$25k For Pilots Who Stay Past Nine Years; Benefit For Air Battle Managers Too

The US Air Force doesn't have a shortage of pilots, and it doesn't want one either. For that reason it has Aviator Continuation Pay, which is a little kiss from the eagle that goes into a pilot's paycheck if he or she keeps flying after working off their undergraduate pilot training commitment.

Pilots who have completed their commitment and nine years' rated pilot service become eligible for the pay, which is $25,000 a year before taxes (but taxes are waived for aviators in the combat zone). To be eligible for the money, pilots have to sign for five more years.

The program also extends to Air Battle Managers (ABMs). ABMs are the folk in the back of an E-3A AWACS or E-8 JSTARS (and soon, in the antiballistic Airborne Laser) that control and, well, manage, the air battle. ABMs need to have completed their Air Force commitment incurred for completing the ABM rating, and served six years as a rated ABM.

And ABMs only get $15,000 a year for their five-year extension. They might tell the pilots where to go in combat, but it's still a pilot's Air Force.

The Air Force has offered Aviator Continuation Pay in the past. They change the rates and eligibility requirements as needed to balance the aviator force; the rates for 2006 were unknown until this week.

There are some gotchas: this is strictly for active duty officers.

Aviators who have served voluntary tours of active duty from the Air Guard or the Reserve don't get a whiff of the green stuff. Nor do officers who got out previously and now get back in, or came over from another service. And if someone already got this deal once before, he or she can't have it again.

The Air Force personnel wallahs think that about 750 rated pilots and ABMs will be eligible for the program in fiscal 2006, which began October 1. Qualified personnel can call DSN 665-5000 or visit the FMI link for more information.

FMI: www.afpc.randolph.af.mil/acp/