Victor two..
______________________________________________ The general public could not care less if a pilot is paid $20k a year. Why would they be upset about that? Are they also upset that a hairdressing apprentice only makes $23K a year too, what about the bloke that works at the toll booth in a carpark complex who only makes $27K a year? Why would they care?
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The reason that a more enlightened member of the public would be upset is because their lives are in the hands of the pilot....not the hairdresser or the tollbooth guy( unless they are spectacularly bad at their jobs). They associate low pay levels with low competancy and skill levels.
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Besides, why should a pilot be any safer if he made an extra ten grand a year?
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Believe me....he/she is.
If you had been in the situation where you are working 50 hours a week for anywhere between zero dollars and $300 depending how much time airborne you got, and having to keep your ratings etc current, and having to pay for charts and plates and ammendments, and were always on the edge of being evicted for late rent payments....you would know that it is not conducive to a relaxed/confident state of mind and is in fact quite fatiguing, not ideal at the end of a 16 hour split duty where your rest quarters was the back room of the medical clinic and your doing an approach to minimas through cells.
Does that answer your question?