60% of 853 Air Force pilots elect for $125,000 re-enlistment bonus

Above: An F-16 Fighting Falcon arrives at Balad Air Base, Iraq, after a close air support mission on August 28th.

With less than a month left for eligible pilots to sign up for the fiscal 2007 pilot bonus, 60.1 percent of the 853 pilots able to take the bonus had agreed as of Sept. 1.

In return for accepting the $125,000 bonus to be paid out over five years, a pilot agrees to serve another five years on active duty. The bonus is available only to pilots coming off their initial active-duty service commitment, usually at the eight-year point after becoming a pilot.

So far, the pilots most reluctant to take the bonuses have been Air Mobility Command aviators. A little more than 52 percent of tanker and airlift fliers have agreed to the bonus.

The highest signup rate has been among Air Force Materiel Command fliers, which includes test pilots, at 81.5 percent.

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