StallFail

Hello,

I'm sure this has been mentioned in bits and pieces in many threads, but I really have a serious question here... I'm currently a 3 year regional pilot, flying a CRJ 200. In just a few weeks I will have a BS degree.

I am seriously flirting with the idea of an Air Force career... part of me wants a reserve career, and part of me wants a full-time air force career.

What is the pay like in a full time Air Force job?
What is the pay like in a reserve job?

How hard is it to get a slot in the reserves?

I really don't know that much about it... I just really love the idea of flying a c-130 or a c-5....

Is it a good idea to go from airline to Air Force?

I feel like I would have wasted a lot of money in flight training, just to get it again in the air force... is that correct?

Riddler

Good luck, here's some info to get you started.

First, pay: here's a link to the 2010 officer pay chart
2010 Military Basic Pay Charts
You will start out as a 2LT, with is an "O-1" pay grade. With less than 2 years in service, you'll earn 2745/month in basic pay.

In addition to basic pay, you will also earn a nontaxable "Basic Allowance for Subsistence (BAS)" which is nontaxable and currently it's about $220/month. On a side note, anything with the word "pay" in its title is taxable income, anything without the word "pay" is not taxable.

Another huge nontaxable source of income is Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH). BAH rates depend on where you live and whether or not you're married. Here's a link: 2010 Basic Allowance for Housing Rates - Military Benefits - Military.com. BAS in Enid OK (a pilot training base) is currently $925/month.

Flight pay would also start when you attend pilot training. I think it starts out at $125/month, but eventually it goes up about 5-6 times that much depending on how many years of service.

So starting 2LT pay is about 4K/month, and only about 3K of that is taxed. You also do NOT pay for any retirement or medical insurance, which will easily save you $500/month.

You would be promoted to 1LT (O-2) after 2 years, Capt (O-3) after 4 years, and Major (O-4) is typically around 9-10 years, assuming active duty. Reserves is about the same but maybe a little slower.

For your reserve pay - if you are on extended active duty orders (such as the year of pilot training and several months of follow on C-130/C-5/etc training), you'd be getting the same pay as active duty guys. However, if you are not on orders, you generally get 1/30 of equivalent active duty pay for every day that you work. Reserve pay is way more complicated than that, but for this point in your life, just plan on 1/30 for each day you work. Most traditional reservists work about 5-7 days per month, some work way more, some work way less.

So how do you start? Search this forum, and also Baseops.Net Flight Planning and Aviation Weather. Your first step is talking to an officer recruiter.

Good luck,
Riddler

kalyx522

Sorry for the following longwinded response, I am also a 3 yr regional pilot and here is my recent experience on the difficulty of getting a slot. I think that really depends. Some units are higher in demand than others (due to location, etc. for example a unit in more populated and pilot-ful Florida or Texas is going to have more applicants than a unit in Nebraska). I have heard of units getting 100+ applications and narrowing down the interview pool to a dozen or so, to ultimately pick 1 or 2 candidates. I think those units that get 100 applications are typically fighter units. Then there are units that only get 20 applications. So, if you REALLY want this you can increase your chances by applying to every single unit in the country regardless of where they are located or what they fly.

I personally thought the hardest part about getting hired is doing all the footwork that is required to even get to the interview. When I first started this process years ago the guard/reserve units were going through BRAC and it was damn near impossible to find out any information. You have to be motivated. Since you don't have a recruiter working for you as for active duty, you have to figure out and do EVERYTHING yourself. This means finding out what is required, scheduling and taking the necessary tests (AFOQT, TBAS), putting your package together (different units require different packages and that is another thing you need to find out), finding out which units are hiring and then figuring out how to contact those units, and actually getting through to the right person to get the hiring info. There are websites you can use to find which unit are hiring (baseops and wantscheck are the two big ones I think) but the problem is that not all units advertise hiring on these websites. So if there is a unit that interests you, you just need to call them up and talk to the chief pilot to find out hiring info. There are several units that I never saw advertisements for their hiring anywhere, but when I called them up, the chief pilots told me they were hiring (they were all very nice and helpful by the way if you are able to get through to them.)

