I passed my 8 year anniversary last week. Eight years! I thought I'd be close to 7000 hours total time as I figured all pilots fly as much as possible. Nah. I'm right around 5200 hours total time. I was hired with just 560....so in 8 years I've flown about 575 hours a year. Not a lot. Of course I've taken a good 16 weeks of vacation....almost 4 months. Plus I took a few months off when my daughter was born. Blah.
It's good I was awarded an upgrade as I'm topped out on the First Officer pay scale. Yep no more money for me until I upgrade.
I have been crafty in getting paid for more than I fly. So far this year I've flown 507 hours but have been paid more than $46,000 in non-taxable income (thus I'm excluding my per diem). That equates to almost $92 an hour. This is more than double my actual pay. The discrepancy is due to bonuses, overtime pay and "blood money".
The "blood money" was paid out due to my pilot group signing a new contract with the company. we agreed to concessions in exchange for new planes and a bonus check. It was a bad idea, but what's done is done. I get another payout when I upgrade to Captain.
I'm guessing I will hit training in February.....could be earlier. Posting should begin to pick up again. The last few months have been quite boring really.
As one no longer active in the industry, the bidding, promotion, compensation and commuting rules and procedures are often foreign to me. What is never foreign are the several QOL issues. *IF* you can cope with having to commute for a while and not always being able to hold the 'line' that best suits your QOL needs, the income boost associated with that 4th stripe will be very nice. Even after considering the expense of commuting (there IS some cost), you'll be in good shape.
ReplyDeleteEight years was a long wait, you stuck it out (and bitched a lot) but you made it. Given your background, the upgrade training should not be horrible, but the folks paying you can and will insist that you do it Their Way, brakes-off to brakes-on and a lot more on both ends. Even in today's tightly managed operational environment, the man or woman in seat 0A remains Personally Responsible for everything. (Mrs. Geek and Baby Geek (now pushing 21+ I'm sure) want you home as often as possible. Congratulations and best wishes.... -Cg
Why aren't the pics showing up on your blog? I'm using iphone and iPad. Love reading your blog...can't wait to hear about your experience getting to Captain!
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