Ask an aircraft mechanic!

Asking what kind of money is pretty broad, I'll try to give you some real numbers & my take on the industry.

Real $ excluding benifits, this is the hourly wage for carriers, I can't speak to manufactures or equipment other then airplane. Depending on what area of the country you are in, what segment of the industry and really the condition of the carrier or operator.

Below are general numbers of course exceptions can be found and others should feel free to chime in here....

General aviation, $8 to $16 per hour.
Reginal aviation, $12 to $27 per hour.
Corprate aviation $16 to $35 per hour.
Major airline (excluding Southwest, UPS or FedEx) $18 to $37 per hour.
Major airline (Southwest, UPS or FedEx only) $27 to $51 per hour.

Like a lot of industries, you have to "work your way up" so starting at a company like Southwest with zero actual time on heavy jets is going to be difficult. Further time to "top out" ranges from about 5 years to about 12 years depending on the company. So working at a UPS for instance might take another 18 years (from now) to reach top pay. You're 34 so that would put you at 52 under some pretty good circumstances. BTW, I don't work for UPS.

Almost all airlines have ups and downs that lead most of the rest of the economy and is often more severe. Very few companies have not had lay offs or pay cuts even prior to September 11, 2001. It seems a never ending cycle. As the current crop of operators mature there are always new, lower cost operators nipping at the revenue stream. IMO, Southwest (a real success in this business) has some tough days ahead. Now that AA is going through BK and almost all the fuel hedging advantages are about gone, Southwest is going to have some tough challenges. All the other majors have managed to lower their cost in ways not available to Southwest.

But, don't take this as me not recommending the industry.

 

This is great! I really appreciate you taking the time to lay it out for me.

 

you'll never be rich but you'll never be poor. 16 dollars an hour tons of people would love to have that.