Just like to throw this into the mix.
Doctors, lawyers, accountants etc. all have the potential to earn big $$$$ with extra study and a bit of hard yakka the earning potential is almost endless ie; lawyer to judge.
The figures that have been bandied around for interns, first year lawyers etc should not be compared to the pay of an airline pilot which is pretty well as far as we can go, it is more comparable to a GA pilot who, if he is real lucky, might get 40k a year for living in the middle of nowhere.
As airline pilots, we are ( arguably ) at the pinnacle of our profession, the only way up is into management.
So those of you who compare us to lawyers, doctors etc, compare our income to those that are at the top of their profession, I think you'll find it's not quite as favourable as you would like to think