To give all of this some perspective - consider the following:
The following is calculated over the period at which DAAVN has now set our mid rate flying pay.
So from wings to AC Comd (15 months in this case), and then a further 4 years from there before middle rate:
Under the new system:
Total pay would be £23,629.
Made up of P2 pay of £4,205 and A/C Comd pay (aka flying pay anywhere other than the AAC) of £19,424.
Under the ‘old’ system (where middle rate is 4 years from wings):
Total pay would be £30,002
Made up of P2 pay of £4,205, A/C Comd pay of £10,270 and mid Rate flying pay of £15,527.
Even more morale giving:
Compare an AAC Officer pilot with any RN/RM or RAF pilot getting wings at the same time:
Total flying pay of £33,848
Made up of flying pay of (aka A/C Comd pay in the AAC) of £18,320 and Mid Rate flying pay of £15,527.
The figures get more ridiculous if you then look at how much you lose out on over the 8 years from wings and into top/enhanced rates.
What is so grating about this pathetic measure is that the decision has been made by those who are more than happy on their enhanced rates of flying pay and whose likelihood of getting in an operational helicopter, let alone flying one around Iraq or Afghanistan, is distinctly remote.
Of course these people count their jobs as ‘flying related’. If you can count watching aircraft fly past the window at DAVVN a flying related job.
Call me cynical but with these sort of incentives to work ever harder with less and less it’s increasingly hard not to be….!