http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/htm..._hudson25.html
"Sullenberger testified that his pay has been cut 40 percent in recent years and his pension has been terminated and replaced with a promise "worth pennies on the dollar" from the federally created Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp."
Maybe I'm misunderstanding what you mean by "this is why pilots get paid what they do" because IME, they don't get paid all that much and they do a helluva lot. Are you saying they're paid sufficiently?