AH-64 pilots offered $12,000 yearly bonus

by Gerry J. Gilmore

WASHINGTON (Army News Service, Jan. 26, 1999) -- More than 500 Army rotary-wing aviators have an opportunity to earn $12,000-a-year in bonus pay.

To get the bonus, qualified warrant officers specializing in flying AH-64 (Apache) helicopters must accept participation in the Aviation Continuation Pay program.

"This is just one of several steps we're taking to increase our Apache pilot retention numbers, and keep them up," said Maj. Cynthia S. McClelland, chief of incentive pay branch, deputy chief of staff for operations, U.S. Army Total Personnel Command, Alexandria, Va.

According to McClelland, approximately 525 pilots Armywide have been determined to be eligible for the program.

Qualified flyers with six years total service and four years commissioned service can earn as much as $120,000 in bonus money over the next ten years, she said.

"In order to receive the bonus, qualified pilots must agree to serve through their 14th year of commissioned officer service," McClelland said. According to McClelland, most warrant officers are commissioned after two years of aviation service.

"This coincides with promotion to CW 2," she said.

According to a PERSCOM message sent out Jan. 14, applicants for the Aviation Continuation Pay Program must:

• Be entitled to Aviation Career Incentive Pay;
• Be in warrant officer grades CW2, CW3 and CW4;
• Be qualified to perform operational flying duty in AH-64 helicopters. This requirement does not exclude personnel who are temporarily grounded;
• Be assigned to a valid AH-64 flying position and remain in an AH-64 flying position for the entire period of the agreement (exclusive of transition time due to PCS, degree completion programs, or leader development schooling);
• Have completed at least six years, but less than 13 years of aviation service on the effective date of the agreement. Personnel with an aviation service entry date between Oct. 18, 1985 and Sept. 30, 1993 meet this requirement;
• Have completed any active duty service commitment incurred for undergraduate aviator training;
• Agree to remain on active duty to complete 14 years commissioned service. "We're preparing agreements and mailing them out to the [qualified] officers through their chains of command," McClelland said. "They can either accept or decline the bonus/agreement, but either way they must sign it and return it to PERSCOM before April 30, 1999.

  "The bonus program will be offered on a year-by-year basis. There is no guarantee that it will be offered next year," she said.

  The agreements for this fiscal year's Aviation Continuation Pay program will be mailed out by mid-February, McClelland said, who anticipates a goodly number of the 525 pilots will accept the bonus.

  "We're estimating an 85-percent acceptance rate," she said.