explain flight pay and sea pay.

I have to answer a question for a young man and did not know the answers so I will post the Q here.

1.When do you get flight pay? After you get winged?
2.If your squadron is out to sea do you get sea pay as well.
3.Are there others pilot/nfo pays that add up to the check other than BAH/BAS which is well documented.
4.regular military compensation charts takes into account base+BAH/BAS+ tax benefits but other pays are not. what is the average O3 pilot over4 making (take home)

thanks in advance.

xchefmike said:

1.When do you get flight pay? After you get winged?

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As soon as you start flying (actually I think mine started during Aviation Preflight Indoc in Pensacola)

2.If your squadron is out to sea do you get sea pay as well.

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Actually a pretty good question....I'm not sure about this as those in squadrons are not considered part of "ship's company" and that might be the requirement. To me you should earn both, but don't quote me on that.

3.Are there others pilot/nfo pays that add up to the check other than BAH/BAS which is well documented.

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Not really, there is an aviation bonus which kicks in around the 8 year mark and obligates you to further service. You can always count on other pays based on where you are such as hazard pay, family sep, etc but those aren't aviation specific.

4.regular military compensation charts takes into account base+BAH/BAS+ tax benefits but other pays are not. what is the average O3 pilot over4 making (take home)

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Actually the military pay tables ( http://www.dfas.mil/militarypay/militarypaytables.html ) do not account for BAH or any tax benefits. They only list your base pay based on rank and time in service. BAS is the same for all officers at $223.04 in addition to your base pay. BAH of course varies on dependent status and location.

Because of this your average O3>4 pilot pay can vary greatly based on where you are located. This could vary by almost a thousand a month.

If you want to break it out here ya go:
Base Pay: 4722.90
BAS: 223.04
Flight Pay: 206.00
BAH: Norfolk: 1534, San Diego: 2085, Whidbey: 1237, Pensacola: 1238, Lemoore: 1176 etc, etc (all without dependent rates)

BAH and BAS are not taxed.

To add onto KP

Anything that has the world ALLOWANCE in it, is not taxable. That is why BAS and BAH are not taxable. TLA and DLA (Temp Living Allowance and Dislocation Living Allowance) are also not taxable, they are the perks for PCSing.

Flight Pay starts in primary you don't get it during API

xchefmike said:

If your squadron is out to sea do you get sea pay as well.

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I don't think so.

Way back in my day when ships still had oars, officers only received Sea Pay after they had been assigned to afloat positions for three years or more. So, you didn't get Sea Pay until you had been afloat for three years, and afterwards you got Sea Pay only when attached to an afloat command.

By "afloat" I don't mean actual time at sea, but rather assigned to an afloat command, which 99 times out of 100 meant a SHIP. Since pilots are assigned to a squadron that just happens to deploy from time to time on a ship, I don't think they would have qualified under the old rules. Additionally, I don't think FLight Pay and Sea Pay could be doubled-up like Sea Pay and Nuke Pay could.

Of course Noah was a classmate of mine, so things may have changed a bit since then.

When it first started, one had to have three year of sea duty accumulated before it came into effect. For squadron aviators, it was only when the squadron was assigned to the ship (ie, underway or deployed). For ship's company, it was the entire time they were assigned to the ship. Now it is initially a lower rate but everyone, airdales and shoes both, still rate it. Aviators at sea who also work the flight deck for other than manning their aircraft rate hazardous duty pay. And then there is combat pay. It can all add up. However, with the various rules on start and stop dates, one needs to be a CPA to figure it all out. Also, don't forget. Officers pay to eat at sea. They usually forefit the BAS and maybe a little more, depending on the XO's tastes.

This of course is "sea pay" for aviation...

If you are assigned to an afloat unit (not airdale), you immediately receive sea pay, and that sea pay increases with sea time.

^^^^^^^^

If that is not what I said, it is exactly what I meant to say. Starts immediately for everyone now but only for airdales while they are actually assigned to the ship.

I just dumbed it down....