What it pays to strap into a Navy strike fighter.
A thorough look at how pilots in the US are paid.
Flying for a US legacy carrier remains among the world's most lucrative roles for airline pilots.
US Air Force pilots' base salary starts at around $50,000 and then triples with experience and service. Bonuses significantly increase the total.
They’re flying high on this salary. An aviation enthusiast has taken to X to share a pay stub purportedly belonging to a Southwest Airlines pilot — and it shows the huge sum of money they made in 2025 ...
That paycheck has a lot of zeros in it. Pilots’ paychecks vary depending on the airline they work for and the hours they’ve flown in a given year. According to an American Airlines captain’s paystub ...