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What Will a Year Cost Me? | AviationBull

Apologies if it's already been posted.

pony172

Excellent, a must read for anyone on the fence.

F4E Mx

Another point to consider (as if one is needed) is what happens to the USAF pilot if he busts his medical? If they are sending pilots to do ground duty for a year in the Middle East it would seem that various slots would be available until retirement? And what does loss of license insurance cost the airline pilot and what are the payouts? A friend of a friend was working for Delta and had a mild stroke. He obviously is not flying anymore and I hear his situation after paying alimony is not too great. What percentage of airline pilots actually make it to normal retirement? Not touting the USAF, just random thoughts.

C130driver

Off topic (sort of) but relevant: another reason for pilots to get a degree. Obviously that applies to civilian pilots but the thought of losing the medical is terrifying. That's why I didn't feel bad getting the masters, even though when I was a LT it was (get your masters!!!!!..) now it's masked.

Sputnik

In the AF the answer is, depends on how you lost your medical. If it is something that prevents you from flying but not from serving, there are many options available from cross training career fields to filling jobs that require
rated personnel. I've known several people who lost their medical who served quite usefully to retirement.

For a Delta pilot, if you lose your medical you will be pay protected till you run out of sick leave, then transition to long term disability until age 65. LTD is basically half pay. Depending on your position when you become sick (and how much alimony you owe) this can be a pretty not bad amount of money. Obviously a huge paycut, but in raw terms you shouldn't be eating cat food. If pilot joined DPSP they can be made financially whole for up to two years.

There is loss of license insurance, the little I've seen didn't seem to have much value. But honestly, I know very little on subject.

JTwift

If I skim-read that correctly, the guy is assuming that you'll go directly to a Major if you hadn't taken that non-flying deployment. News flash...not all mil get picked up to go directly to the majors.i know it's shocking, but...there it is.

I mean, he kind of addresses it at the end, but there are a lot of assumptions being made here. There's a lot of individual contemplation to be had.

And his coming from a recently retired guy who was sick of the AF when I got out.

KC10 FATboy

Agree. In my experience most military pilots I knew that didn't get hired had some type of issue going on: recency of flying time, check ride failure, low flying time, low PIC time, or lack of other flying positions (instructor, check airman, safety etc etc). Your application must be competitive. You shouldn't be making this decision on a whim. You need to plan your exit and should have started a year out from your exit.

Check6Viper

He runs the numbers using the assumption that you spend 1 and 2 years at a regional as well.

TankerDriver

Of course maintaining sanity is not counted as factor.

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crewdawg

Every single one of my buddies that ended their time in the AF in a flying position, have gone directly to the legacies/FedEx/UPS. I had a few Indoc classmates that ended their career in non-flying gigs who did spend some time at a regional. One received an invite within a week of finishing training and he spent less than 3 months flying the line at his regional. Another classmate spent less than 6 months at his regional.

Of course his numbers are full of assumptions, that's why he clearly lists them out. I would say it's a safe assumption to either spend no time or less than 1 years at a regional.