Show me the money
Speaking of more money, it should be no surprise that helicopter pilots are attracted to the idea of bigger paychecks and better retirement plans. In every single salary and benefits survey we have conducted since 2014, when asked the question, “As an employee of a helicopter operator, which attributes of the job are MOST IMPORTANT to you?” by a large margin the top answer is always salary. In this survey it was no different, with 79% of respondents choosing salary as being most important to them.
The difference between the past and present is that in the past, helicopter pilots really had nowhere to go to earn higher salaries than what was being offered in the industry. That has changed.
So the next philosophical questions that should be asked are: can the helicopter industry generally compete against the airlines with respect to pay? If not, given the current supply situation, could the growth of the industry as a whole be stunted due to a shortage of helicopter pilots? If so, what can the industry actually do about it?
Median salaries have risen • 2015
• 2016 • 2017 • 2018 • 2019 • 2020 • 2021
47% of pilots made between $40k to $75K 33% of pilots made between $60k to $90K 40% of pilots made between $76k to $110K 40% of pilots made between $76k to $110K 43% of pilots made between $76k to $110K 41% of pilots made between $90k to $130K 46% of pilots made between $90k to $130K
Salary ranges by position POSITION
Primary School Instructor Owner-Operator Pilots Line Pilots Lead Pilots Chief Pilots Training/Check Airman Director of Ops
LOW <45K (40%) <45K (25%) <45K (3%) <45K (1%) 70-80K (8%) 70-80K (7%) 80-90K (20%)
MEDIAN 80-90K (10%) 90-100K (25%) 90-110K (15%) 90-100K (19%) 110-130K (12%) 100-110K (14%) 100-110K (40%)
HIGH 150-175K (5%) >175K (25%) >175K (6%) >175K (10%) >175K (4%) >175K (29%) >175K (20%)
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