Personal experience: how much do American pilots earn and what do they fear

American pilot Russell Sherwood honestly spoke about the pros and cons of his work, what pilots are afraid of and what they spend a salary of 30+ thousand dollars a month on.

Photo: Shutterstock

His story published edition Kyky.

Sherwood admitted that the main difficulty of the pilot is the need to spend most of the time away from the family.

“Typically, pilots spend more than half the month on flights, spending the night in hotels and not seeing family for three to five days. After the flights, they rest for three or four days, and then fly away again for a few days. Most pilots consider separation from family to be the most difficult psychological aspect of their work. Many flights last more than five hours and take place at night. Working at night for a long time is a test for many: you have to keep a constant focus on monotonous instruments and navigation, not get distracted and not fall asleep,” explained the pilot.

He said that, as a rule, pilots fly 80-100 hours per month. The minimum generation is 75 hours, but it is not an obligation of the pilots, but an obligation of the airline.

“It pays pilots at least 75 hours on a monthly flight, even if they flew just one hour on a scheduled schedule (this is the standard for US and EU airlines). The graph looks like this: 4 / 3, 4 / 4, 3 / 3, 4 / 3, 4 / 4, where the first digit before the fraction is the number of days on flights, and the second is the number of days at rest at home. Of course, pilots can request other graphs, such as 6 / 6. Six days of work in a row in the airline without a break - this is the maximum number under US law. For such requests, pilots use the system Preferential Schedule Bidding System, which allows you to obtain a schedule based on the pilot’s personal preferences, his length of service with the airline and operational requirements. Pilots submit requests 15 days before the start of the next working month, and they are automatically processed by the computer system. If all criteria are met, then the pilot receives the desired work schedule for the next month. But I must say, this does not always happen,” Sherwood explained.

According to him, all pilots are in love with the sky and always remember their first flights.

“Everyone remembers the first flight: he was with an instructor. Later the first was independent, the first was a co-pilot, the first was a captain. It is a wonderful and inexplicable feeling of personal achievement, pleasure and freedom. If after the first flight a person does not fall in love with the sky forever, he is not destined to be a pilot,” he said.

Sherwood noted that the pilots always read news about plane crashes and discuss them among themselves.

“It is important for us to learn from the mistakes of other pilots, controllers, mechanics and engineers, rather than just from our own. This is the strategy that saves lives,” he explained.

Sherwood admitted that all pilots at least sometimes get scared during the flight if something goes wrong, but thanks to the training the pilots show fear in a different way.

“For most people, fear is debilitating - a person freezes, loses the ability to act. For pilots, the reaction to fear is worked out in a completely opposite way - we work more accurately, harder and without interruption. When fear does surface, we act and solve problems even more effectively,” he said.

Sherwood also talked about what fears he experienced personally during the flight.

“I remember this feeling arose when, several years ago, we flew to our destination airport at night and due to a snowstorm, visibility was zero. This weather was not predicted by meteorologists upon departure, and we were not provided with an alternate airport. Fuel was at a minimum due to the "wiggles" around the sudden storm. And as luck would have it, during the landing approach we experienced a failure of the pneumatic heating system for the anti-icing wings. Due to zero visibility, we decided to cancel the landing and hover over the airport for a few minutes, weigh our options, and develop a “plan B.” There is little fuel, we can land while we can, all airports nearby are closed, the wings and engines are beginning to collect heavy ice. After a discussion with the dispatcher and the airport tower, we decided to try one more approach - if it doesn’t work, declare an emergency and try to land at another airport, which is about 30 minutes away (the weather there was also not very good - there were snowstorms and storms throughout the region). Fortunately, upon re-entry, the wave of snowstorms passed and visibility improved slightly. We sat down under minimal legal visibility. But I remember both were scared: scared for the passengers, for the crew, for the plane and for their reputation as a pilot. It’s also a responsibility for your crew members, for the safety of the people below, and, in the end, a responsibility for an airplane that costs between one hundred and two hundred million dollars,” Sherwood said.

The pilot admitted that with stresses during the flight, the pilots often help to cope with alcohol, as well as distracting hobbies.

