Last February a Continental commuter airplane crashed into a neighborhood outside of Buffalo, killing all aboard plus one person on the ground. After further investigation, the likely cause of the crash was an excess buildup of ice on the aircraft, reducing the airplane’s ability to generate lift and making it difficult to control. While such crashes are often attributed to variables like weather, aircraft capability, and sometimes pilot error, the mainstream media has this time latched onto pilot working conditions. To the extent such media reports are valid, the real culprit is not commuter airlines that mistreat their pilots, but the greedy pilot unions that drive down the pay of junior pilots.

Despite media reports, the crash was not most likely due to unskilled pilots,. The pilot transcripts do show the two pilots discussing their lack of experience in these ‘icing’ conditions, but greater experience probably would not have helped much. When confronted with a buildup of ice on an aircraft, the prescribed remedy is to both activate whatever equipment the aircraft has to remove the ice and to change altitude to where the air is either warmer or dryer. In the instance of Continental 3407, which was on a landing approach, only climbing to dryer air was an option. Unfortunately, the doomed aircraft was propeller driven. These airplanes, as a class, have far less power to climb out of icing conditions than jets, and they also have less effective de-icing equipment. Once the ice was discovered at a relatively low altitude, there wasn’t much any pilot could do with that particular airplane. Pilot incompetence certainly didn’t play the leading role in the crash.

Still the media has latched on to the notion that commuter pilots are inexperience, overworked, and underpaid. As to inexperienced, there is no remedy. The nature of most organizations is that the less experienced are charged with the lower value assets – pilots fly bigger planes as they gain experience. The FAA does require extensive training, testing, and continuing education of all its commercial pilots, but at some point a new hand must take the wheel.

Commuter pilots are, however, paid meager wages for working long hours. Indeed commuter pilots earn less than most menial laborers. Their hours are challenging, and they must spend most of their time away from home. Before earning the right to work for slim rewards, commuter pilots must first fly thousands of hours, usually by working even lower paying jobs as flight instructors or small-time cargo pilots. In short, a commuter pilot’s compensation does not seem nearly adequate.

Why would anyone choose to be a pilot? Two reasons. First, unlike bus drivers, flying is glamorous. Airplanes are pretty and powerful. People generally respect their pilot. Few people without their own licenses realize that any reasonably bright person can fly a plane. Flying does not require any special skills found outside of a quality high school degree, so the respect from piloting comes easier than the respect from being a surgeon.

Second and more importantly, while commuter pilots slog it out, mainline pilots are grossly overcompensated. In yet another example of surprisingly rational behavior, commuter pilots pay their dues to someday live on easy street. Major airline pilots that fly international jets enjoy compensation close to a quarter million per year, receive impeccable benefits, and work a very relaxed schedule. They extract such lavish compensation packages through their pilot unions, which hold complete sway over the airlines. A handful of pilots can ground the entire fleet, and any tough negotiation brings out the safety card (the big bad airline is trying to make flying less safe by making us fly more days per month). Pilots unions have unlimited power over their employers, so who can blame people for standing in line to join?

Rather than some romantic love of flying, commuter pilots’ real motivation for accepting low wages is to gain enough experience to someday earn more and work less. Many would probably fly for free to accelerate the process, since the government grounds commercial pilots fairly young. All this has nothing to do with greedy commuter airlines; it is Adam Smith’s hand of the market at work. If it were not for the obscene compensation at the end of the trail, commuter pilots would surely earn better pay and work fewer hours.

The best way to improve junior pilots’ conditions is to pay senior pilots closer to their real worth, which is probably one third of their current union wages. Of course the media just wants to mandate more pay for junior pilots. In the Obama era there is always a reason to raise union pay and power. Still it is worth noting that flying is completely safe, and any action that raises the cost of flying actually kills people by encouraging them to drive instead. Taken to an extreme, the pilot unions kill thousands of people each year by driving up the cost of flying.

So, if the recent spate of media demands for better pilot pay have you worried, relax. Modern air travel is impeccably safe, and over their entire careers, pilots are well paid. Rumblings to the contrary are nothing more than ill informed populism leaning toward union propaganda.