After all this is done, to actually get called for an interview, it's important to have a good package - AFOQT/PCSM scores, GPA, letters of recommendation, etc. - but those are also subjective to each unit because I have found units weigh their applicants differently. For example I applied to one unit and they told me specifically that the only thing they didn't like about my package was that my PCSM was too low in comparison to other candidates they were interviewing and they would talk to me if I could retake the TBAS and get the PCSM score up. The next month I got hired by another unit that never mentioned or asked me about ANY of that - AFOQT,PCSM,GPA - but instead focused heavily on me as a person.
The other way you can increase your chances of getting an interview/getting hired is enlisting in the unit and working your way up. You may be the most competitive off the street applicant in the pool, but if they already have one of their own enlisted guys who they know and like, you never even stood a chance. If enlisting is not possible (I don't know anything about this process), you can at least try to visit the unit and meet the chief pilot and the pilots. It's my personal opinion that units are more likely to extend interviews to applicants who have made the effort of visiting their unit. This should be easy for you since you can fly for free.

As for actually getting hired... I know several people who got hired on their first interview... and others who had many interviews before finally getting hired. I have a friend got hired by a fighter unit on his first application/interview ever! and he wasn't even enlisted. Another friend who tried for like 6 years, he would always get the alternate slot because there was always the one dude who was prior enlisted that got the primary. I say if you really want this, persistence will pay off sooner or later. (as with most things in life I guess?)

Paok

I was a 2nd year RJ pilot when I got hired for a reserve job. I got hired at my first interview. I now know about 10 other regional pilots from my company with reserve and guard slots. PM me if u have any questions.

Blazer535

I am in the same boat. I was regional for a year and a half, although regionals were only temporary in my eyes. I got picked up by a Reserve squadron my first time through. Although I am still waiting to get started, I think it is an excellent path. You can't complain about a stable job and good benefits. It takes a lot of leg work at the beginning and kalyx522 is correct about doing all the work yourself. The recruiter I have been with, hopefully others are better, is a full time job itself. I have had to do my entire package on my own. I scheduled all of my test dates, turned in all of the forms, found the squadron contacts, and submitted my package to the squadron all myself. Be prepared to do your share of work, but even though I cannot technically speak from experience you are not making a bad choice.

I plan to jump back into the airlines on down the road but there is no doubt that military is far more stable. Let me know if you have any specific questions about the current recruitment process, I am up to date on the steps required.

Paok

Same thing here, my recruiter tried several times to NOT get me in, and it wasnt until some O-5's brought it to her attention I needed to be a priority that she even returned my phone calls. If you cant do the work yourself you will sit around waiting for your recruiter. Im half way through UPT and if she got her way (not wanting to get my paperwork in for a board bc she was too task saturated) I would just be starting OTS. I was unemployed at the time so it was not an option to sit around waiting. It was a lot of work putting together those packages, but figure out how to do it if you want to start working sooner. If you need help PM me. (on how to schedule tests, package stuff etc)

dtfl

If the unit has more than one person they are interested in, those scores are important....they become the discriminator. Regional airline time is viewed as a blessing and curse. A former pilot in my unit that went to AFRC has sat on many boards and told me the PCSM scores matter...they need to be above 75 or 80The board will not select a candidate with terrible scores...so why waste our and the applicant's time to send that up? Recently I have heard (from the 22AF CC) that only about 70% of the slots are being filled...so that might not matter now..in 1 year..it might. It's the whole person concept. A great guy who didn't apply himself and didn't get good scores, etc might not go above and beyond in the unit..then again a smart person might be a jerk and we will have to work with that person for years.

kalyx522

I don't fault that unit at all for it... it's entirely their prerogative on what criteria they use to select their interviewees. In fact the chief pilots of the unit I spoke with were very nice and helpful. I used my example just so the OP understands - don't get discouraged if one unit says we dont like you because your score is too low (or for whatever other reason).
I didn't have terrible scores, 80s and 90s on my AFOQT, it's just I bombed the TBAS somehow. Thing is I had a pretty high score my first time around, but then they made me retake it after the BAT changed into the TBAS, and then the score dropped like 30 points. So my PCSM was crappy due to my TBAS (was maxed out on hours and AFOQT pilot was 95) but it doesn't mean I didn't apply myself and won't go above and beyond in my unit. I've been maxing out 1000/annual at my regional even before the year is up and intend to work just as hard if not more for my unit. I'm so thankful they saw my work ethic through my past record despite the crappy PCSM and gave me a chance.

kalyx522

How's that going for you?

Riddler

Hey, Congrats on getting hired and getting into UPT! Stay out of trouble and enjoy Maguire!