“Beer therapy,” of course, is not contraindicated after a particularly difficult flight. On the contrary, one or two glasses of beer help you relax. In our profession, moderate consumption prolongs life. Almost all pilots successfully control their addiction to alcohol and very rarely become alcoholics. 2-3 glasses of beer a week are not harmful to health, as far as I know. And sports and various hobbies help cope with stress: golf, hunting, fishing, scuba diving, sailing - and just lying on the seashore with a book is useful. In the USA, Asia, and the Middle East, the average salary for a pilot is quite high, so allowing yourself these pleasures and relaxing as you want is not a problem,” said Sherwood.

He admitted that despite the high salary, many pilots only control the takeoff of the aircraft - the autopilot does the rest, and the pilot himself performs a supervisory function.

“As a rule, the aircraft has the ability to fly on full autopilot, starting from the height of 150 meters after takeoff and up to the landing. However, 99% pilots love to steer by hand and hold the helm or joystick up to about 3000 meters after takeoff and 1000 meters before landing, disabling automation. When the flight height is more than FL290 (8,8 km), manual control is simply prohibited, and the aircraft must fly on autopilot (this zone of flight levels is called RVSM - Reduced Vertical Separation Minimums),” said the pilot.

In addition to high salaries, American pilots also have the opportunity to fly for free on any airline in the United States and with discounts in 90-95% of the cost of tickets on many other airlines in the world. The same discounts are given to their families: wife, children, parents.

The co-pilot in the American airline also receives a fairly high salary.

For example, the co-pilot of a small regional American airline flying a CRJ or ERJ earns $ 3500-5000 per month. Captain $ 6 500-8 000. A co-pilot of a major airline flying a Boeing or Airbus earns from $ 8 000 to $ 13 000 per month. Captain - from $ 15 000 to $ 30 000.

“Typically, all pilots go through this professional and financial progression over several years, reaching the high captain's salary after about ten years of service. It should be noted that salaries in China or in the UAE for co-pilots and captains start from $10 to $000,” Sherwood said.

In this case, the duties of the captain and co-pilot are often the same, they together make strategic decisions and often change roles from flight to flight, to give each other the opportunity to relax, as well as to train flight skills.

Before admission to flight, the pilot passes the test, which lasts several hours.

“Before piloting, pilots undergo a standard test using the Vienna PAT system (Pilot Aptitude Test). The test lasts several hours - pilots are checked for attentiveness, concentration, coordination, the ability to perform several functions at the same time. For example, the pilot is given the task to control the aircraft on the screen with the help of a joystick, simultaneously listen to a series of numbers read by the voice in the headphones, and when the type of the series changes, he must press a button. At the same time, he is given simple mathematical tasks, the solutions of which he must enter on the keyboard. If an applicant receives a score of more than 75% percent, he has a high chance of investing in aviation training standards, in the allotted budget and terms. Especially prestigious institutions and airlines that run their own cadet programs (Lufthansa, Cathay, Emirates, Jet Blue), conduct several test sessions, including exams in mathematics and physics. They have progressive tests to test pure logical thinking, psychology and character weaknesses,” Sherwood said.

The retirement age of a pilot in the United States is not limited to years, only health.

According to Sherwood, pilots often marry flight attendants, because they need an understanding person who knows the essence of their work schedule and will not be constantly distracting.

“Pilots and flight attendants often spend 2-3 days on flights together, staying at the same hotels. If people have a romantic interest in each other, then there are no obstacles to their physical embodiment and the beginning of a serious relationship.

As a rule, we have enough time for our personal life. But you need an understanding partner (remember that approximately 7% of pilots in the US and EU are women), who does not bother you with unimportant problems when you are on a flight, and who, like you, is passionate about his work. That is, he is not bored or lonely. My wife is a Ph.D., serves as a science officer in the US Navy and flies as an experimental psychologist in the F-18. The worst thing in a pilot's life is when his wife or husband constantly sends messages and calls asking: “When will you be home? I'm so lonely! Who are you sleeping with there? Mistrust is the main enemy of any marriage. The pilot loses focus on his work, and this puts the lives of passengers and crew in danger. So pilots tend to choose their wives or husbands very carefully,” Sherwood noted.

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