Well we agree on something which is that the pay for experienced LEAs falls considerably short of what is required. (We both seem too spend too much time on PPRuNe as well, but thats for another day!). I do take issue with the idea that engineers are top of the food chain. Nobody is at the top of the chain, if you have no pilots, no cabin crew, no engs, even no admin people (dare I say it), you have no passenger airline. Thats a fact. I do think that LAEs should be suitably remunerated, they certainly shoulder more responsibility than a CSD and work in far more unpleasant environment. However I also think that pay should reflect responsibility, and this is where the argument that an LAE is worth a senior Captain falls down. As I stated in another thread, anyone who works on the ground has the option of walking away from a problem. The LAE even has the ultimate sanction of grounding an aircraft if he has a bad 'gut-feeling' about something. Thats not an option for the flight crew once airborne, they have to deal with the problem alone and out of reach of technical support. Its is that responsibility, and the requirement for initiative and lateral thinking outside normal procedures, which is behind the pay differential between flight crew and the LAE. You're a F/E so I'll ask you which is the more difficult decision? To get an aircraft flying safely, on time, within the letter of the law (which is much harder to do than grounding the ******), or to decide what to do and where to go whilst on-board a stricken aircraft, when all options are unappealing and equally likely to result in disaster?