Should I TDART?

[Frosty88]

Greetings,

I'll start with a disclaimer: I feel absolutely blessed to have the opportunity to fly with the Air Force, every unit is different, and I want to fly as much as possible with my unit for the next few years.

Question for the Reserve guys who have been around and have some experience with TDARTs vs ARTs vs TRs. I'm coming up on PIQ and will then go on to fly Hercs, and not sure if I should sign up for the TDART program or not.  I really like the flexibility of orders (and money) as well as the retirement points.  Am I wrong in assuming that TDARTs get limited retirement points similar to ARTs? I will also have my ATP coming out of PIQ so I could potentially get an airline join coming out of seasoning orders if there are no trough orders available (I would MUCH rather continue flying the herc!).  I really want to fly with my unit for a couple years, go on some trips, etc so that I can be a contributing member moving forward but other than the flying TDART just doesn't seem great (GS-11) until you hit 300 hours on airframe. Unfortunately units don't know exactly what kind of orders will be available a year from now and my liaison wants me to sign TDART paperwork now. 

Thoughts?

[brabus]

Personally I think less than GS-13 is bullshit pay for a pilot. While the ART system has received a decent overhaul in pay a couple years ago, it’s still grossly underpaid for pilots less than -13 (my opinion). You also have to ask yourself if you want to be doing this until your 55 (the general point of permanent ARTs, which I think TDART logically dovetails into). It sounds good in your 20s, not so good for 99% of dudes in their late 30s/early 40s. That said, how many turbine PIC hours do you currently have? Reason I ask is seeing how competitive you’d be for airline hiring. While I understand that’s not your desire 1.69 years from now, it’s good to know what your odds are in case more orders don’t come right away. 
 

Bottom line, I don’t think it’s a great deal, and rolling the bones on future orders seems to work out much of the time...may require some flexibility on your part, but generally there’s always a way to stay fed...until you say fuck this and go get your line number.

 

[Frosty88]

I'm 32, 1300 total time with no turbine PIC.  About 200 multi-engine

[Stoker]

It's not just straight GS, it's an OPM special rate table that adds maybe 25% or so to the base + locality pay. Also, you can always quit... There is no contract besides annoying your boss for making them do the paperwork for you to then leave soon.

 If your goal is airlines and you can afford the paycut, go to a regional and get 5x the flight time you'll get on the mil side. But if not, TDART ain't bad. 

[brabus]

I’m aware of how OPM pay works...it’s still not great. I don’t know the OP’s location, but 11 step 1, “rest of US” locality = 80k/yr, all taxable. Compare that to let’s say 3 year O-2 (assuming based on training timeline), you’re only 60k taxable + another $24k non-taxable (assuming $1.5k BAH...I picked a random value). Not saying you can’t do ok on it, but it’s not a phenomenal deal. Also, I thought TDART was a contract, as in it’s not easy to just walk away? Maybe it changed.
 

Now that said, I’d say regionals is the only reality for the OP in 1.69 years, but like you said, he’ll accumulate hours rapidly, hopefully upgrade to CA (and AC on the mil side) in a reasonable amount of time, then log a bunch of turbine PIC - snatched up by a major fairly quickly at that point. 

 

[Stoker]

TDART involves earning a fair amount of pay on the mil side as well, as opposed to a single income stream for pure mil. Maybe it involves working more hours, maybe not... Depends on how hard you were working as an O-2. They floated the idea of a contract (really, a promise) to do TDART for five years if you got picked up for UPT, but that lasted about five minutes before they realized they couldn't legally enforce it. 

[mcbush]

5 hours ago, brabus said:

Now that said, I’d say regionals is the only reality for the OP in 1.69 years, but like you said, he’ll accumulate hours rapidly, hopefully upgrade to CA (and AC on the mil side) in a reasonable amount of time, then log a bunch of turbine PIC - snatched up by a major fairly quickly at that point. 

Not exactly related to the original question, but what's the consensus on how much TPIC is competitive at the majors these days?

[FDNYOldGuy]

Sign the paperwork to get the ball rolling, just in case you decide to take it in a year from now (~6 of PIQ + 140 of seasoning + any leave you’ve built up/are able to take). There’s no commitment to TDART; time owed or for you to take the job, so why not just get your ducks in a row to have the option when you pop out at the end of your Prog Tour in case you need it?

If the airlines aren’t hiring what they think they will or something else happens to diddle your current plan, it’s a guaranteed, better-than-CFI/regional pay job option to get paid to fly airplanes and further a career.

It’s actually GS-9 pay below 300 hours (pretty huge pay cut from AD orders/BAH/BAS), but you should be able to make 300+ hours in that 140 days to make GS-11 pay when you start. 

”Getting orders” is a floatable thing between MWSesesessss, so I can’t speak for your particular situation. Some deploy and you get solid 2-4 months of orders; others don’t deploy but get TACC missions that you get “long tour” orders (usually >30 days) to pick up trips that AD can’t because AD is too busy. 

But, I will say talking to a few friends in different MWS (both AD and Res), a lot of flying seems to be drying/hard to come by up due to a reduction in missions and an over abundance of Johnny LTs/folks needing currency or upgrades running around trying to get touches. 

TDART might be the best way to “guarantee” getting paid decently/getting hours. It’s not glamorous, but sitting in sims and on locals in CIV pay status costs the unit nothing and doesn’t come out of your limited number of Reserve pay periods, so my understanding is that you can rack up hours “easier” without the potential funding issues that you might face as a TR.

All that pro-TDART talk to finish that I’m in a similar boat to you. It’s a definitely not-great option for me with my civilian gig and I’m very likely not taking it. That said, I’ve done every step to keep it an option, should I find that it becomes a better deal for my family/flying than trying to juggle max-performing TR flying/what orders I can scrounge and my civilian gig obligations. I think we can have up to a year from end of Prog Tour to actually accept it and start the job and the 4 year clock (time that it lasts; not that you owe for taking it). 

YMMV, but might as well go through the wickets to keep the option open for you. Only cost is a few extra PITA hours of USAJobs and records wrangling.