Murder in Miami is a really good podcast about pilots flying cocaine. It's an interesting listen.

It was a shitty point.

50k is middle class in New York? What his parents making in 2010 is a lot more relevant than what they were making in 1996. Especially since you tend to earn more money as you get older not less.

Like everything Depends where you work and what you're qualified to fly things are different . A small regional airline with 10 small planes will pay less than Delta.

Year one salaries major airlines can be low but they have significant jumps year 2 then annual raises after that. By year 6 making 140+ on low end for major airlines.

For a first officer:

Spirit you go from 33k to 61k after one year.

Southwest go from 55k to 90k after one year.

Fedex starts 84k and year 6 200k

If you become captain you can really make some money especially if you want overtime. It's not a bad life if you're single. Lot less stressful than being a truck driver.