Catherwood LibraryILR School

Among the jobs little boys dream of ? policeman, fireman, bulldozer driver ? airline pilot long held the added virtue of satisfying grown-up dreams: pay that reached $300,000 a year, 20 days a month off work, the prestige of one day commanding a $200 million airplane, and a lush retirement at 60. But the airline industry?s financial collapse this decade did away with much of that, leaving thousands of young men ? and increasingly women ? chasing a dream toward a disappointing reality. ?You?re much better off going into plumbing, from a purely financial perspective,? said Ed Grogan, a financial planner in Gig Harbor, Wash., who has pilots among his clients.