but anyone who enters the profession just for the money is one less person we can do without.

Answer 2

It can be anywhere from minimum wage to over 100k USD. It all depends on the operator, the equipment, the routes plus time with the company, work rules and union or not.

In the hierarchy:

Private pilots: Cannot legally be paid.

Commercial pilots: Minimum wage to ??. This depends totally on the type of operation. All the commercial license allows you to do is get paid to fly legally. You can get a job doing any number of flying jobs, so the pay varies.

Flight Instructor: Most of us aren't paid vary well. I make about $15/hr but only when I fly or teach ground school. It's snowing where I live today, so I've made no money. But I'm doing it to build up my hours so I can make the next level.

Regional airline/ corporate pilot: Anywhere from 15k USD to over 100k USD, but the norm is about 40k. This depends on many factors, plus if you are a first officer (co-pilot) or captain.

Major airline/large corporate: Usually about 35k starting to over 150k USD. The pay used to be much better than that but the industry downturn, cheaper tickets,etc. have really dropped pilot pay.

Answer 3

Private pilots are not allowed by law to be paid for flying, unless they are flying for business, as in transporting themselves to a business transaction. They cannot take paying passengers, but they can split the operating costs pro rata. If there are two people, the pilot and a passenger, the passenger can pay one half. If there are two passengers, then they can pay 2/3, and so on.
Private pilots are extremely limited to what they can fly, but remember, even a cessna 172 cost more than your house and flies at about 150mph.
Commercial pilots start at about $18hr, but since they are limited to 100hrs a month MAXIMUM, the pay really sucks. They are guaranteed 75 hours pay at most jobs.
The commercial license only allows for someone to be paid to fly aircraft. Commercial pilots usually fly cargo, or inspect pipelines or the such.
In order to fly an airliner, you have to have your Airline Transport Pilot(ATP) rating, which requires 1500 hours just to qualify.
Someone with their ATP rating usually makes about $50-$80hr, accept for these flying very large aircraft, like the 700 series Boeing's, and Airbuses, who make anywhere from $90-150k a year.

Answer 4

Take it from a regional airline pilot... you make almost nothing... first year with a regional carrier you would be lucky to make $35,000... that gets better rather quickly with seniority but not that fast... and given that it is one of, if not the most expensive job to prepare yourself for with expenses from flying as well as college, you are not making much... with a doctor, you spend alot in school but start making it back right away... not with being a pilot... however, 747 pilots make from 200,000 to 250,000 a year by the time they have seniority... I would say most pilots are making more than 100,000 a year by the time they retire if they have stuck with the same airline because you must remember that seniority starts over when you get a new job.

Answer 5

Depends what type of commercial you fly. Regional guys get paid quite little as opposed to the more experienced guys in the majors. Then there is also business jet and corporate flying which is on a different payscale.

Basically the guys that fly regional (turbo props and RJs) get enough to get by with. The salaries which are presumed of as an airline pilot (200k +) don't come till you are at the later stages of your career.

Answer 6

i think of it particularly is totally helpful. If i'm able to make $63K as a pilot, i could make the occupation swap in a brand ny 2d. i'm now a expert pc geek making approximately $75K plus respectable perks. As a pilot, i could require yet another $25-$30K nicely worth of coaching so as that i ought to pass combat like hell for the very few available pilot positions that initiate at below $30K. After 5 years, i could make as much as $50K. Pilots do no longer take in aviation for the money. You the two have it in you, or you do no longer. many of the adult males i be attentive to PAY $20K each 365 days in plane upkeep, hangar hire, coverage, gas, annuals, and so on. just to have the potential to spend some hours a month above all of it. If I could clarify it, you does no longer comprehend.

Answer 7

Commercial , lots, private not so much, piece of advice,
let the military pay for your training, do your homework and
find out how it works, just remember, non military pilots are a
dime a dozen, and so are private pilots, with little earning
possibility, hope I helped.

Answer 8

they do not start out that hot even with the big carriers so wide body long trips tops 200 a year some overtime witch is not hard to get but again starting pay sucks most were getting better pay in the military for the frist 3 years

Answer 9

nobody but some high level governmnt office would know. the president of amerian or southwest airlines might have that handy. lots of small feeder lines pay a lot less. and then their are a lot of private jet pilots who have a wide range. you will have a major reserch project to pin that down.

Answer 10

This is a pretty acurate list

http://airlinepilotcentral.com/airlines.html