Huge pilot shortage everywhere. Have friends who have been flying abroad for years and have been raking it in.

Some tried commuting, and couldn’t stand it. Others moved–some with their families–and couldn’t stand it, but stayed for the money, and still others have stayed and and really enjoy it. Never appealed to me, since we have too many other things going on here.

Income in the states varies by the carrier, whether you fly domestic or international, union contracts, etc., but $300K+ is not uncommon per the above, at certain levels of seniority.

[quote=SK in CV]How much do pilots make from US airlines? I knew pilots that made >$250K 25 years ago. I know that a lot of them took a pay cut, but are they still not back to where they were?[/quote]

I have a few friends/neighbors who are airline pilots, some of them recently retired. The impression I got from all of them was the good-ol’ days of being a pilot are long gone. One of them that I know well says that it downright sucks these days.

Maybe it’s a boom/bust type of career. But I’m always wary of reports of booms coming from China…

[quote=scaredyclassic]self driving planes seem way less complex than self driving cars.

is that a developping technology?[/quote]

There’s an old joke among airline pilots. Background: There used to be 3 pilots in a lot of airliners. There are only 2 in most of them now. Automation has vastly reduced the workload. Even 2 are rarely necessary.

The joke:

Pretty soon, there will be only one pilot and one dog in the cockpit. The pilot will be there to feed the dog, and the dog will be there to bite the pilot if he tries to touch anything.

It’s not a funny joke, but it indicates the direction automation is taking things. Planes can already fly and land themselves quite easily. And the technology no doubt exists to replace pilots altogether for routine flights. But, in real life, for flying people around, you’ll always need at the very least one pilot on board. When the shit hits the fan, no computer can replace the judgment of a human being. Better yet, 2 human beings.

“But, in real life, for flying people around, you’ll always need at the very least one pilot on board. When the shit hits the fan, no computer can replace the judgment of a human being. Better yet, 2 human beings.”

True. Just ask my buddy Sully.

[quote=flyer] Sully.[/quote]

There’s a guy who earned every nickel he ever made in his career and then some, all with one decision. A lot of times you hear, “the pilot was a hero,” when all he did was what any pilot could’ve and would’ve done. But this was different. A brilliant, timely decision, made coolly under massive pressure. I don’t think most pilots would’ve made that decision. “Hero” is a pretty nebulous word, but, to me, Captain Sullenberger showed us what the very best pilots do: Make great and timely decisions when lives are on the line.

Of course, for every Sully, there’s an Air France 447 pilot and a Colgan 3407 pilot and a Comair 5191 pilot. They’re the weak link a lot of the time, precisely because they’re human. But they still have something that is both unachievable by a computer and necessary.

Most modern planes could fly and land on their own. Pilots are there pretty much for take-offs and taxiing.

Yup at one point years ago, the airline pilot was a sweet gig. Not so much anymore from the ones I talk with.