Originally Posted by
dr dre
ATO stats for income for various occupations.
Average and median taxable income, salary or wages, and total income, by occupation
It's really only Surgeons, Anesthetists, Financial Dealers, Psychiatrists, Mining Engineers and Engineering Managers that out earn pilots. The median pilot out earns the median GP, School Principal or Dentist.
For the time spent at work and nature of the job I reckon it can't be beaten when it comes to work/pay balance.
For many of these, medical doctors have at least 6 years of uni plus >10 years of further on the job training before they can dream of A380 Cpt money. A lot of this time would include work weeks in excess of 60h per week, with days at a time of being on call overnight.
For lawyers, the time frame as above, but miserly pay and exceedingly long hours in their early years, not unlike pilots.
Lifestyle considerations aside, $300K+ is very very well paid in comparison to the average punter. Other jobs without tertiary education pulling this sort of money might be people doing FIFO to Africa or offshore oil rigs (generally dangerous)... That's not to discount the many years of training and specialisation one could regard being PIC of a heavy jet signifies. Unfortunately these days that esteem isn't shared by all in the general public.