Pilots are NOT "dime a dozen"!

[mwabd1 0]

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He was offing a guarantee of $500 a week with the possibility to make more if the DZ is busy, 15 per load. And wanted a year commitment, seven days a week. And he wanted someone he didn't need to train.

$15 per load......in a king air........lets say a good king air........thats still gonna be around......$60-75$ per hours on the weekend.........that's pretty damn good considering that you are paying nothing to build multi engine turbine time!

YOUR NOT A BRAIN SURGEON!!!!

.......I hereby reject your reality and instead choose to insert my own!

[JumpShipGypsy 0]

So if a pilot works from 9 am till 9pm Saturday and Sunday, gets paid $15 per load, and does 20 loads, thats 60 per hour? i dont think so. More like $25 per hour if you figure all day at the DZ.

What about on Tuesday, when the pilot still has to be there all day to do 3 loads.

What if it rains all day, but looks like it could improve any minute?

[JumpShipGypsy 0]

Except for WPS im done flying jumpers. I like Alaska and intend to stay here. This isnt about me, its about the situation in general with pillots and DZs


Pilots, quit your job at the DZ and come to Alaska. There are jobs here for low time pilots if you are willing to work hard. And they pay real money.
(Unless you like being broke and flying trashy airplanes)
Ben

[headoverheels 333]

Seems like there is a significant supply of pilots who are looking for the guys handing out the dimes.

[TomSpoon 4]

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A commercial airline pilot gets paid 350,000 per year.

Most people will start with the regionals at somewhere around 30k and go up slowly from there.

What airline pays $350k?

What regional starts out at $30k ?

Someone's been watching to many fox news stories about greedy overpaid airline pilots.

This video shows the reality of an airline career.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RayMaswju1A[email]

[bigway 4]

I know a few people on 350,000 a year flying as captains on 747's.

.Karnage Krew Gear Store
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[bigway 4]

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Pilots, quit your job at the DZ and come to Alaska. There are jobs here for low time pilots if you are willing to work hard. And they pay real money.
(Unless you like being broke and flying trashy airplanes)

I sure hope no dz ever lets you fly our fantastic planes again. You are so ungrateful.


I guess you dont really give a shit about our sport.
What an insult you just said there. We have some aw3esome aircrafts in this sport.

.Karnage Krew Gear Store
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[billvon 3,058]

Your one warning. No personal attacks.

[bigway 4]

And that was the deleted version. Sorry

.Karnage Krew Gear Store
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[JumpShipGypsy 0]

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Pilots, quit your job at the DZ and come to Alaska. There are jobs here for low time pilots if you are willing to work hard. And they pay real money.
(Unless you like being broke and flying trashy airplanes)

I sure hope no dz ever lets you fly our fantastic planes again. You are so ungrateful.


I guess you dont really give a shit about our sport.
What an insult you just said there. We have some aw3esome aircrafts in this sport.

Ive flown some good ones, and some junk. Just because it has nice paint doesnt mean its in good shape. And just becuse its ugly dosnt mean its dangerous. Im a sport jumper, but i woulnt judge if your tandem rig is in good repair. Unless someone is an pilot, or better yet an A&P, you dont really know.

[TomSpoon 4]

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$15 per load......in a king air........lets say a good king air........thats still gonna be around......$60-75$ per hours on the weekend.........that's pretty damn good considering that you are paying nothing to build multi engine turbine time!

YOUR NOT A BRAIN SURGEON!!!!

He's not a brain surgeon and neither are you.

Not even Mike Mullins King air can average five loads per hour.

Two and a half loads an hour would be about right.

[darkwing 5]

I guess I'd like to know what you would consider a fair wage. From that I'll consider the impact on my jumping, and decide as always, how the risks and benefits add up. Virtually everything we do we willingly trade away safety. Otherwise we'd all wear helmets in our cars.

-- Jeff
My Skydiving History

[headoverheels 333]

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This video shows the reality of an airline career.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RayMaswju1A

Yeah, well, they can't even spent "monthly" correctly.

Obviously, there is more supply than demand. I don't understand the attraction, if the money isn't there. It seems like a pretty boring job to me, often with undesirable hours.

[JumpShipGypsy 0]

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I guess I'd like to know what you would consider a fair wage. From that I'll consider the impact on my jumping, and decide as always, how the risks and benefits add up. Virtually everything we do we willingly trade away safety. Otherwise we'd all wear helmets in our cars.

Lets start with a living wage.

[billvon 3,058]

>Lets start with a living wage.

Hmm. If you did that for pilots, you'd probably also have to do that for riggers, instructors and packers. And the sport would rapidly have only two sorts of people in it - very rich people and employees.

[TomSpoon 4]

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I know a few people on 350,000 a year flying as captains on 747's.

Wow, Someone is drinking the Kool Aid

I'm real curious to know what company they work for.

It's certainly not in the USA.

This link has fairly accurate pay scales for most of the industry.Though I hate the name of the web site.

