Ever wondered how much pilots really make? Garrett Ray, a first officer based in New York, pulled back the curtain on his earnings—and it’s not as straightforward as you might think.
Ray earns $213.97 per hour in the cockpit, but here’s the kicker: pilots only get paid for flight time. That means long layovers, delays, and even the time spent commuting to their next assignment (known as deadheading) don’t count. Take his JFK-to-Phoenix route: 10 hours of paid flight time, but a grueling 24-hour layover in Arizona before heading home.
To boost his income, Ray now targets shorter, high-efficiency routes. A recent trip from LaGuardia to Dallas and back paid $1,556 for just over seven hours of actual work. “I was back by 3 p.m.,” he said. “That’s the sweet spot.”
At 80 flight hours a month, Ray’s take-home pay averages $17,109. As a captain, that could jump to $350 hourly—nearly $27,199 monthly. But for now, the job is less about glamour and more about maximizing every minute in the air.
