10-year aviation vets can net $125K bonus - Air Force News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Air Force Times

10-year aviation vets can net $125K bonus

Hundreds of pilots, including those who fly unmanned aircraft, are eligible for big bucks if they promise to stay in the Air Force at least three more years.

About $3.9 million in bonuses is available through the fiscal 2011 Aviation Continuation Pay program, released Jan. 26 by the Air Force.

Lt. Col. Gerard Ryan, chief of the rated force policy branch in the Air Force personnel directorate, outlined the three options available to aviators:

• $25,000 a year for pilots who have completed their initial commitment, which is 10 years after earning their wings, and who sign up for five more years. About 200 officers, most of them majors or major selects, qualify.

• $15,000 a year for pilots who did not participate in the ACP program when they became eligible and who sign up for three, four or five more years.

Pilots must decide to participate in the program before they serve 13 years, and their commitment must take them only up to 16 years, Ryan said. For example, an officer who has served almost 13 years can commit to only three years.

“If they wait too long, they can’t do the five-year option,” Ryan said.

• $15,000 a year for combat systems officers who currently fly remotely piloted aircraft and who commit to three, four or five more years. Eligible for the bonus are about 40 combat systems officers who have completed their initial six-year commitment after earning their wings.

“These CSOs are essentially doing the same job as the pilots, so we’re trying to recognize their service, too,” Ryan said.

The Air Force sees the program as a win-win for both pilots and itself. Bonuses make it easier for the service to meet the increasing demand for aviators to conduct missions both at home and overseas, Ryan said.

Ryan estimated the Air Force will need more than 200 new pilots and more than 50 new combat systems officers in fiscal 2012; today, 14,192 pilots and 3,990 combat systems officers serve on active duty in the grades of lieutenant colonel and below.

“While there are some career fields that are overmanned, this is not the case in the pilot arena or the RPA arena right now,” he said. “This tool is very cheap compared to $6 million to train and experience a pilot.”