banked pilots

[mah]

During the early 90's there were more pilots than flight slots and some
were "banked" for future needs and assigned to nonflying duties. When
did they all get returned to flight duty?

I was looking for information but couldn't get a good result from a web
search.

Thanks

MAH

[Michael Williamson]

mah wrote:
> During the early 90's there were more pilots than flight slots and some
> were "banked" for future needs and assigned to nonflying duties. When
> did they all get returned to flight duty?
>
> I was looking for information but couldn't get a good result from a web
> search.
>
> Thanks


Banked pilots tended to return to flying duty after about three
years on non-flying duty. Toward the end of the bank, some folks
returned to fighters a bit earlier, and a few exceeded three years,
usually due to medical reasons (friend of mine tore his achille's
tendon three weeks before he was scheduled to requalify). More
than three years banked at the time would cause a pilot to miss
their first "gate" for flying time, which by policy the Air Force
would not allow to happen.

Mike Williamson

[W. D. Allen Sr.]

The USAF banked rated pilots even back in the late 1950s.
One studying medieval history at Princeton lived two doors
down from me in New Jersey.

WDA

end


"mah" > wrote in message
...
> During the early 90's there were more pilots than flight
slots and some
> were "banked" for future needs and assigned to nonflying
duties. When
> did they all get returned to flight duty?
>
> I was looking for information but couldn't get a good
result from a web
> search.
>
> Thanks
>
> MAH

[Gooneybird]

While that may have been true, I never heard the term "banked pilots" ever used
while I was on EAD (through 1967). They did pay rated officers their flying pay
even after they had been assigned to non-flying duties. For a while, they did
require 4 hours of flying per month, but later waived that requirement in order
to save on aircraft maintenance and operations costs. However, I don't remember
anybody who had been taken off flying duties ever getting assigned back into
them.

George Z.

"W. D. Allen Sr." > wrote in message
et...
> The USAF banked rated pilots even back in the late 1950s.
> One studying medieval history at Princeton lived two doors
> down from me in New Jersey.
>
> WDA
>
> end
>
>
> "mah" > wrote in message
> ...
> > During the early 90's there were more pilots than flight
> slots and some
> > were "banked" for future needs and assigned to nonflying
> duties. When
> > did they all get returned to flight duty?
> >
> > I was looking for information but couldn't get a good
> result from a web
> > search.
> >
> > Thanks
> >
> > MAH
>
>

[Ed Rasimus]

"Gooneybird" > wrote:

>While that may have been true, I never heard the term "banked pilots" ever used
>while I was on EAD (through 1967). They did pay rated officers their flying pay
>even after they had been assigned to non-flying duties. For a while, they did
>require 4 hours of flying per month, but later waived that requirement in order
>to save on aircraft maintenance and operations costs. However, I don't remember
>anybody who had been taken off flying duties ever getting assigned back into
>them.
>
>George Z.
>

You don't recall the "Rated Supplement"? The idea was to take
mid-level aircrew types and move them into support functions for a
"career broadening" assignment. It would usually be someone with at
least one operational tour and it was "guaranteed" (as much as any
personnel policy) to return you to flying status at the end of the
three year tour.

It wasn't the staff job for an operational aviator where the business
is designated for a 1xxx AFSC, but a move to a totally non-rated
career field. IIRC the program started about the time you mention
('67) and was around for at least ten years.

It was a perfect program--both the rated and non-rated types hated it
equally. The career support folks thought the aviator was getting the
good jobs and hindering their careers, while the aviators were
convinced someone was trying to help them screw up while
simultaneously setting them up for grounding.

The flying time requirement shifted from four hours/month about the
same time. You could then "bank" flying time--recapturing flying pay
for two months back or pre-logging time for six months into the
future. Several years later they came up with the "Aviation Career
Incentive Act" which established the flying "gates". As long as you
made your gates, you were guaranteed flying pay, even when you were in
a non-flying billet. That, of course, eliminated those fleets of staff
support aircraft that were just great for getting around the country
on boondoggles.




Ed Rasimus
Fighter Pilot (ret)
***"When Thunder Rolled:
*** An F-105 Pilot Over N. Vietnam"
*** from Smithsonian Books
ISBN: 1588341038

[Gooneybird]

I think the program as you described it must have started just about the time I
retired. I rotated out of an overseas assignment as an Asst. Operations Officer
in a Rescue Squadron into a stateside assignment as a D/P of a Weather Wing. I
never flew during my Wx assignment, but drew flying pay until I retired. I
don't remember anybody ever mentioning the possibility of going back into a
flying assignment, but then you know what's the first thing to go when you get
old and crocky. Maybe I didn't move in the right circles, and there's always
somebody who doesn't get the message. That could have been me......who knows?
(^-^)))

George Z.

Ed Rasimus wrote:
> "Gooneybird" > wrote:
>
>> While that may have been true, I never heard the term "banked pilots" ever
>> used while I was on EAD (through 1967). They did pay rated officers their
>> flying pay even after they had been assigned to non-flying duties. For a
>> while, they did require 4 hours of flying per month, but later waived that
>> requirement in order to save on aircraft maintenance and operations costs.
>> However, I don't remember anybody who had been taken off flying duties ever
>> getting assigned back into them.
>>
>> George Z.
>>
>
> You don't recall the "Rated Supplement"? The idea was to take
> mid-level aircrew types and move them into support functions for a
> "career broadening" assignment. It would usually be someone with at
> least one operational tour and it was "guaranteed" (as much as any
> personnel policy) to return you to flying status at the end of the
> three year tour.
>
> It wasn't the staff job for an operational aviator where the business
> is designated for a 1xxx AFSC, but a move to a totally non-rated
> career field. IIRC the program started about the time you mention
> ('67) and was around for at least ten years.
>
> It was a perfect program--both the rated and non-rated types hated it
> equally. The career support folks thought the aviator was getting the
> good jobs and hindering their careers, while the aviators were
> convinced someone was trying to help them screw up while
> simultaneously setting them up for grounding.
>
> The flying time requirement shifted from four hours/month about the
> same time. You could then "bank" flying time--recapturing flying pay
> for two months back or pre-logging time for six months into the
> future. Several years later they came up with the "Aviation Career
> Incentive Act" which established the flying "gates". As long as you
> made your gates, you were guaranteed flying pay, even when you were in
> a non-flying billet. That, of course, eliminated those fleets of staff
> support aircraft that were just great for getting around the country
> on boondoggles.
>
>
>
>
> Ed Rasimus
> Fighter Pilot (ret)
> ***"When Thunder Rolled:
> *** An F-105 Pilot Over N. Vietnam"
> *** from Smithsonian Books
> ISBN: 1588341038

[BUFDRVR]

>More
>than three years banked at the time would cause a pilot to miss
>their first "gate" for flying time, which by policy the Air Force
>would not allow to happen.

However, it did I happen and personally know two pilots it happened to. Both
completed UPT in '92 and were not finished with the AETC requal program till
'96. I often joked to both of them, that I made out better by losing my UPT
slot in '91. I was what was termed " a recatagorized pilot" (or recat for
short). We went off and did other jobs first, then went to UPT. In the end
most guys that I would have gone through UPT with, beat me to the first
operational assignment, but not all of them. In hindsight I'm glad I was
"recat'ed", vise getting banked. I did much better in UPT as a 1Lt./Capt then I
would have done as a 2 Lt.


BUFDRVR

"Stay on the bomb run boys, I'm gonna get those bomb doors open if it harelips
everyone on Bear Creek"