Pay and allowance questions (flight, hazard duty, family separation)

[Guest Dirt Beater]

I'm looking at a flight pay table here and I was curious why the jump from $206 (>4 yrs) to $650 (>6 yrs)??

[Guest jtpuro]

Just a WAG, but maybe because by that point you'll most likely be flying yourself into harm's way. Or it might be a proactive financial incentive to try to keep people in after the 10 year commitment is up.

Related question: Is flight pay a flat rate regardless of how much you fly, or is there a quota you have to meet?

[Guest rotorhead]

Back when us old heads came in, the UPT commitment was 6 years. There was no "bonus" like there has been for several years now. So, at the 6-year point, you could bail. So, they raised the monthly flight pay at that point as a retention tool. Later, they upped the commitment to 8, then 10 years, and added the bonus at that point. The 6 year flight pay jump I'm sure is a carryover.

[Guest C-21 Pilot]

The reason for the jump is when "most" folks are an Aircraft Commander/Flight Lead and Instructor Pilot, you deploy more because of your experience, and kinda what the other guy posted....

Remember, there was a day back when when the UPT commitment was 8 yrs, not 10, so that is a fairly good example of trying to keep folks in, but I'm not 100% sure.

Flight Pay is a flat rate...I get the same rate if I fly 100 hours or if I fly 10.

The key to making it work for you is based on the number of GATES you fly, so in reality, you could fly for 12 years straight, take 8 yrs as a staff job, and retire, and your last 8 years as a desk jockey, STILL get flight pay!!

[backseatdriver]

C-21 (or whoever knows),

So if you meet your 12 yr gate, you pull flight pay for the rest of your time in?

[WHAP]

I know an O-6 who hasnt flown in fourteen years, just stopped recieving flight pay two years ago.

[Guest C-21 Pilot]

"So if you meet your 12 yr gate, you pull flight pay for the rest of your time in?"

That's correct...even if you are not in a flying position.

And to correct myself, you have to pull 120 GATES (or months) of flight time to qualify. I do not know how many hours you need per month to qualify for a GATE, but it can't be more than 5 or so!

[ 28. April 2004, 23:14: Message edited by: C-21 Pilot ]

[Guest AirGuardian]

Actually,

My former O-6 boss recently turned to O-7 said his flt pay stopped but there were no worries. O-7's and above lose flight pay - the increase in rank from O-6 to O-7 takes into account the flt pay issue and makes up for it, so he tells me. Consider it a benefit of wearing a "Star!"

Didn't the pay stay at Max from 14 til the 22 year timeframe and then dissappear or slowly dwindle...?

By the way, if you were a banked pilot and recieved flt pay - you may have eaten into your alloted flt pay while performing a non-flying duty such as PME depending on the length of being banked... Basically you can recieve flt pay only for so long after your flying is done, unless you have met all gates correctly as C-21 stated... One of our former banked guys decided not to go to ACSC in residence since he wouldn't recieve his full allotment of flt pay...

[ 03. May 2004, 01:21: Message edited by: AirGuardian ]

[Guest AirGuardian]

The fighter types like to keep their act going longer when they're in charge and I concur with you! I've seen only a few AMC type CC's who keep logging some hours in different aircraft as a souvenir type issue rather than maintaining any proficiency at it.

I remember 3 star "Horner" flying around in his F-16 from base to base for lectures - he was just having fun I'm sure!

[Guest cloudy]

Do you get paid more if you know a second language? For instance, I'm fluent in spanish as a second language and some enlisted dude told me I could get paid more as an officer because of this. He said like 200 a month, but I highly doubt that. Also, I heard that if you're an Eagle Scout you get paid more as well. Anyone know the truth to any of this?

[Guest AV8NSP]

I think the Eagle scout thing helps you out as an E maybe...like maybe an extra stripe or something out of basic, but that is just a guess. As far as the Spanish, that's afirmative. Foreign Language Proficiency Pay is like 150 or 200 a month, and you will likely be put on a list for deployments where those skills are needed, like NoseArtGal said. Also, a guy I was stationed with at Nellis took all the required tests to qualify for this pay(spanish), and to keep it current, he had to be on a translator list with the MPF. They called him about once a month to come in and translate documents for them. Not a big deal, and a good way to stay proficient while also getting a short breaak from your work...This may vary from base to base, but these are examples of how the USAF will get their $150-200 a month's worth out of you....

