Why are flying lessons so expensive

[pete.dakota]

So why do airline pilots earn crappy salaries if they are supposed to be specialized?

Even an astronaut won't be rich with an astronaut salary.

Pilots make crappy salaries!? Looks like I'm on the wrong ladder...

Maybe I'll become a dentist. Can't imagine oil prices having any debilitating effect on people's desire for white, shiny teeth. :shout:

 

[matthijskuiper]

guess i'll go to the states for my wings.
would cost me anywhere from $8000 up to $200000 for the B737.
(only the airforce is for free and they train in the states as well)

maybe if i take lessons in congo i could do it for $1000.

 

[Eagle]

(only the airforce is for free and they train in the states as well)

Not free if pilot/nav isn't your job description. But AF bases have aero clubs where you can get a private licensee at about half the regular cost.

 

[ar81]

Pilots make crappy salaries!? Looks like I'm on the wrong ladder...

Maybe I'll become a dentist. Can't imagine oil prices having any debilitating effect on people's desire for white, shiny teeth. :shout:

If I am correct, top salary of an astronaut is about $8500 a month. Considering the amount of risk, and specialization, that's crappy.
Airline pilots must be earning less.

 

[Bullethead]

So why do airline pilots earn crappy salaries if they are supposed to be specialized?

Unless you're a professional athlete, you're never going to get rich working for somebody else. That applies to airline pilots as much as any other working stiff.

Even an astronaut won't be rich with an astronaut salary.

You're especially not going to get rich on a government paycheck.

 

[simonpro]

So why do airline pilots earn crappy salaries if they are supposed to be specialized?

Being a pilot isn't that much of a specialist job, there's loads of pilots out there. It is, however, specialist compared to learning how to drive a car, which is what I was comparing it to in the first place.
Compared to a lot of other things learning to fly isn't that expensive, it's all relative.


Also, Pilot salaries are pretty rubbish as there's little demand for pilots at the moment. Airlines are cutting back, people want cheaper tickets.. not conducive to good salaries.

 

[replicant]

Unless you're a professional athlete, you're never going to get rich working for somebody else. That applies to airline pilots as much as any other working stiff.

Oh so true, if I had known then what I know now.......

Also, Pilot salaries are pretty rubbish as there's little demand for pilots at the moment. Airlines are cutting back, people want cheaper tickets.. not conducive to good salaries.

That is a great deal of it. However, a lot of it has also been pilots as a group letting our own throats be cut. When you don't stand up and say, "hey, I won't accept this bad contract or this pay cut just so I can work more and get that boat", it is easy to divide and conquer. A great deal of anything is negotiation, even in bad times. It is also a fact now that the single greatest expenditure for an airline now is no longer labor, it is fuel.


-----Posted Added-----


By the way, the cost of the lessons aren't the instructor, even though it should be. When you flight instruct, you take your life in your hands :rofl:

 

[James.Denholm]

When you don't stand up and say, "hey, I won't accept this bad contract or this pay cut just so I can work more and get that boat", it is easy to divide and conquer.

That's right, go on strike, that's what we buy our plane tickets for...

 

[David]

In that case, you're more than welcome to learn to fly, as a wise man once put it, by falling down and missing the ground.

Sadly, lower-level licenses are not awarded for mastering only the first part. Happily, they are also not required for practicing the first part.

 

[Urwumpe]

Sadly, lower-level licenses are not awarded for mastering only the first part. Happily, they are also not required for practicing the first part.

Tame birds sing about flying. Wild birds fly.