What's the Annual Salary of an Airline Pilot

What is the pilot pay for an international airline pilot at a US carrier? When you find out how much a pilot makes a year as a senior airline Captains you may be surprised. In this video I talk about pilot salary from many pilots first pilot job as a regional pilot until the end of their career as a airline captain. A pilots wage has a huge range and I discuss that in the video!

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[Bill]

You guys get paid by the hour? OK I would be avoiding tailwinds and flying with full flaps and the gear down.

[MikeAndNary]

So far I have made $0.00 on my Microsoft flight simulator. I need to simulate on my days off I guess.

[cattleNhay]

It was my childhood wish to become a pilot.. I was introduced to drugs at a young age and have been flying high the last 20 years.

[jacobshaw]

To those of you confused about pilots only working 1, 000 hours per year: it’s not the cakewalk it sounds like. The “1, 000” hours refers to FLIGHT hours. That’s time spent in the air (a bit of an over simplification), not including the time spent in airports between flights, or even the time spent in the plane at the gate getting everything set up for the next flight. Also, don’t forget that when we’re down for the day, we go to a hotel and are away from our families and friends. On most occasions, we’re not having a blast overnighting in popular travel destinations either.
1, 000 flight hours composed of mostly 6-8 hour flights is going to be a lot easier than 1, 000 hours of 1-2 hour flights because of all the unpaid time it takes to get ready for each flight.
This may sound strange, but getting paid this way essentially ensures that the airline’s staffing costs are roughly proportional to their revenue for each flight.

[willowandluka]

When my life is in their hands, they better be getting paid good

[TheCozzie]

Pilots should be paid extremely well as it requires intelligence, expensive training and you have a huge responsibility.

[nick]

These pilots deserve every cent. Thank you for all you do and keeping us safe 🙏🏻

[rick]

In 1979 I was an avionics instructor for a major manufacturer. On a Quantas 747 flight from Los Angeles to Sidney, I was invited up to the cockpit. While drinking coffee, eating pineapple and conversing with the crew, I asked the captain if it was ever boring during those long flights. He replied "yes, but the $1.00 per minute makes up for it." That was an astounding amount of money to me at that time.

[AviatorInspirations]

Great video! Not many people want to talk about pay, but it’s an important topic when considering this career. Keep up the great work 🤙🏻

[michaelbreaux]

I want the pilot on my flight paid well.

[microcolonel]

So the approximate pay scale is somewhere between $69 and $420, got it.

[stick]

This is good information and very true. I like the hourly pay with three 0's added. What you didn't tell people was years/cost of training, hour building and endless resumes sent out. It is probably the only profession that requires an extensive physical check up twice a year as well as bi-annual simulator check-rides that can end your career with one bad judgement call. Not to mention the day to day requirement of being at the top of your professional game ... no "do overs" or just "add some more quarters". Very demanding job but very rewarding if you can maintain for 10+ years, that's when the payoff comes.

[sappermade]

It’s a huge responsibility! You guys have hundreds of lives in your hands and hundreds of millions of dollars of equipment!

[omigawdd]

I work in retail so you broke my brain at just $40 per hour... Haha. I've never really been interested in aviation but your videos are very entertaining and informative. Subbed. I really enjoyed the snarky back and forth between the pilots and ATC videos. CRAZY responsibilities you both have.

[jstrahan]

I recently retired as a First Officer on a 777 with a major U.S. carrier. My gross pay in my last year was about $240K. I flew almost entirely international, but I didn't fly that much overtime.

[neorabado]

I’m glad pilots make that money. Every pilot I’ve come across has been professional and calm. When they have your life in their hands, they better get payed their worth.

[mr.darknight]

For me becoming a pilot is about the job itself, the dream of flying the plane, and the pay is just a bonus for me.

[hotrodhendrix]

Being a mortgage underwriter I get to see pay ranges for many professions. Pilots are an interesting one. Military might be 60k a year but I have come across multiple under contract for their first civilian position 80-160k range. Many of the more seasoned pilots I have come across are 180- 320 range. Enjoyed the video

[pagiel]

I really, really appreciate you discussing this candidly. For most of my life, I was instilled with the stigma associated with discussing money, salary, and many things surrounding it. What I've fairly recently discovered is that serves no purpose but to keep people paid lower wages or salaries than they could be making or are worth. When the people actively discuss money and all things related, the people get smarter and are better equipped to be better off than those who don't. You get a huge like from me on this video. Keep up the great work!

[iceystars]

as someone looking to get into being an airline pilot, this was insanely helpful. thank you for making this video!