Commercial Pilot Question?

Question

I am wanting to be a pilot. I want to fly jets and that kind of thing. I dont really care about the money but it is on my mind. I really like airplanes and i love flying so i figure why not be a pilot. I know that for the first couple of years pilots make horrible money. I was wandering if you make more money flying in the united states or britain and if you make more as a private pilot vs. working for a major airline.

Answer 1

See this article:

http://science.howstuffworks.com/pilot.h...

Good Luck....

Answer 2

You should check  your medical fitness before venturing into this career.

Look up at this site- http://www.aeromedforum.tk/

Answer 3

The poster above me is not correct.  Even though airlines are feeling the effects of rising fuel costs and have slowed or stopped hiring, CFI's and Commercial Pilots are not "a dime a dozen".  Not yet anyway.

As an example, Air Safety Flight Academy in Phoenix, AZ is recruiting CFI's at a starting salary of $40,000/year.  In most cases, flight instructors are earning $25-$40 an hour.

I recently completed a 9-month gig flying aerial survey in a Cessna 172 for $3800 a month.  

This industry is cyclical.  A year ago it was a hiring frenzy, a year from now it may well be there again.  This is a great time to be getting into the industry.

Answer 4

Here's one man's story (mine). Maybe it will help you decide:

I was hired immediately after flight school as an instructor making less than $15k per year. It took 3+ years to get hired by a regional airline making less than $20k per year. 4+ years into that I was only making $25k and gave up trying to get hired by the majors, so I went to Alaska to be a "bush pilot" at $30k per year (seasonal) and then went into aerial firefighting after that for $40k (seasonal). I'm now an underpaid copilot for a corporate outfit at $35k, but I hardly work at all.

Now, 16,000+ safe and successful flights since starting out, I'm trying to get hired by the majors again, but the economy is terrible and there is very little hiring plus a lot of pilots are out of work so the competetion is fierce. By the time the economy turns around, I'll be too old for them to consider me, so I'll probably open my own flight school and retire doing that. There's no shortage of people wanting to become airline pilots.

I've never made a lot of money as a pilot, I have virtually no retirement to rely on, and not much savings, but I'm not complaining because I've had half a lifetime of mostly wonderful experiences to look back on.

Everyone's experience is different of course.

Answer 5

There is not much money to be made as any kind of pilot at the moment. A private pilot can't earn money with his flying in the US since the only income he can have is sharing expenses with friends he flies with.

He can choose to become a CFI (flight instructor) at a greater investment in training and testing and then he may make ends meet financially if he is very good at his job.

But CFI's and commercial pilots are a dime a dozen now and airlines are doing more firing than hiring because of the gas crunch.

Think about getting your pilot certs as a hobby that may return personal benefits but not much in the way of real income and you will do OK.