They are playing the man, not the ball.
Same way Joyce answers complex questions - he immediately picks on one piece of minutiae and expands on the theme until another question comes up.
The simple answer to the question is that like Joyce not being prepared to do the job for under $24,000,000pa, pilots don’t see the considerable health and life challenges as being worth $300k anymore.
And that’s without the likely exaggeration to arrive at the $300k figure!
Try this: pick a ‘suitable’ roster and send a journo along for the ride making sure they are awake when you are and studying when you are. You’d get a decent story in a month I suspect...