I feel like I am forever reading the same thing regarding terms and conditions and the pilot shortage. What can I say... we are in an industry that attracts people because they love aviation, and because of this simple fact we will always have poor pay and conditions compared to other industries.
Metro man you pretty much hit the nail on the head regarding the career of a pilot. But let me tell you about friends of mine working in other industries:
1. Works on the mines in the kichen. On about $120k (granted the mines offer higher saliries that the rest of the workforce cant compete with).
2. Accountant - 3 years out of uni. Earning 70k with a promotion within the next month looming which will put him on 100k.
3. The last guy is in IT. 2 years working in the industry on 70k. Just got a job with a different company that doubled his salary to 140k.
I havent been in the industry very long and have been very fortunate to be where I am in the short space of time I have been flying commercially. Still it is no where near where I would be if I was in another industry. For this reason I take my hat off to pilots such as Metro man who really did it tough. But I get paid to fly aeroplanes so I will put up with the bad pay and conditions. From my point of view conditions will improve slightly for experienced pilots. There will still be plenty of wannabe pilots that will sit in the right hand seat for a turbo prop operator on poor pay and conditions. Once this shortage is over, it will go back to how it used to be. Another point I would like to make - this could all be stopped overnight if another 911, SARS or Ansett collapse takes place.
Rant over
LemeL
