You are correct, the per diem is not taxable. My friend was forced to work for Great Lakes because of the market conditions and many more pilots who are standing behind to take his place. You can always argue it's a demand / supply issue, but I kind of tend not to think of humans as commodities.. Best regards, Baha -----Original Message----- From: The Airline List [mailto:AIRLINE@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of David MR Sent: Tuesday, February 15, 2005 7:22 PM To: AIRLINE@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: Re: Airline Pilot's Pay =>-----Original Message----- =>From: The Airline List [mailto:AIRLINE@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of =>Bahadir Acuner =>Also remember that a regular 9-5 job is about 2,000 =>hrs /year. So when you are calculating pilot salaries =>the pay you have to consider is hourly pay/2. =>Last but not least a buddy of mine started in Great =>Lakes last week. He is getting 15/hr. Assuming he is =>going to get 1000 hrs in a year (which he won't) he =>will get paid less than minimum wage for the job. NO, NO, NO! If he gets paid $15 an hour, he is not making minimum wage. He is making twice the minimum wage for what is a part time job. If I work at Taco Bell and make $10 an hour and work 500 hours a year, I am still making above the minimum wage. According to your logic, I would be making less than minimum wage because you would divide my pay by 4 (2000 hours for "9 to 5" divided by 500). Was your friend forced to fly for Great Lakes at gun point? This is still a mostly free country. If a pilot doesn't want to be paid so-called low wages then he shouldn't be a pilot. Another thing: the per diem is usually found money for, if I recall correctly, it is not taxable. David R http://home.comcast.net/~damiross/books.html www.sequoians.com www.chanticleers.org -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.0.300 / Virus Database: 265.8.8 - Release Date: 2/14/2005