Air Force again dangles $600,000 in bonuses to keep pilots in uniform

Air Force Times via Yahoo ^ | 12/08/2023 | Rachel Cohen

[DFG]

Air Force pilots and others in rated fields who opt to stay in uniform can earn up to $600,000 over 12 years under the latest round of retention bonuses announced Nov. 30.

The fiscal year 2024 incentives offer manned aircraft and drone pilots, combat systems operators and air battle managers an extra $15,000 to $50,000 per year, depending on their assigned aircraft and the years to which they commit.

Annual bonus pay programs aim to keep airmen around to blunt the effects of a pilot shortage that has lasted decades, robbing the service of aviators in policy jobs that rely on their know-how to help the service plan for the future.

“The requirement to preserve critical skills in our Air Force has never been more important,” Maj. Gen. Adrian Spain, the training and readiness director at Air Force headquarters, said in a Nov. 30 release. “Retaining these professional aviators’ experience and expertise … is imperative in order to outpace future challenges.”

Bonuses are funneled through a pair of programs that target airmen as they near the end of their initial service commitment, or the time they owe the Air Force after training. Those agreements last 10 years for manned aircraft pilots and six years for drone operators, CSOs and ABMs.

One initiative, the Rated Officer Retention Demonstration Program, is open to active duty airmen whose contracts expire in fiscal 2025 or 2026. How much extra pay they nab depends on how much time is left before their commitment ends, according to a chart the service provided to Air Force Times on Thursday.

Fighter, bomber, mobility, search-and-rescue and special operations pilots, as well as those in high-altitude U-2 reconnaissance planes, can earn $30,000 to $35,000 a year with a three- to four-year contract — or $90,000 to $140,000 in total.

[SamAdams76]

I do. Thanks!

[GaryCrow]

Single Engine Aircraft and aircraft with an FAA multi-engine Center Thrust limitation rating - hours in such aircraft as the A-10, F-15, F-16, F-18, F-22, F-35, F-117, T-6 Texan II, T-38, U-2, U-28 (single engine turboprop), etc., do not count toward multi-engine time needed for a commercial or Airline Transport Pilot (ATP) certificate. Every hour pilots of those airframes spend in the cockpit is another day they sit on the last rung of that career progression ladder.

That's not correct. They count as multi engine cernterline thrust as you mentioned but the restriction to centerline thrust is removed by a couple of maneuvers on your ATP checkride. There are many airline pilots (me for example) who had all of their time in centerline thrust multi engine and went to the airlines straight out of the military. Single engine jet time like an A-4, AV-8B, and U-2 also counts as multi for ATP purposes.

[T.B. Yoits]

That’s new.

[T.B. Yoits]

I see it’s “new” as of 2018.

[GaryCrow]

I got my ATP in 2000 so it's not new.

If what you say was true then about 3000 of my co-workers wouldn't have a job.

[Gaffer]

These programs have been around a long time. I once got a VRB (variable reenlistment bonus) for taking a short (at 2.5 years) and tagging on 4 years in the AF in 1970. It was a VRB of 4 multiplier which meant a total of $6000 paid out every year for 4 years. They really needed people in my field and virtually all of the locations were for overseas. I did 8 years, 3 months (extensions) and was OCONUS for 7 of them.

[Fresh Wind]

OR, pilots can join any number of airlines at 5 times that rate.

And, by some odd coincidence, airlines are hurting for pilots because so many have suddenly dropped dead, and no one seems to know why.