Answer - Helicopter Pilot Salary Survey  

Credibility for doing what?  I am not trying to sell anyone anything.  It seems the credibility problem is with people who come here and blow smoke up peoples butts about how 21 year olds, who can't even quallify for an ATP are making double, triple, or whatever other number they make up, what a SPIFR EMS pilot makes.  

Truth is a regional FO will work longer, harder, and for less money than a GOM SIC or HEMS SPIFR.  If you don't believe me the payscales are published, and you just need to read the news or any airline pilot message board to figure out where the whole airline career field is going.  Throwing money at a problem only offers a temporary solution to some.  It doesn't fix work rules, scheduling or management issues that have plagued the industry for half a century.  

Most of you guys don't know anything about how the airline  industry works and don't ask the right questions.  Pay starts when the aircraft  door closes or at some carriers when the wheels come up.  You may physically be at work 14 hours and get paid for four.  You may live somewhere your airline has a domicile, but they still base you somewhere else anyway, then you are forced to commute and pay rent on a crash pad or for a hotel room. Do you know how much you have to pay for parking at the airport you commute from?  If commute you often don't get employee parking at the airport unless you work there.  Then there are food costs.  You get per diem but it barely cover the costs of having to eat out every meal. 

So if you are thinking of leaving say a 7 and 7 HEMS job where you do nothing for most of your shift, where you are home everyday, for less money, or even slightly more money but a lot more inconvenience, then you should consider all the costs, not just what you see in a pay scale.  

I wasnt flying HEMS but with my helicopter job, airline captain  (once  made captain after six years or so of being an FO for less money) would have paid about $40,000 a year more.  I didnt have to commute from another state, I wasn't in the road 160+ days a year, I didn't have to pay rent or have a second car, I didn't have to pay for parking.  So the $40,000 extra just wasn't worth the hassle.