Helicopter pilot wants to sell his 2000 PT Cruiser. He puts an ad out for 75k, tells all his friends how much he thinks it's worth, scorns the buyers offering 6k, scorns the dealers offering him 3k on the trade in, tells his wife what an amazing vehicle it is and that it's worth his asking price.

Ends up selling it for 4k on Facebook marketplace to a white guy named Warren.

Tells his friends he settled for 30k.

KINDA LIKE YOUR SALARY. YOU'RE WORTH EXACTLY WHAT THE MARKET SAYS YOU ARE. NOTHING MORE.

getting run off from r-22 school 

named warren lol 

The market has changed. 

The military isn't pumping out pilots with 2,000+ hours anymore. Anyone going in is signing a 10-year contract and will be lucky to have 1k hours when they retire. It's not the GWOT era anymore. Most that got their hours during the GWOT are headed to the airlines. 

The civilian market is focused on feeding the airline machine. There isn't a deluge of new pilots coming up willing to take peanuts just to fly helicopters. 

Every EMS company is hurting for pilots. PHI is offering $100k signing bonuses and still can't fill seats. I get emails every week from every single EMS company trying to recruit me, including the one I currently work for. And it's not getting easier for them. 

Pilots are retiring or losing their medicals faster than they are being added to the industry.

Experienced Helicopter Pilots are worth more than they have at any point in the past, and it's time for us to realize that. We aren't ever going to make the same as in the airlines, but $150k isn't far fetched, and $200k+ isn't out of the question either. 

So you can sit back and complain that pilots are learning to capitalize on the current positions, while you complain about the "good old days" making $40k and living in mold infested quarters. Or you can be proud of the current crop of pilots who are actually making the most of the current market. 

What gets me is this: there’s demand but nobody’s budging on pay. Maybe they’re holding off until things are dire, or maybe they’re letting all of the travel and OT gobbling pilots absorb enough that they’re convinced that they can keep limping along indefinitely. I think the big operators are watching each other to see who blinks first. I mean yeah, pay IS increasing but it’s average and certainly nothing dramatic enough to get me to jump ship. I mean, I get it. If they deliver an huge payout to incoming pilots they will have to give it to all of the existing pilots. 99% of the industry is word of mouth and we all know that all the operators pretty much pay the same. So the ads and the emails and classifieds that never include compensation just fall on deaf ears. 

I don't think you get it bro and what the hell are you even talking about

 Pay is increasing, but not at the low end. If you’re a 2,500 hour pilot getting into EMS for the first time, you are still only going to get $85-95k/year, which honestly isn’t bad.

But if you have more experience, you can get significantly higher. I personally know a pilot who left one operation getting paid a little over $100k/year and went to another and is getting $145k/year, before the signing bonus. And since he’s in a travel position, he will actually clear $200k/year, without pulling extra shifts. 

Pay has increased, but you have to have the experience to claim it, and be willing to work the system to get it. 

I’m a float and have done very few extra shifts and am over $106k for the year thus far. I could easily be above $120k if I would have picked up more shifts. 

surely you can say

Just look in the recruitment ads for companies paying geo-mods or ACRA, plus stipends and you will find your answer. But if you can't figure it out on your own, than I think we found the reason you aren't commanding top pay. 

its called accra but I'm sure you knew that

your pal,

warren the white guy with the 2000 pt cruiser

and I know him personally lol

he knows how to work the system and the recruitment ads

those guys command top pay