Dudley Henriques wrote:
Fortunately for me, my career in aviation went another route away from
the majors and I never had to deal with these issues.
I did however have a student of mine call me one day to announce he had
just gotten a left seat ride for United. He told me what the salary was
and I can tell you for sure it was a whole lot better than 22K a year.
But like a lot of other big money boys, he also is "retired now".


When people ask me about the money available to pilots, I always explain it in
terms of professional baseball. Every kid on the corner dreams of the glory and
the money of being a professional player with the attending money and perks.
Unfortunately there are only so many teams and so many slots on those teams.
And for everybody who makes it, there are a 1000 guys left in the sandlot.

Even if you do make it to the majors, you have to survive the minors to get
there.... years of required high performance with very little reward. Back when
I came closest to achieving the dream, the most money I ever made was
$1000/month paid under the table to work as a freight dog flying five days a
week in any weather in equipment not certified for icing conditions. I loved
the flying most days. Sometimes I was terrified. But I always starved.

For the guys who make it, it's great. Everybody else suffers. It's good to
know the present generation is getting screwed over as well as the past one was.



--
Mortimer Schnerd, RN
mschnerdatcarolina.rr.com