Salary
Average Salary: $115,000
Expected Lifetime Earnings: $4,801,020
Unless you train in the military, it costs a lot to go through all of the training and education you are going to need, so prepare to have a little bit of a setback starting out. Once you make it, though, an airline pilot is no shabby gig. On average (at least in May 2012), pilots, copilots, and flight engineers make an average wage of $115,000. At a regional airline, you’ll average a wage of $55,000. And if you’re a high roller at a major airline, you’ll make about $135,000 a year. Like most jobs, though, it starts small (a measly $20,000 per year on top of the debt you acquired as a piloting student…you may want to ask your Mom if the basement is still available).
But even with this fixed pay, there’s a bunch of other ways to make extra cash on the job. For every hour you are away from home, you’ll get an expense allowance, also known as “per diem” (the Latin “for life” because it helps you “to live” your life while you’re away). You also could get some extra pay for international flights, which is a win-win for those of you looking to get your travel on.
You are also eligible for health insurance and retirement benefits, which is great for those of you who sometimes get sick and get old after a while and don’t want to work until you’re 90. For the rest of you robots, this is useless. And, as long as we’re talking benefits, your immediate family will probably be entitled to free or reduced fare flights! Take the whole family to Uzbekistan on the airline’s dime!
And you’re unionized, so you’ve got the power of the people on your side if you feel like you’re ever being gypped.