{"id":34941,"date":"2020-07-10T19:01:16","date_gmt":"2020-07-10T19:01:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/uncategorized\/2020\/07\/10\/fewer-pilots-took-aviator-bonuses-in-2019\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T21:05:08","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T21:05:08","slug":"fewer-pilots-took-aviator-bonuses-in-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/news\/your-air-force\/2020\/07\/10\/fewer-pilots-took-aviator-bonuses-in-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"Fewer pilots took aviator bonuses in 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Fewer pilots of manned aircraft accepted bonuses<\/a> to stay in the cockpit for years more in fiscal 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to statistics released by the Air Force Friday, 285 manned pilots last year accepted aviation bonuses worth tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars, in exchange for service commitments of up to 12 years under the Aviation Bonus Program<\/a>. That is down from the 330 pilots of manned aircraft who accepted the bonuses<\/a> in fiscal 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The percentage of eligible manned pilots agreeing to the bonuses \u2014 the so-called \u201ctake rate\u201d \u2014 dipped slightly from 45 percent in 2018 to 44 percent in 2019. That brings take rates back to where they were in 2017, but still well below the 55 percent take rate in 2015 and 48 percent in 2016. The Air Force did not break out these statistics by the type of pilot, such as fighter, bomber or mobility pilots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, more remotely piloted aircraft pilots are taking these bonuses \u2014 104 in 2019, versus 88 in 2018. RPA pilots\u2019 take rate of 59.8 percent in 2019 was virtually unchanged from the previous year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The take rates for all pilots throughout the fleet remain well below the 65 percent the Air Force said in previous years it hoped would take the bonuses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a June 25 interview, Maj. Gen. Jake Jacobson, director of the Air Force\u2019s aircrew crisis task force, said that while manned pilot bonus take rates remained virtually flat from 2017 to 2019, it\u2019s too early to tell whether that will continue this year. Pilots have until the end of September decide whether to take the bonus, he said, but the acceptance is largely tracking with what the Air Force expected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut there will also be a fair number of decisions made in the last quarter of the fiscal year, as folks look at the outside world, and look at their time in the Air Force, and try and weigh what\u2019s in their family\u2019s best interest,\u201d Jacobson said.<\/p>\n\n\n