Professional Pilot, June 2017

Responses by position Captain First offi cer 17 Av dept mgr 56 Chief pilot Responses by licenses held ATP 957 518 CFI CFII 363 Commercial 111 Helo 94 A P 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 Responses by achievements IS BAO 146 43 Other CAM 22 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 Responses by company benefi ts Health insurance 892 479 45 Loss of license ins Car 198 PROFESSIONAL PILOT June 2017 79 791 761 551 468 196 157 74 58 Dental insurance 401K Life insurance Uniforms Disability insurance Profi t sharing Retirement Stock options Other 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 21 6 Responses by level of education BA BS degree AA AS degree MA MS degree High school 518 102 109 196 Some college 70 05 PhD Responses by use of aircraft 01 Electronic news gathering Corporate 03 Offshore oil 09 Police 12 EMS Regional Charter 01 logging construction 774 153 47 Methodology This is the 45th year Pro Pilot has conducted a salary study by aircraft type matching compensation to specifi c fi xed and rotary wing aircraft models During Apr 2017 a total of 8878 survey forms were sent out to a random selection of qualifi ed Pro Pilot readers in the US and worldwide A total of 1370 forms representing a 154 return came back to the Pro Pilot offi ce in Alexandria VA by the cutoff date of May 31 2017 After review a total of 1175 survey forms were found qualifi ed as being properly fi lled out by eligible respondents There were 195 forms disqualifi ed due to lack of information inconsistencies errors part time or contract pilot positions or lateness Each form was carefully reviewed to ensure reliability of data In addition to survey averages Pro Pilot also compared salaries provided by various corporate fl ight departments pilot placement agencies and such activities as FAPA Financial Services scheduled airlines and US government pilot services Textron Cessna Citation are now offering super midsize models that are being purchased So we do see opportunities for more corporate pilot positions with the new Gulfstream G500 and G600 the Citation Latitude and Longitude the Embraer Legacy 450 and 500 the Dassault 5X and the Pilatus PC24 Turboprops having a rebirth with usefulness the key to their growth The ubiquitous Beech King Air now under the Textron banner is still selling well after 50 years of production Piaggio has come back with a strong market push for its P180 Avanti II EVO turboprop And the Pilatus PC12 continues to sell well as does the Daher TBM Helicopters fi ll the needs for security EMS SAR and energy exploration There certainly are jobs that only a helicopter can do which include airborne law enforcement as well as emergency medical service search and rescue and energy exploration The answer to dispelling terrorism is to have the intelligence to know where and when bad guys will strike Helicopters and even UAVs offer these intelligence gathering capabilities And rescues with EMS and SAR continue to be key needs that are solved with helicopter operations Energy is our big need on this planet And although offshore ops are down due to low prices for oil the need for helicopters in energy exploration continues to growth Good jobs in bizav and specialized activities continue to expand as diversity brings new opportunites Corporate charter airborne law enforcement offshore EMS SAR and energy exploration fl ight ops offer much more diversity than the airlines Overall pilots in these fi elds are happier with more satisfying careers and better family lives Major manufacturers like Gulfstream Dassault Bombardier Daher Embraer Pilatus and Textron are here to stay in the bizjet and TP fi elds And Airbus Helicopters Bell Leonardo MD Robinson Sikorsky are also very dedicated to their customers We see jobs for pilots fl ying these aircraft as more satisfying than those fl ying for the airlines and we expect that to stay true with continuing bizav growth in the future