Gabe,
Basically, the more you fly the more you get paid. Now thats pretty obvious (usually you get paid more if you work more) and I’ve seen some skeptical remarks about this on other forums, so let me explain.
You are guaranteed a base salary of $1000 per month, which is referred to as a ‘Ground school guarantee’. Paychecks are written every 2 weeks, so ~$470 on every paycheck (pro-rated per day [$1000/30]*14=$466). On top of that you get paid for flight and sim time by the hour in a tiered system.
Let’s get into some example pay checks:
If you fly between 0-30hrs in a pay period (2 weeks) you get paid the base rate of $7.50. Let’s say you flew 25 hours:
$470 + 25x$7.50 = $653
Between 30-40 hours in a pay period, your hourly goes up to $10. Let’s use 35 hours:
$470 + 35x$10 = $816
Between 40-50 hours, you will get $15/hr. With 45 hours you will get:
$470 + 45x$15 = $1141
Above 50 hours, you reach the highest tier at $20/hr. For 55 hours:
$470 + 55x$20 = $1570
Now add to this about 10 hours of sim time (@$7.50/hr) every period and 3-4 written exams proctored (@$15 each), and that is what your paycheck will look like.
Let me know if this doesn’t make sense.
Yarden