Multiply the hourly rate by a thousand to get the maximum annual salary for a very hard working pilot.

http://www.willflyforfood.cc/Payscales/PayScales.htm

[JumpShipGypsy 0]

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>Lets start with a living wage.

Hmm. If you did that for pilots, you'd probably also have to do that for riggers, instructors and packers. And the sport would rapidly have only two sorts of people in it - very rich people and employees.

At most DZs the riggers, packers and instructors made significanty more than the pilot. fact is, for awhile i would pack between loads and while everyone else was drinking, so i could afford to eat. Ben

[bigway 4]

Pm sent

.Karnage Krew Gear Store
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[AFFI 0]

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>Lets start with a living wage.

Hmm. If you did that for pilots, you'd probably also have to do that for riggers, instructors and packers. And the sport would rapidly have only two sorts of people in it - very rich people and employees.

Yup...

I walked away from a nice career, home and lifestyle for 7 years in a small camper living the DZ lifestyle making a fraction of what I was earning annually in the real world...


It was SOOOOOOOO worth it, wish I could go another 7 but all good things eventually come to an end eh?

I was lucky to have had the time to spend in poverty because it (skydiving) enriched my life in so many other ways...

Alternatively I totally respect the OP’s perspective. There were times when I needed money for things when I would ask myself what the hell I was doing, but still, overall it was so worth it...
-

Mykel AFF-I10
Skydiving Priorities: 1) Open Canopy. 2) Land Safely. 3) Don’t hurt anyone. 4) Repeat…

[bigway 4]

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Wow, Someone is drinking the Kool Aide

What is that suppose to mean?

.Karnage Krew Gear Store
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[TomSpoon 4]

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Wow, Someone is drinking the Kool Aide

What is that suppose to mean?

Maybe this will help.

http://www.wordspy.com/words/drinktheKool-Aid.asp

[Mr17Hz 1]

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I love my job, I love being around skydivers all day and I love the Twin Otter. Because of that I don't mind not making much money. It's enough to survive, I like my boss and the people I work with, and I look forward to going to work every day so I can't complain.

This is the key point. Working for a great place, with great people ALWAYS adds value to a job. A DZO can get away with paying less 'cash' but when it comes down to it that DZO is still giving in other ways.

The original reference to a DZO who's been looking for a pilot for a long time and hasn't found him - may not have a reputation high enough to allow him to pay lower rates.

Running a business isn't easy work. Running a sucessful business is even more difficult, and running a sucessful business as a dropzone may just be one of the most difficult challenges.

Starting prices are based on supply and demand - just like ANY JOB. Loyalty and devotion can set you apart from the rest, but only when you're working for people who run their business for pride.

It is absolutely a life style. "When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward."

Matt Christenson

mattchristenson@realskydiving.com
http://www.RealDropzone.com - A new breed of dropzone manifest software.

[billvon 3,058]

>At most DZs the riggers, packers and instructors made significanty more than the pilot.

I don't think any of them make what would be considered a "living wage" by most people. Instructors/pilots/packers tolerate that because they love what they're doing. A DZ definitely isn't a place to pursue lucrative employment, but it can be a good place to jump and make a little money.

[diverdriver 6]

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A commercial airline pilot gets paid 350,000 per year. If you have to spend some years getting to that level flying skydivers for peanuts who gives a shit? At least you have the opportunity to get there. None of us skydivers have that opportunity to turn our career into something that pays that well.

Hell, you should be paying us for giving you the damn opportunity and giving you the path to get there by us letting you fly us to altitude.

350K!!! Bullshit!! And even those that might get to 300K those were only the most senior (maybe 5%) top seniority pilots. After all the bankruptcies there ain't no 300K pilots flying for the airlines in the USA anymore. That was very short lived. Lots of people are stuck in the regionals now which is where we went after we did all that time building. I'm lucky to be at the regional I am. And I'm not by any stretch of the word rich. That's after spending 7 years after college flight instructing, doing aerial photography, and flying jumpers full time for 4 of those years.

Rich airline pilots... I laugh every time I hear that. The general flying public has no clue what we really make. Reporters took the FAA max hours allowed per year of 1,000 and multiplied it to the hourly rate pilots might have made and that's how they reported 300K. In reality, I think I know of one pilot in one year who actually got close to 1,000 hours of block. He still didn't break 6 figures. And I'm flying out of every major/busy airport in the nation every day.

Oh... that just got my blood boiling.

[diverdriver 6]

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This video shows the reality of an airline career.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RayMaswju1A

Yeah, well, they can't even spent "monthly" correctly.

Obviously, there is more supply than demand. I don't understand the attraction, if the money isn't there. It seems like a pretty boring job to me, often with undesirable hours.

Actually, enrollment in flight schools is significantly down. The pool of pilots is going to dry up in a few years if this continues. Things will turn around. But the days of old will not return. No more pensions promised as no one will believe they will be around. And no more W-2s approaching 300K. That's pretty much gone for good I suspect unless we start flying LEO planes.