Fasten your seatbelt — this pilot’s salary might cause turbulence in your current career plans.
Pilot Garrett Ray revealed on his YouTube channel how much he makes flying out of New York’s airports, and it may shock you how much it is.
He left viewers gobsmacked by announcing that he makes $213.97 per hour as a first officer, otherwise known as a co-pilot.
While that might sound like a dream, don’t put in your resignation and switch vocations just yet.
Being a pilot is not a 9-to-5 job, and Ray goes days without flying — and often has long wait times between an outbound flight and his return home.
For example, one of Ray’s favorite flights is between JFK Airport to Phoenix, Arizona. He is forced to wait with a 24-hour layover before he can return. While he enjoys the flight, it is not the “best bang for the buck” for the young pilot, as he is away from home for 40 hours and is only paid for his 10 hours of flight time.
As a result, he has turned his focus to routes that can earn him the most money for the shortest amount of downtime.
“Today’s trip I deadheaded from LGA (LaGuardia Airport) to DFW (Dallas Fort Worth) and then I operated DFW to LGA,” he told the Daily Mail.
Deadheading, or when a pilot is onboard a flight to reach their next gig but doesn’t work until they reach their destination. gives Ray four hours to do outside work on his laptop.
“I was paid $1,556 for just over seven hours, and my time away from base was just over nine hours,” he explained. “This is a phenomenal scenario. Yeah, I had to get up super early, but I’m back by 3 p.m.”
Overall, Ray makes around $17,109 a month for his 80 hours of work. If he is promoted to captain, that amount would increase even more — to around $350 an hour.
That comes to a whopping $27,199 per month. Talk about flying high.
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