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.
The general 'glamorization' of the career leads many people to think that airline pilots make $250-300K+ a year and that they work two weeks or less a month. While there are a number captains at the major carriers that do, they are the minority.