Using actual numbers, and knowing there will be no pay scale adjust or inflation adjustment, I've got another 20 years or so flying left (with the major assumption that there will still be this type of flying then).
I look at the pay scale and it says it tops out at $143,750. That doesn't look so horrible. But when adjusted for inflation (based on historical data), that $143,750 will only be equivalent to $93,041 in today's dollars. Happily spending a career to bring home less buying power than when you started is insane