To qualify for the credit, a taxpayer must earn money, but not too much. 1  $46,997 ($52,427 if married filing jointly) in households with three or more qualifying children. 2  $43,756 ($49,186 if you're married and file jointly) with two qualifying children.
This group excludes regional, national and international airline pilots. Commercial pilots earned a mean annual wage of $76,050 a year as of May 2011. The median reported salary was $70,000 per year, and the median-earning 50 percent of commercial pilots earned between $50,850 and $92,340 a year.
2016 Salary Information for Airline and Commercial Pilots. Airline and commercial pilots earned a median annual salary of $111,270 in 2016, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. On the low end, airline and commercial pilots earned a 25th percentile salary of $77,450, meaning 75 percent earned more than this amount. The 75th percentile salary is $166,140, meaning 25 percent earn more. In 2016, 124,800 people were employed in the U.S. as airline and commercial pilots.