10. Airline pilots all make six figure salaries: In the regional airlines today, one might reach a 6-figure salary, but that will only be after being on the job with the same company for 20 years or more. All pay rates are based on "years of service" and those rates differ from company to company. Most companies are such that their most senior pilots are making just over $100k per year. However, at that same company, the most junior pilots are making less than $20k per year. All the other pilots are somewhere in between.
9. Airline pilots only work 2 weeks per month: While it is true that many regional pilots fly between 75 and 90 hours per month, don't be fooled into comparing this to most people's 40 hour week. As I explained in this post, 75 hours of pay means you can end up actually working 290 hours per month, taking into account all the time you spend sitting around airports and hotels. Airlines like to say that we are not working during this time and hence we aren't paid for it. However, we are required to be at the airport or hotel during this time, away from our homes and families. 290 hours per month works out to around 36 8-hour days per month, in case you were wondering. I'll be honest, I'm not a fan of Michael Moore, but even he seems to get it, as pointed out here.
8. The best pilots become Captains: When an airline pilot becomes a Captain is SOLELY based on seniority. Those pilots with the earliest date of hire with that company are the most senior. Based on how many aircraft the company operates and how much flying with do, there are a certain number of Captain and First Officer slots availible. When you hire, you'll be on the bottom of the list. In order to upgrade to Captain, there's really only a few things that can allow that to happen. If you are in the company long enough, and enough old guys retire, then you can move up enough in relative seniority to hold the left seat in something. Another way is for the company to experience very rapid growth. This means additional aircraft and additional flying, hence, more captain slots are available. The company will also be hiring more people, but all of them would be more junior to you, so your relative seniority would climb and you might be senior enough to get an upgrade. It has NOTHING to do with anything else. Skills, experience, how good a person you are, your background, your dashing good looks, how good a Captain you can be, etc. Compass Airlines is a very classic example of this. Many former ATA pilots took jobs at Compass. So, there are former DC-10 Captains who are now sitting in the right seat of an EMB-175. The guy or gal sitting in the left seat next to them might only have 1/10th of their hours, but they have an earlier date of hire in that company.
7. Airlines care about their pilots and cabin crews: At least at the regionals, this is laughable. The company doesn't care about their crews. It's obvious. We are merely an expense for them, and they seem to hate the fact that they actually need to pay us to make the whole company operate. Regional airlines constantly try to pressure flight crews into taking a flight with an aircraft that has an unsolved problem, or into weather that is below FAA minimum requirements. Pilots have been threatened with disciplinary actions if they were to refuse. When pilots get busted by the FAA for taking such a flight, the company throws their hands up saying "Hey, they're the pilots. They chose to go! We didn't make them! It's not our fault!" The company only views the crews as names and numbers that they seem to get off on bullying us around. Another great example of how the company views it's workforce is the treatment of ground crews. It's not uncommon for a huge group of rampies to be fired after a few years for no apparent reason. There is a reason. After being around for a few years, the rampies start to make more money. By firing senior rampies, and hiring new ones, the company is able to lower their operating costs. And, yes, this dose actually happen.
6. Airlines care about passengers: Regional airlines don't exist to be nice to you. All the TV commercials you see are made by advertising companies. Those companies aren't paid to tell you the truth. They are paid to get you to fly. It's business. Businessmen and businesswomen don't get to be successful by being nice, generous and giving people. Do you think Warren Buffett is a nice guy at business meetings? How about The Donald. No. It's business. It's not personal. It's money and that's it. It's faceless ruthlessness. That's how business people are. That's how they are trained to be. If you can screw someone else to make more money, then that is just what you do. Don't believe me? Go spend some time at an airport. Just sit around various gates and listen to what unfolds. Everything from an elderly passenger waiting on a aircraft for 30 minutes waiting on a wheelchair, to passengers looking at the "On Time" label next to their 5:30pm flight when the current time is 6:10pm.
