So you are aiming for a professional flying career. Have you asked yourself these questions: What kind of income will I make, especially in those first years? Will I ever be able to send my kids to college, buy a condo, or support myself?
Rarely do future aviators seek the hard answers about economic reality. Somehow, in the pursuit of the dream of flying for pay, there is a vague notion that it all will be OK. Yes, you have heard that starting salaries at the regional airlines are somewhere in the $22,000 range but as far as flying corporate, or Part 135 charters, or medevac, or pipeline patrol, or oil exploration in helicopters—well, never mind. It will all work out.
What about all those other folks who surround you in aviation classes or practice nonflying stuff around the airport? Surely, there must be something in the aviation industry other than flying, although we aviators can’t figure out why anyone would choose to pilot a desk. Where are those opportunities, and what do they pay?
Thanks to the Internet, there is much financial data to mine. Just insert “pilot salaries” or “aviation careers” into a search engine and you’ll find a dizzying compilation of pilot and industry pay.
At www.fapa.aero, you will learn what brand-new first officers will earn at the jet carriers. So when you leave the left seat of a regional jet after grossing, say, $70,000 annually, you will—according to FAPA—pull in less than $40,000 at some big jet airlines. Of course, that pay accelerates nicely by year five, but for the first year or two, the kids might need to take on a paper route to help support the family.
To get to those handsome five-year salaries, you will more than likely need to spend your apprenticeship at a regional carrier. In 2014, the Air Line Pilots Association posted the 10 airlines with the lowest first-year pilot salaries:
Great Lakes $14,616
Silver Airways $18,693
SkyWest $20,064
Mesa Airlines $20,183
GoJet Airlines $20,504
Republic $20,655
ExpressJet $20,745
ASA $20,907
Trans States $21,531
PSA $21,600
Certainly, more income is possible through overtime and by bidding additional flights up to the regulatory maximum, but according to ALPA, first-year first officers can expect these numbers as base pay.
As for corporate pilots, Professional Pilot magazine is one of the leading resources for salary information. But, like so much salary information out there, pay ranges depicted are not associated with individual companies. For example, Citation X captains can be found making a high of $137,000, an average of $112,000, and a low of $85,000. That is a fairly large range. How those figures are derived and from where is a mystery.
About the only outfit that is dedicated exclusively to aviation jobs in all sectors is Avjobs Inc., which operates the website www.avjobs.com. This organization has numerous industry clients that encompass all facets of aviation, not just pilots. Its entire mission is to bring together applicants with employers, and it offers a variety of services for both the job seeker and the hiring company. One of its unique features is an email sent weekly to its subscribers that details new aviation jobs not only nationally, but also in their geographic area.
For anyone engaged in an aviation program at a bona fide college or university, Avjobs will offer a free membership if you mention Flight Training magazine.
Avjobs’ data on job salaries comes directly from its clients. The numbers in the chart on this page are not simply industry averages—they’re exactly what an employee will earn with one of the Avjobs clients beginning the first day on the job. The low, medium, and high rates are what actual employers are paying, and not a speculative model.
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