Paramedic Who Makes $15/hr. Destroys Every Complaint About Fast Food Workers Earning The Same Amoun

[freshwest]

21. So Moore's is a false story? Or biased? Pilots once had 'free' military training, but not now:

It's Truly Terrifying That Some Pilots Earn Near Minimum Wage



By Emily Cohn - 02/12/2014

The next time you're flying in an airplane consider this: The person operating the aircraft might not be making much more than the person who made the Egg McMuffin you ate for breakfast.

That's right. According to the Wall Street Journal, new airline pilots rank among the lowest-paid workers in the country, with some regional pilots earning as little as $15,000 per year.

That's horrifying for a number of obvious reasons. For one, $15,000 -- or even $22,400 a year, the starting salary for pilots at 14 regional airlines -- is lower than the federal poverty line for a family of four in the U.S.

It's also startling because of the extraordinary price of becoming a pilot in the first place. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, airline pilots usually need a bachelor's degree, a pilot's license, and certification that requires hundreds of hours of flight training. According to Bloomberg Businessweek, the cost of training flights alone can set you back more than $100,000...

More at the link:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/12/pilots-minimum-wage_n_4775989.html

'Flying Cheap': Buckle up, indeed

By Hank Stuever - February 9, 2010

Anyone who regularly travels to the less glamorous American cities knows what happens after a layover in the hub: Your ticket may say Delta or United or Continental, but that's not exactly true now, is it? For the last leg, to, say, Wichita, you're flying Colgan, Pinnacle -- who? Hunh?

Buckle up and enjoy a renewed sense of doom from watching -- what else? -- the always grim but journalistically committed "Frontline." In Tuesday night's installment, "Flying Cheap," producer Rick Young and aviation correspondent Miles O'Brien examine the unsavory business practices and regulation-skirting circumstances that may have led to the crash a year ago of Continental Flight 3407 in Buffalo, which killed 50 people. The flying had been outsourced to Manassas-based Colgan Air. (Results of a National Transportation Safety Board investigation last week blamed pilot error in the crash.)

"Frontline" almost never fails to make its case, but it seems fairly easy to make here, through interviews with former pilots, Federal Aviation Administration investigators and grieving relatives of those who died on Flight 3407. Cockpit transcripts reveal two underpaid, unexperienced pilots yawning and complaining about their grueling commutes. They lost control of their plane just a month after the nation had been celebrating the cool, experienced reserve shown by Chesley Sullenberger, who successfully landed his disabled US Airways jetliner in the Hudson River with no casualties. The difference? A captain like Sully is expensive.

That cheap ticket you found online is the byproduct of deregulation in the extreme, which allows major carriers to transfer to smaller carriers the high-cost (and all liabilities) of what once might have been a costlier, premium flight. According to "Frontline," half of all domestic flights are now handled by smaller carriers, no matter what the brand-name logo on the plane's tail might suggest. And, as it happens, the last six fatal crashes in the United States involved commuter flights.

For these carriers to turn a profit, "Frontline" reports, rookie pilots are pushed into the captain's (or first officer's) seats, and poorly paid. Although this isn't exactly news, "Flying Cheap's" most fascinating moments are when the cameras accompany an unidentified group of pilots into their "crash pad" -- a two-bedroom, airport-proximate apartment in an unnamed Northeastern city where as many as a dozen pilots split the rent. Forced to commute cross-country and then fly, some earn as little as $16,000 a year to start...

More at the link:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/08/AR2010020803502.html

I remember when airline travel was really good. At times, not so good. I've been on flights with a lot of room, others like sardine cans. I remember getting on a special with American Airlines in the summer. So many flights were lined up, that we were left on the tarmack which was over 100 degrees for almost two hours with no water, drinks or A/C. I never took a special again, as my kid nearly had a heat stroke. They have really cut expenses with de-regulation.