5. Airlines care about safety: The only way airlines are interested in safety is in advertising. Stating that you are a safe airline and that you are safety oriented sounds great when trying to sell tickets. In practice, airlines will cut safety short whenever they can get away with it. Why? Airlines are a business. Safety regulations typically add inefficiencies to the system. Broken planes can't fly passengers and generate revenue. Fixing and maintaining airplanes is expensive. Crews without legal rest can not fly passengers and generate revenue. Weather delays mean canceled flights, lost revenue, and overbookings to deal with later. Business people are constantly on the hunt for ways to trim their operating costs. The FAA has many rules in place for aircraft, crews, etc, to protect the traveling public from the company cutting corners in safety in order to cut costs and make more money. Now, commonsense states that any money saved with this will be blown out of the water if a plane crashes and people die. However, airline managers don't seem to get this. They seem to only be reactive, not proactive. If the plane hasn't crashed yet, keep trimming. We'll deal with a crash when it happens. Besides, we can always call it, "pilot error." It's like company managers are a disease and the FAA is the vaccine designed to keep the infection at bay.
4. Pilots only work 8 hours per day: This depends on if you are using the company's definition of work, or the normal human definition of work. Pilots can fly up to 8 hours in a day. Sure. But we can be on duty for up to 16 hours in a day. That's TWICE the amount of time. On duty means we are required to be at the airport and available to the company. Yes, just sitting around. Sometimes for up to 5 hours straight. During this time (known as airport appreciation time), we are paid the mighty $1.50/hr per diem, and that's all. So, if you think of "on duty" as being "at work" then you are more of a normal human.
3. Pilots have 12 hours of rest every night: I've had everything from 8 hours rest to 21 hours rest on overnights. It varies constantly. However, the term "rest" is of particular importance in this discussion. See my post on Rest Defined. In summary, the FAA definition of rest, and Webster's definition of rest are NOT the same. 8 hours of "rest" usually means 5 hours of sleep if you're lucky.
2. Pilots always go on strike whenever they aren't happy: Airline pilots in the US are under the Railway Labor Act of 1947. This SEVERELY restricts a pilot group's ability to strike. A great example of this is the just ended Spirit Airlines strike. Those pilots had been trying to get a fair contract for THREE YEARS before they were able to actually walk off the job in protest of the company's treatment towards them. THREE YEARS of empty promises from management, low pay, and poor working conditions set by the company. This wasn't a case of unhappy temper tantrum pilots as the media has been portraying. The law prohibits that from occurring. The fact that those pilots actually got to the point where they legally went on strike, with all the RLA's restrictions, shows just how poorly Spirit management has treated the pilots on the line and in contract negotiations over the last THREE YEARS. All I hear in the media is the strike happened because of the pilots. In truth, THREE YEARS of bad management is what really made that strike happen.
And, the number one airline myth...
1. Airline pilots' jobs are all automated: Anyone who says this has NO F*CKING IDEA what they are talking about. That's just a fact. Several completely ignorant journalists out there have written things stating the auto pilot does everything and the pilots are just sitting there making money for doing nothing. To these douches, I ask this. Go take a type rating class for a regional jet or turboprop. Go ahead. I'm sure your company would even pay for it. Even if it's just a week or two long abbreviated course. After all, the whole course is a full month long. I would just love to see the expression on your faces when you try and shoot a simple visual approach backed up by a coupled ILS in visual conditions. Even with all systems operating, no bad weather to worry about, and not even a slam dunk from ATC. It will be oh so quickly that you realize the plane doesn't just fly itself. Please, this is a serious matter. After all, writing about something you are utterly clueless on is very irresponsible and an insult to your profession. Paging Mr Chris Pummmer! Paging Mr Marshall Brain! Try and fly one of these highly automated aircraft (full motion simulator would suffice just fine since you're likely not even pilots.) Then write an article telling us all how easy it actually was. I'll be here waiting.
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