Originally Posted by
Steve M
I would guess experience has at least something to do with what happened there. If you own a G550, I would imagine that you can afford and would want to pay for a more-experienced pilot than a typical Citation owner.
The cost of a type rating for a G550 is also substantially more than smaller aircraft (which would make
me think that the employer prefer to pay the pilots less due to the higher cost of training), and I don't know if that is related to expectation that pay will be better or not.
The market for Gulfstreams is substantially smaller than commercial aviation as a whole, so I doubt it's really a truly relevant comparison, however I thought the pay scale was similar despite the differences between the two types of flying being done. When money isn't a consideration, I'd assume the owners would want the most qualified pilots flying their aircraft while accepting that such a pilot will cost more.
Originally Posted by
Steve M
That's a good point, and brings me to the next thing I wanted to mention: Southwest Airlines. The have unionized pilots, and and increasing pay scale for experience.
Just for the sake of the argument, are you for a seniority based system instead of pay system based on size of aircraft alone? You brought it up, but I couldn't tell if your were more in favor of a seniority system versus size system.