One Man's Scum is another Man's Economist......
If I go to Eurocopter in Texas it is 700/hr for an EC120 and 1,100/hr for an Astar.
So if I can tag along on a flight for an Astar, and build 3 hours, I am in essence being "paid" $3,300. That is the cost to me to build time in that aircraft if I was paying. Further, let us assume that my tax bracket including the myriad of employment taxes, income taxes use taxes and just silly taxes is 50%. It would take me $6600 in income to purchase those three hours.
My pay in this case is $6,600 or $2,200 per hour. I am pretty comfortable that there are very few 200 hour pilots who derive the economic equivalent of $2,200 per hour for flying around in an Astar.
Quite frankly, I think I am being overpaid for the benefit I derive.