Captain Paul Norris
Hi I'm Paul Norris' wife Fiona and the reason I revealed Paul's salary with Aero-Tropics of $21,000 was in the hope that pilots get angry (if you're not already) about your conditions and so that the general public are made aware of the wages that pilots are being subjected to to. The general public seem to have no idea what pilots are earning, except maybe Qantas pilots. My husband Paul worked extremely hard for this salary, flying a Twin Engine Islander from Horn Island with numerous take off's and landings, unloading freight and then washing the aircraft at the end of his shift - all because he had a dream to fly and one day hopefully earn a real wage which would compensate him for all he had sacrificed. He obviously had my full support emotionally and financially which is why he was able to chase his dream.
After all the money that is spent on training to gain these qualifications, is it then fair to get paid less then someone working in a shop - no it's disgusting and I'm frankly sick of hearing that it's all part of the apprentice - so if I can do anything in my husbands memory besides finding out what ultimately caused that Metro to crash, I hope that I can improve conditions for pilots earning their stripes.
Fiona Norris