National Guard Pay for Pilots

electron_si · January 11, 2013

I know a lot of guys are in here asking questions about National Guard pay, flight pay and all that stuff so I'm just going to break down my monthly/yearly pay so any guard guys that aren't prior aviation or new civilians looking to come in can see exactly what they can expect. Until I was on flight status as a crew chief I had no idea the amount of money that could be made as an M day flight crew member.

I am a W01 with 6 years TIS (I'll be CW2 in june w/8 yrs TIS in august)

All these numbers include the $125/mo flight pay

Drill Pay- $492/mo x 12 = $5904/yr

AT Pay ( 2 weeks)- $1848/yr

AFTP's (72 UTA's)- $8856/Yr

Total/YR = $16,608/Yr

I take home about $905/Mo with Drill pay and 3 Dual Aftp's (6 UTA's)

I'm also a GS 9 technician making $57,000 /Yr

I hope this is some incentive for pilots pursuing the national guard. There really is a lot more money to be had than most people think.

Also, although I'm not taking home as much as I did on active duty, being a Technician gives me Federal FERS retirements plus MATCHING TSP UP TO 5%.

Yamer · January 11, 2013

Whats your technician job as a warrant pilot?

electron_si · January 11, 2013

I oversee the construction projects for the National Guard as Project Manager.

electron_si · January 11, 2013

By the way I didn't start the topic to brag about money or anything, $73,000 with a wife and son doensn't go that far. I just know that the UTA, AFTP, drill pay scheme can get confusing on how everything is calculated and I wanted people to know how lucrative being a guard pilot can be. I didn't know any of this when I enlisted, I really just went aviation because my brother was a CH-47 crew chief active duty and told me to go aviation when I joined the guard. It just happened to turn out really well for me 7 years later.

TriViper · January 31, 2016

What's the flight pay for crew chiefs in the National Guard?

dovq2011 · January 31, 2016

Good to know for those who like to plan ahead and figure out exit strategies and continuation of service after AD. Thanks for the info.

TachedOutOffRoad · January 31, 2016

I'm a W2 with 15 years.

Flew 189 hours last year.

Made about $29,000 from the Guard last year. That's drill, AFTPs, SIM trips, two week AT, another two week course.

I'm at my unit a lot. It's that not easy for eveyone, but I work for myself and am in school, so I can pick up those Tues/Wed missions that others can't.

Our full time IPs/MTPs are GS-13s, starting out about $90,000 toping out at $110,000ish plus another $20-40,000 on the Guard side too.

The Guard is a great deal if you can put forth the time. The guys that live 3+ hours away, already work out of town, or work a lot of weekends/midnights, it can be tough to make minimums. We have quite a few PHI and Rucker pilots that are logging 400-500 hours a year on the civilian side and then come fly with us too.

Go Guard!

CharyouTree · February 3, 2016

What's the flight pay for crew chiefs in the National Guard?

Same as it is active duty.

...sort of

Whatever the rate is, 1/30th for every drill/AFTP completed.

i.e. I'm a warrant with +6. I get $650/month. So if I do a single AFTP, I get 1/30th of that. (~$22) If I do a "normal" drill weekend, which is equivalent to 4 AFTPs (UTAs), I'd get ~$88

Same deal with the non-rated folks, in general. (I think they're SUPPOSED to actually fly a specific amount per month to get paid... where a rated person could wait till the last month of their annual/semi-annual period and fly their hours, and still get paid.)

Ardo09203 · February 5, 2016

Same as it is active duty.
...sort of

Whatever the rate is, 1/30th for every drill/AFTP completed.

i.e. I'm a warrant with +6. I get $650/month. So if I do a single AFTP, I get 1/30th of that. (~$22) If I do a "normal" drill weekend, which is equivalent to 4 AFTPs (UTAs), I'd get ~$88

Same deal with the non-rated folks, in general. (I think they're SUPPOSED to actually fly a specific amount per month to get paid... where a rated person could wait till the last month of their annual/semi-annual period and fly their hours, and still get paid.)

It's different for enlisted. I'm E3 with 2 and my HDIP is $5 per UTA.

CharyouTree · February 5, 2016

It's different for enlisted. I'm E3 with 2 and my HDIP is $5 per UTA.

HDIP for E3 is $150. 1/30th of 150 is 5. How is that any different than what I said?

Yamer · February 5, 2016

Math is hard...

Dnr032 · February 7, 2016

Also, don't forget that all of those 'points' are adding up for your future retirement. Stay in the Guard until you qualify for retirement and all of those Tuesday and Thursday AFTP's will equal more money at age 60. I am glad I did.

zack.colorado · February 18, 2017

How does retirement work if you have a GS position? Completely separate or do you only receive credit for days that you a working?

CharyouTree · February 18, 2017

How does retirement work if you have a GS position? Completely separate or do you only receive credit for days that you a working?

Completely separate. You have your Guard retirement that's based on your points, and your GS retirement that's...whatever.

kona4breakfast · November 22, 2019

In case any of you part-timers out there want to waste your time trying to participate in our democracy, there's a link to contact your reps at the top of the page:

https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/116/hr2953

H.R. 2953: Aviation Incentive Pay Parity Act

To amend title 37, United States Code, to authorize the Secretary of a military department to pay an officer in a reserve component of a uniformed service aviation incentive pay at the same rate as an officer in the regular component of that uniformed service.