Maui,
For starters the Level 3 Check Captain’s 18% loading is on base salary and the Retention Bonus is actually paid 3 out of the 5 years of the EBA, but averaged out as an annual payment. It’s still a moot point you’re arguing though. In the post in question you were relating this salary to the Australian average salary. I’d be really surprised if there is a single level 3 Check Captain on the 330 in Jet* that flew 1000 hours (or close to it) in a 365 day period. In fact how many level 3 Check Captains do they have on the 330? I’m guessing it would be a handful of guys and they would actually spend quite a lot of time in their checking role in the sim. I dare say they wouldn’t be paying them an 18% bonus if they had specialised sim trainer/checkers doing all their sims. Certainly instrument rating renewals are not carried out by ‘sim instructors’ under CASA’s rules. It’s hardly a fair representation of a Jet* pilot’s salary in the context you used it. Heck, don’t listen to me, read JJW’s post.
The hours in QF mainline are irrelevant to what we’re talking about here. As I said before,
“I don’t think that any line driver (In Jet*) is going to come close to that (1,000 hours p.a.), particularly with the frequency of long haul flights to leisure destinations. When a lot of destinations are frequented 2-4 times a week it’s just not possible to get your annual total that high.”
The figures JJW has quoted show this to be correct. If there are others on the 330 achieving otherwise I’m happy to be corrected but JJW’s figures are in line with what I’ve been told by half a dozen other blokes I know on the 330. The hours you fly in your operation are likewise irrelevant. As an Aussie in Hawaii I’m guessing you’re on one of the JAL contracts. That sort of operation is very different from the Jet* flying. Is your 226 hours deadheading really deadheading or part of commuting to your base? (If you are on this contract the 831 flight hours a year only averages out at 72 flight hours a month with the 2 weeks a year leave. Again, this shows how an unfair comparison can be made.)
As I’ve said before I’m not saying any of this to argue against Jet* and the salary but I dislike it when the extreme end of a salary is bandied around like we’re all earning it. It’s dishonest and ultimately self defeating.
Nuf.