Originally Posted by
DustoffVT
It's a rotor add on to your commercial. Done at a vendor in So-Cal. About 3 weeks to month. R-44, not even close to airline training. We require 250 in category and class to become a PIC, so you'll ride around on the Astar for 200+ hours and then go back to the vendor for Astar initial (1 week). Then PIC mission training at the branch and a full check ride. Sounds like a lot but it's not that bad.
And, it might not be immediate. All depends on funding, where you're at in the FY, etc. Remember its the gov't. Pay isn't dependent on what you fly, like at an airline (although it used to be).
Dust - You say 'although it used to be'. I didn't know that. When did that stop.
Pay across the board sounds pretty standard for gov't flying so I'm not surprised. Actually I am surprised that the pay ever differentiated.
We - like you then - have a standard pay rate based on Level and step which has to do with longevity (not even seniority in the operations). Our GS14/1 Domestic King Air pilots make the same as GS14/1 International Challenger pilots. Now a difference in our in travel pay. International guys make a lot in Per Diem (like Tokyo if they don't spend it all
), then a KA guy in Fort Worth and a crap ton of OT for much of the travel and flying - but base pay is for being an ASIP - not the airplane you fly.
I'm just curious when you say pay did depend on aircraft - what was the range and how did the aircraft plan out?