Perhaps the most important and intriguing question for
every young pilot career seeker is: how much money do pilots make? Well,
according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, pilots, co-pilots and flight
engineers are among the best paid professions. Only health care specialists and
chief executives exceed the mean
annual aircraft pilots and flight engineers income of $138,690. On the other hand, pilot salaries depend much on various
factors such as pilot experience, hiring company, type of aircraft and region
in which pilot takes his or her duties. When all these things come into
account, pilot salary per year can be as low as $20,000 and as high as $300,000
or even more.
Usually
pilots get paid hourly. Wages submitted on Glassdoor website by aviation employers
vary from $10 to $200 an hour. Companies should always guarantee a minimum
amount of flying hours to their employees. This minimum differs from airline to
airline and is something in between 50 and 80 hours per month. However, flying
an airliner composes just about half or one third of pilot’s total working
hours. Much more time is spent performing pilot duties on the ground:
simulation-based training, processing all the information about weather and
route, creating flight plan, executing pre-flight checks, making records after
flight and many other maintenance tasks. That time during positioning,
pre-flight preparation, fulfilling post-flight responsibilities along with
flight hours is called duty period and pilots normally do not get paid for it.
Pilot flying experience and seniority are the most
important factors when talking about wages. Pilot in command (captain) is the
most experienced cockpit crew member and is primarily responsible for the
successful flight. The first officer (co-pilot) who is second in command takes
several flight duties from the captain. Some old airplanes require the third
pilot (aircraft engineer) to monitor appliances but nowadays this job is almost
eliminated by automatic technologies. Pilot career at airlines usually begins
by occupying co-pilot or flight engineer position and then after gaining more
experience you can expect to become a captain.
Inexperienced pilots who have 1-5 years of practice
earn less than their senior colleagues. Most frequently, starting salaries of
the entry level pilots do not exceed $50,000 yearly while highly skilled pilots
with 5-10 and more years in practice receive higher rates of pay and their
medium annual salaries surpass $100,000 limit. Moreover, salary is affected by
pilot loyalty to the company. Workers who are dedicated to the same company for
longer periods of time generally can expect gradual salary rise.
Aircraft type also has an
influence on pilot pay. Pilots of larger jets earn more than those who fly the
smaller ones. And salaries of non-jet aircraft pilots are lesser than for jet
pilots. Before starting a pilot career, you should not forget that separate
training is needed for different aircrafts.
Flight length. Long-haul
flight pilots earn more than short and medium-haul pilots.
Continental pay differences.
Aviation is predicted to have an annual growth rate of over 3% (IATA’s 20-Year Air Passenger Forecast). Yet the
biggest advancement is seen in Asia region where you could expect significantly
increasing pilot salaries.