Commerical Pilot Salary??

[The_Swordfish]

Hi,

just wondering, whats an average commerical pilot year income, excluding taxes?

thanks

[redsnail]

That's a pretty broad scope there.
Commercial ops range from scenic flights in a C206 to long haul 744's and every thing in between and around.
Also, each country has different wages/tax rates/cost of living too.

eg. In Oz, single engine VFR charter flying I was earning ~$A20K in 1994, 1995 twin engine VFR ~$A25K. Twin engine IFR $32K.
1999, FO on Bandits/Twotters, $A32K (after a pay rise). Dash 8 FO ~$A45K.
Sorry they are rough gross salaries. I haven't included allowances/expenses/tax deductions in there either. For the Dash 8 ops, I was expecting to get about ~$A3-5K's worth.

In the UK. FO on a Shed (Shorts 360) flying night freight is £16K + allowances. (~£2-3K)
SFO on a lo co 737 operation £35-39K plus allowances. (~£3-5K)

[click]

Our chump change is 2100 Euros/month take home for Capt. and 40% less for the F/O. Enough to keep me supplied with Prozac and Valium. Six weeks to go.

[FlightDetent]

click:

Come on, don't be so misleading...

It is not Euros but CZK of the same value instead. Not everyone takes the time to read the profiles. And besides, captains get 40% over the baseline F/O figures, which in turn makes 29% the number you're looking for. Math, I know.

Ahoj

[Slim20]

I'm surprised noone came up with the standard answer: not enough!

[click]

Come on, don't be so misleading

It was a short and quick answer, the point is that either 40% or 29% of nothing is still nothing. I could go into all the details of how much things cost here but I won't because that's not what the thread is about.

In the meantime, I'll go put some of my medication in the fish tank and watch the fish swim sideways

[Bealzebub]

Swordfish, this might sound a bit curt, but your question is a bit like how long is a piece of string. There is no such thing as an average commercial pilot. There are commercial pilots working for airlines, air taxi operators, private companies, aircraft manufacturers, develoment companies, agricultural companies, helicopter operators, flying schools etc etc.

There is a huge variation in salaries between companies, countries, and types of flying. even if you added them all together and found the mean average ( and the average often is mean!) it wouldn't necessarily be representative of the area you might be interested in.

Taxes are a deduction that are levied on an individual and vary from one person to another because of the distortions caused by personal allowances amongst other things. Thus all salaries are quoted gross, that is excluding the effects of taxes or other deductions.


If you are interested in any specific area or region a quick search on this site or perhaps a more general search would assist you.

[Laker]

Here are some US numbers.

Senior Delta captain 23k/month (us dollars).
Senior Ual captain 16k/month
Senior NWA captain 19k/month

Average regional FO 18k-35k year
Average regional CA 55k-75k/year

Average flight instructor 10k-25k/year

[witchdoctor]

Take a look at www.ppjn.com and pick your country and operator of choice. I presume the figures available are accurate enough.

[Ignition Override]

The_Swordfish: you are probably with the media, but despite that possibility, are you aware that a pilot who goes the civilian route, in the US, must spend at least $15,000 or much more for training through the instrument, multi and ATP ratings? In addition to that reality, very many of them also paid over $10,000 for training at Comair, Gulfstream schools etc on simulators (in the left seat...)-but despite having paid the same price as somebody on a type-rating course, these regional airline candidates were forbidden to earn the aircraft "type rating" (from the same left seat-for very similar training)!!; with a successful finish most of them received job offers-to fly as First Officer on a turboprop or fanjet (pure jet) at about minimum wage...one guy paid for his SF-340 training and later bought a DC-9 type-rating in order to work at Valuejet, now known as Airtran.

What an enormous financial price to pay for various training, just to work at about the US minimum wage or not too much more! Years ago, these type-rated First Officers at Valuejet (as reported by FAPA/AirInc?) were paid about $2,000 per month (Captains about $3500 before taxes), with no sick leave, retirement etc.

Of course without the very expensive packaged sim course, most are only qualified to work as an instructor in small single engine or light twin aircraft, and for quite a while, at about minimum wage. Some lucky ones get to log some hours in a relative's private plane, but they are in a minority.