Few Questions for Pilots?

Question

if i were to become a pilot would i get good pay and would i be able to come home everyday? and if i dont come home would i stay at a hotel and if i did stay at a hotel would it be paid for and how long would i stay there for?

Answer 1

Good pay ?  No.

Come home every day?  --Only with some pilot jobs.  --Not with most.

Hotel is paid for by the company.  

You can be kept away from home for several weeks at a time.  11 weeks was the longest I was away flying.

Answer 2

Starting out as a pilot, if lucky enough, you start as FO - first officer for a regional airline... No they do not make much money. You will spend quite some time. Although some predict the mandatory retirement at age 60 is going to speed up the process of graduating to the "heavy iron".

A high seniority captain flying the wide bodies can make over $200 annual. A word of warning. Those positions are few and far between. A captain on a 757 does well enough, although pilots are pursuing their own endeavours during their off time, to supplement income since furloughs/layoffs are commonplace.

You would typically be assigned a trip. A trip could be an elaborate circuit that starts and hopefully ends at your homebase, although if it doesnt you simply have to dead head to the right city. A typical trip last three or four days.

For example, Capt. Les Abend, American Airlines and Flying Magazine contributor, lives in New Jersey. His home base is considered JFK. But many of his trips start out at American's hub in Miami. He will dead-head or jumpseat to Miami to start his trip. This is done on his own time, but at no expense to him. From Miami, he typically flies a 757 to San Juan or Punta Cana. He usually lays over at a hotel (a pretty nice one from the way he writes about it). The airline pays for the room. He wakes up and flies back to Miami the next day, then heads to Montego Bay, Jamaica... Layover one night, fly to Dallas/Fort Worth and then back to Miami. All hotel and meals are paid for. The only thing I believe he pays for are bottles of various rums from the Duty Free shops.. He's a big fan of the sauce but minds the bottle to throttle rules Im sure.

Once back at Miami, he dead-heads on his own time again back to JFK, hops in his pickup truck and back to home in Jersey.

In his column, he sometimes complains about it, at one point considering a second home in Florida... He says finances preclude this but somehow I think that being able to consider it in the first place indicates that he does quite well for himself. Plus, a column in a major aviation publication probably pays a nice penny on the side too.

Its a lifestyle you have to want to endure, but I think its also one that you will manage to enjoy...

Good Luck

Answer 3

Good Pay?.. if your in it to make money.. quit now and go work at walmart.. think im joking, im not.. a regional manger with walmart makes more than a capt for a regional..

Some airlines have scheduled routes, and are home often, more are not. Usually you work 15 days a month, and these can all be in a row..

Hotels are only paid for when on duty, in rest from a trip, or overnighting.. If they get you "home" and you go off duty, the hotel is not paid for.. I.E.. your home base is in DTW and you live in STL (not uncommon either).. they wont pay the hotel while you try and get a jump seat home..

Ive seen crews sit in a hotel almost 2 weeks before getting a trip out.. charter industry.. sorry.. thats the name of the game. You go to bed and an hour later you just started your 14hr duty day.. and are up for the next 16hrs straght with less than 1 hrs sleep in last 36hrs..

Answer 4

1) Sometimes, 2) No, 3) Probably, 4) Depends

Answer 5

So as you see, it does not come up to the expectations you may have gained from popular culture.  Only senior crew members really make good money, and the outlook for the field over the next decade or so is really not good.

You are going to have to be really passionate about it, and really be a survivor and a talented pilot.

In most cases, overnight accommodations are provided by the company in some way or another.  If you want to be home every night, you should plan to be a fireman or a priest.

But there are and will be still some rewarding careers for the determined and talented.

Answer 6

It depends on what type of job you are looking for. Private, Military, etc...

Of course in the military you would receive a salary, you might not get to go home everyday or even for weeks or months.

Flying for an airline company, you would receive your pay under a scheme that would account for the number of trips, how long you spend overseas, and what kind of aircraft you are flying.

No you would not have to pay for a hotel. But i don't think you would be staying in hotels much if you joined the military.