True,
There are some NCA that have departed, done their licences and now fly as Captains – they most certainly were not Officer material as I can attest to in one very boorish Sgts to Officers Christmas function; the Boss still has nightmares and his hat never did recover!!!!!
I think the last post articulates the 'why would they want to be SNOs' answer very well, and it is from a SNCO so should be regarded as true, more representative than a guess anyway.
Apparently some of the Army pilots became successful Civilian Airline pilots too – would you credit it!!! And they never even tried to Commission?