Take Flight With Your Career [Infographic]

Matthew Gates http://notetoservices.com 4m 972 #pilot

The views of this article are the perspective of the author and may not be reflective of Confessions of the Professions.

Consider A Career As An Airline Pilot

First and foremost: if you love flying and want to take flight as a career, consider a job as an airline pilot. If you are in it only for the money, you will end up hating it, and should not do it. Being an airline pilot certainly has plenty of advantages, but it can be extremely stressful. It does require the you work in a small confined area with one or two other people, who you will either work with or be commanding. You will also be responsible for the lives of hundreds of thousands of people every year who depend on you to get them from one airport to another in a timely manner.

Your mission is to get them from one place to another in all different kinds of weather, day or night, and you may even work your way up to flying across ocean spans from country to country. Keeping that in mind, the job is not for everyone and does require years of training, from learning how to fly, learning how to read instruments and interpret data, to learning how to land a plane filled with hundreds of passengers. You must also have knowledge of your aircraft and know when the airplane must undergo general or heavy maintenance and repair.

According to O*NET Online (Commercial Pilots and Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers), you should have at least a Bachelor’s degree with additional specialized training. An airline pilot’s job requires dependability, attention to detail, good leadership, stress tolerance, and self-control. You must also be able to work independently and understand what to do in crises situations while learning how to remain calm. You should have good investigative, conventional, and realistic interests, which may require you to understand what you are seeing, make sense of it, and use it to your knowledge. You must also have the extreme discipline to follow authority. Lastly, if you fear heights or claustrophobia, this is not the job for you.

Considering the thousands of planes that fly everyday, pilots are certainly in demand. Average wages as of 2015 are $117,290. Current employment rates for airline pilots stand at 44,000 to 76,000 employees, with above average growth (9% to 13%) expected within the next 10 years. Median age for new pilot hires is age 35. Expected job openings for this career are about 15,000 to 20,000. You could work for all the major airlines or for private airlines, as there are plenty of wealthy businessmen and businesswomen who do not fly on commercial planes.

This infographic covers what pilots earn depending on the airlines they fly, their experience, and where they fly.

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TAKE FLIGHT WITH YOUR CAREER

WHAT PILOTS EARN

INDUSTRY AVERAGES

• Those in the top 10% made more than $187,200
• According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the media annual wage for airline pilots, copilots, and flight engineers is $114,200 as of May 2012
• Those in the bottom 10% made less than $66,970
• Airline pilots fly for an average of 75 hours a month
• and perform 150 hours of other duties
• Most airline pilots begin their careers at a salary of about $20,000 a year
• This increases annually until the pilot accumulates enough hours and experience to become a captain
• Captains have an average annual salary of about:
  • $55,000 at regional airlines
  • $135,000 at major airlines

SALARIES BY AIRCRAFT SIZE

Median Annual Salary for Captain

• LARGE JET $121,408
• LARGE NON-JET $79,106
• SMALL JET $104,219
• SMALL NON-JET $85,418

INTERNATIONAL AND NATIONAL AIRLINES

MONTHLY PAY

CATHAY PACIFIC FOR 747

YEAR 1 FIRST OFFICER $5,811 CAPTAIN $11,109
YEAR 5 FIRST OFFICER $7,794 CAPTAIN $12,025
YEAR 10 FIRST OFFICER $8,878 CAPTAIN $13,515

EMIRATES

YEAR 1 FIRST OFFICER $5663 CAPTAIN $8,084
YEAR 5 FIRST OFFICER $6,373 CAPTAIN $9,098
YEAR 10 FIRST OFFICER $6,761 CAPTAIN $10,548

ETIHAD

YEAR 1 FIRST OFFICER $7,075 CAPTAIN $9,578
YEAR 5 FIRST OFFICER $7,657 CAPTAIN $10,366
YEAR 10 FIRST OFFICER $8,452 CAPTAIN $12,013

