Everyone knows being a pilot is one of the best-paid jobs out there, usually, but discovering just how much they make an hour is really eye-opening. It’s almost as much as me.
Garret Ray has spilled the beans about how much he earns as a co-pilot, or first officer, on a major airline. His hourly income while flying comes to an impressive $213.97. While co-piloting a plane alongside the captain, he can make thousands per flight.
But, as revealed in his online videos, a pilot is only paid per hour of flight time. So, for Garret, it’s a case of making the most of his routes. Often, he will spend time either travelling to a destination without flying, or having layovers. He’s not getting paid for this, so he tries to spend as much time in the cockpit as possible.
Most pilots like to spend downtime near their home base. This means they get to sleep in their bed and be around family and friends. So, it’s a case of working out the most profitable routes.
For Garret, he has his favourite that makes the most of his high hourly pay. “Today’s trip I deadheaded from LGA (LaGuardia Airport) to DFW (Dallas Fort Worth) and then I operated DFW to LGA,” he explained. Deadheading is traveling from one place to another as a passenger.
“I was paid $1,556 for just over seven hours, and my time away from base was just over nine hours. This is a phenomenal scenario. Yeah, I had to get up super early, but I’m back by 3 pm.” That’s how to make the most of a high pay per hour as a pilot.
It’s Not The Same Pay Per Hour For Every Pilot
Garret is lucky with his pay per hour as a pilot for a major airline. In Europe, many small airlines hop from city to city, and their pay is significantly worse. As estimated by Glassdoor, the pay per hour of flight for a Ryanair first officer is only $57.
This is a massive difference from the hundreds of dollars paid to a pilot working for a major airline. It certainly doesn’t make the years of training and high stress of commercial flight worth it. Along with the unpaid layovers and ‘deadheading,’ it hardly seems worth it.