[Guest AirGuardian]

Sounds like Spanish is in right now, so go get paid.

For others you might want to check from time to time on the list of payable languages out there. Of course the Arabic languages such as Farsi, etc. are under very high demand, but others you would might think are = aren't.

Russian was on the list long ago, then off and then on again according to the region. Anyway, go check it out and get some cashola.

Japanese wasn't on the list a few years ago, so I'm out of luck I'm sure especially as a Guard weenie...ha!

***Better yet, go to the Defense Language Institute (Monterey,CA still open?) and get paid to learn another language - but it will definitley open up your next area of assignment good/bad, you decide!

[ 29. January 2005, 23:39: Message edited by: AirGuardian ]

[zab1000]

(lurker checking in) DLI in Monterey is still open. To receive Foreign Language Proficiency Pay, you either have to attend DLI and pass the course with a certain grade, or test out of a language w/o going to the school. Additionally, at least for USN,USMC, and the Army, you must be in a billet requiring use of the language (i.e. a guy in UPT wouldn't receive FLPP). Didn't have any USAF types in my class, so I'm not sure about them.

On a side note, as an O-3 in an exchange billet, I'm getting an extra 200 bucks a month, with an annual re-test.

[Guest AV8NSP]

One of my UPT classmates tested for FLPP while in Tweets. He speaks Turkish and is getting paid (passed the test)...

[ClearedHot]

Noseartgal hit it on the head, while it may be nice to draw the extra cash, you open yourself up for a whole new set of TDYs. We had a guy who spoke Korean and he was deployed (non-flying), several times. Career wise, I think it slowed him down as he was slow to get hours and upgrade since he was gone so much.

[kkboris]

Last time I took the test (1.5 yrs ago), the AF paid for pretty much every language except spanish and tagalog. I tested well enough to get $100 a month (for French), just had to get a letter from my commander and take the test once a year. Check with MPF education/training. If you can do it, at least take the test once. Unless you speak something exotic (Farsi, etc), you should be pretty safe.

[kkboris]

I can't say for sure if they are paying for spanish now, they definitely were not paying when I took the test at Eglin in 2003. Back then, you could get paid for most languages (I know German was one for sure), but it may have had something to do with being in AFSOC. MPF had the current info, I don't know the specific reg or website. Check with them for the latest list.

[Flare]

I few years ago I saw a pay chart that showed what your military pay is equal to in the civilian world after they throw in the housing benefits, BAS, allowances, etc.....anybody know where to find that? And yes, I did google it...might just be using the wrong words...

[M2]

ENJJPT IP

I get a letter every year from DFAS that calculates how much I would have to earn in the civilian world to like the life of luxury I am enjoying now...some of the figures are a bit inflated and it doesn't compute other factors (such as COLA). It does correspond to your rank and TIS, so mine wouldn't be of any use to you; but someone out there closer to your rank and time in should have one.

Also, Air Force Times does a comparison of military and civilian pay every year, where they compare the CSAF to a corporate executive and see how much each would earn. But again that is based on certain career fields and expertise. It's been a while since I last saw it, but if you have a stack of AF Times laying around someone you can find it as it is always the cover article.

Cheers! M2

[Guest rlb]

I found one of these while looking for a home mortgage, but I can't remember where. I do remember that if you are getting approx. $1000 in BAH and $175 BAS your tax savings are almost $4000 a year. so if you make $55,000 a year you are really making the equivilant of $59,000 a year. I just got a loan with USAA and I don't know if they took this into consideration when approving me.

[Guest rlb]

If you are looking for tax advantages and how that helps you relative to a civilians salary. This is a calculator for that.

https://www.defenselink.mil/militarypay/pay/calc/

[otsap]

Do you get flight pay during IFT?

[LJ Driver]

No. It starts on your first day of class at UPT.

[LJ Driver]

Hey does anyone know why flight pay hasn't increased in years and years? I am not talking about the steps as you get more experience, I am talking about the overall chart. It's the same one that's been around a long time. Seems like it should go up with basic pay at least.

[Guest Rainman A-10]

That's a good question. It seems like yesterday when they bumped it to $840 but I guess that was probably 12-15 years ago. I think that was pre-feet on the ramp bonus.

The F-22 guys get $1500 a month flight pay.

I'm guessing they are not going to increase flt pay for the rest of us anytime in the near future...especially when we're over $3 billion in the hole on the budget.