HOURLY PAY

AIRTRAN AIRWAYS FOR 717 OR 737-700

YEAR 1 FIRST OFFICER $43 CAPTAIN $109
YEAR 5 FIRST OFFICER $94 CAPTAIN $138
YEAR 10 FIRST OFFICER $105 CAPTAIN $161

FRONTIER AIRLINES FOR A319

YEAR 1 FIRST OFFICER $37 CAPTAIN $111
YEAR 5 FIRST OFFICER $82 CAPTAIN $133
YEAR 10 FIRST OFFICER $91 CAPTAIN $146

SOUTHWEST AIRLINES FOR 737

YEAR 1 FIRST OFFICER $57 CAPTAIN $191
YEAR 5 FIRST OFFICER $130 CAPTAIN $200
YEAR 10 FIRST OFFICER $148 CAPTAIN $212

ALLEGIANT AIR FOR 757, A319, OR MD80

YEAR 1 FIRST OFFICER $41 CAPTAIN $145
YEAR 5 FIRST OFFICER $109CAPTAIN $173
YEAR 10 FIRST OFFICER $123 CAPTAIN $184

JETBLUE AIRWAYS FOR A320

YEAR 1 FIRST OFFICER $49 CAPTAIN $145
YEAR 5 FIRST OFFICER $109 CAPTAIN $173
YEAR 10 FIRST OFFICER $123 CAPTAIN $184

SKYWEST FOR CRJ200

YEAR 1 FIRST OFFICER $22 CAPTAIN $61
YEAR 5 FIRST OFFICER $42 CAPTAIN $70
YEAR 10 FIRST OFFICER N/A CAPTAIN $82

SPIRIT AIRLINES FOR A319, A320, OR A321

YEAR 1 FIRST OFFICER $38 CAPTAIN $99
YEAR 5 FIRST OFFICER $88 CAPTAIN $133
YEAR 10 FIRST OFFICER $107 CAPTAIN $156

VIRGIN AMERICA FOR A319

YEAR 1 FIRST OFFICER $52 CAPTAIN $120
YEAR 5 FIRST OFFICER $93 CAPTAIN $146
YEAR 10 FIRST OFFICER $104 CAPTAIN $162

ALASKA AIRLINES FOR B737

YEAR 1 FIRST OFFICER $53 CAPTAIN $170
YEAR 5 FIRST OFFICER $116 CAPTAIN $176
YEAR 10 FIRST OFFICER $130 CAPTAIN $193

DELTA AIRLINES FOR 747-400

YEAR 1 FIRST OFFICER $68 CAPTAIN $241
YEAR 5 FIRST OFFICER $160 CAPTAIN $248
YEAR 10 FIRST OFFICER $176 CAPTAIN $259

UNITED AIRLINES FOR 747-400

YEAR 1 FIRST OFFICER $66 CAPTAIN $233
YEAR 5 FIRST OFFICER $155 CAPTAIN $241
YEAR 10 FIRST OFFICER $170 CAPTAIN $251

AMERICAN AIRLINES FOR 777-200

YEAR 1 FIRST OFFICER $35 CAPTAIN $40
YEAR 5 FIRST OFFICER $135 CAPTAIN $217
YEAR 10 FIRST OFFICER $152 CAPTAIN $226

HAWAIIAN AIRLINES FOR 717

YEAR 1 FIRST OFFICER $36 CAPTAIN $163
YEAR 5 FIRST OFFICER $100 CAPTAIN $165
YEAR 10 FIRST OFFICER $115 CAPTAIN $167

US AIRWAYS FOR 757-200

YEAR 1 FIRST OFFICER $35 CAPTAIN $40
YEAR 5 FIRST OFFICER $114 CAPTAIN $184
YEAR 10 FIRST OFFICER $129 CAPTAIN $192

REGIONAL AIRLINES

HOURLY PAY

AIR WISCONSIN FOR CRJ200

YEAR 1 FIRST OFFICER $26 CAPTAIN $61
YEAR 5 FIRST OFFICER $42 CAPTAIN $78
YEAR 10 FIRST OFFICER $46 CAPTAIN $82

COMMUTAIR FOR Q200

YEAR 1 FIRST OFFICER $30 CAPTAIN $48
YEAR 5 FIRST OFFICER $35 CAPTAIN $53
YEAR 10 FIRST OFFICER N/A CAPTAIN $60

ISLAND AIR FOR DHC-8-400

YEAR 1 FIRST OFFICER $26 CAPTAIN $50
YEAR 5 FIRST OFFICER $40 CAPTAIN $54
YEAR 10 FIRST OFFICER $40 CAPTAIN $78

PENINSULA AIRWAYS FOR SAAB 340B

YEAR 1 FIRST OFFICER $25 CAPTAIN $50
YEAR 5 FIRST OFFICER $40 CAPTAIN $54
YEAR 10 FIRST OFFICER $40 CAPTAIN $72

HORIZON AIR FOR Q400

YEAR 1 FIRST OFFICER $30 CAPTAIN $67
YEAR 5 FIRST OFFICER $44 CAPTAIN $76
YEAR 10 FIRST OFFICER $47 CAPTAIN $90

TRANS STATES AIRLINES FOR EMB145

YEAR 1 FIRST OFFICER $23 CAPTAIN $59
YEAR 5 FIRST OFFICER $39 CAPTAIN $68
YEAR 10 FIRST OFFICER $41 CAPTAIN $78

SEABORNE AIRLINES FOR DHC6

YEAR 1 FIRST OFFICER $25 CAPTAIN $40
YEAR 5 FIRST OFFICER $37 CAPTAIN $48
YEAR 10 FIRST OFFICER $40 CAPTAIN $58

Source: https://www.pea.com/airline-pilot-salary/

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