A military rotor transition program (RTP) is the fastest way private industry can create a qualified airline transport pilot today, bar none. Many airlines who wish to aggressively recruit talent in the current labor market have realized the untapped potential a military helicopter pilot provides to their company. RTPs have proven to be wildly successful in expediently producing a highly professional First Officer candidate with the added value of their military aviator background. By improving upon the well-established success record of RTPs, airlines can better secure highly qualified labor by creating their own first class rotor transition program.
For employers and recruiters, the following ‘five key elements’ of an RTP are meant to help provide guidance on how to better understand what transitioning military pilots truly need in order to increase the appeal of your current or future programs. For military helicopter pilots looking to make the transition, review these talking points as a means to evaluate an RTP.
#1. Early Conditional Job Offer (CJO)
Issue: Active duty military helicopter pilots are bound by regulation to provide a minimum 6-month, maximum 12-month notification of their tendered release from active duty or resignation. Few airlines will offer CJOs as far out as 12 months from one’s availability date; many have 6- or 3-month offers. As a result, there is risk to the military pilot that they are submitting for resignation prior to having a job secured for which they are not yet fully qualified for.
Discussion: Military pilots cannot give a “one month’s notice” and cleanly transition to the private sector. Due to nature of the military bureaucracy, there are various Human Resources manning requirements and DoD regulatory transition ‘gates’ transitioning service members must pass through before leaving active duty service. The 6-12 month resignation window is inflexible for the service member. Moreover, many military chain-of-commands may treat a service member differently once they have announced their intention to leave the service which potentially has negative career ramifications if they cannot line up a job in time.
“First Class” Recommendation: Provide, at minimum, a valid 12-month CJO. This allows sufficient time for military pilots to secure a job prior to announcing their resignation and potentially imposing irreversible career ramifications that could impact them and their families.
#2. Ability to Complete Training on Active Duty
Issue: Many RTPs are designed so that transitioning military helicopter pilots complete their training once they are released from active duty – thus slowing the RTP throughput to airline indoctrination training.
Discussion: One of the primary benefits of an RTP for the airline is the ability to take a highly vetted, professional military aviator and rapidly qualify them in fixed-wing aircraft for a First Officer position within the company. By requiring the candidate to start training after separating from the military, the airline is needlessly delaying the training if a training option exists near the service member’s duty station. Service members can train while off-duty or while on military leave. Currently, Trans States Holdings, Inc. (Trans States Airlines, GoJet, Compass Airlines) is successfully allowing military pilots to train on active duty at any Part 141 school by having them a sign promissory note. This allows service members the flexibility to become qualified prior to their availability date. While the majority of RTP candidates have zero fixed-wing experience, some already have acquired their ratings on their own dime and need to time build – this would be attractive to those candidates as well.
“First Class” Recommendation: Once an RTP candidate has separation orders in-hand from Human Resources (6-12 months from their availability date), permit release of fixed-wing training funds in order for an RTP candidate to train while off-duty. This allows the candidate to feasibly acquire all their ratings and required hours before leaving active duty – thus expediting their availability for their ATP/CTP course and/or indoc class at the airline. As an added benefit to the candidate, they are able to more seamlessly transition between jobs and maintain a paycheck – an even bigger benefit with families to support. For RTP candidates that successfully meet all prerequisites prior to leaving active duty, they could potentially be offered an ATP/CTP course if they have the military leave dates to cover the course dates prior to their release from the service.
#3. Flexibility to Choose a Flight School
Issue: Some RTPs require training through a specified partner school, thus often creating a training backlog due to capacity limits. Moreover, many of these schools are not in close proximity to any military base where potential candidates are stationed for those that have approval from their airline to train prior to their release from active duty.
Discussion: One of the most notable bottlenecks in many RTP pipelines occurs whenever there is an exclusive partnership with a specific flight school. For example, Piedmont has partnered with an excellent flight school (Infinity Flight Group) that has proven itself to get RTP candidates in and out of training efficiently thus far. Conversely, Envoy‘s partner school, Coast Flight Training, has proven to have major issues (instructor ratio, instructor/aircraft/DPE availability, allegedly charging two students full-rental rates when splitting flight time with a safety pilot, etc.). This has led to Envoy’s partner school taking some students 6+ months to complete the program – which is unacceptable. Meanwhile, some transition programs are being completed in as few as 2 months. Trans States Holdings, Inc. is allowing RTP candidates at any of its subsidiary airlines to pick and choose any Part 141 school to train at which is immensely beneficial, especially since many military helicopter units are co-located near civilian Part 141 or 61 flight schools (and they’re allowing RTP candidates to train while on active duty). Republic Airline does not presently have an RTP, however, they have a Flight Training Initiative (FTI) program that allows pilots to train any flight school (Part 61 included) to build their remaining 100 hours to meet ATP minimums; this is a huge deal for military helicopter pilots that already have their ratings but need to time build on active duty. Finally, for those candidates with families, having to spend more time away when many military pilots have already endured months and years away from their families may be able to be alleviated if the RTP candidate can train nearby.
“First Class” Recommendation: Allow RTP candidates to train at any Part 141 (or Part 61 for time building) flight school of their choice. This prevents schools from becoming overloaded with students and minimizes the risks of a ‘monopoly’ situation where a school can fail without any incentive of improving their service. Additionally, this allows military members the flexibility in not having to move for a short period of time while potentially allowing the training to be completed while still on active duty at their local airports.
#4. “Full Coverage” Funding
Issue: Some RTPs do not offer sufficient funding to cover ratings and time building, even with the expectation that a candidate will be utilizing his or her VA benefits. Additionally, some of these programs deduct training funds from the First Officer hiring bonus – while not unreasonable – lacks in comparison to other RTPs.
Discussion: Presently, the American Airlines Group wholly-owned regional carriers (Envoy, Piedmont, PSA) offer $23,000 of RTP funding in exchange for a 2-year training contract. Their offering is separate from their new hire bonus. This presently is the ‘gold standard’ for RTPs. Much of the appeal of the airlines to transitioning military helicopter pilots is that first year FO pay is finally livable unlike in years past. Trans States Airlines has just recently announced a hiring bonus for RTP candidates of $38,000; transition training is deducted from the new hire FO bonus, however, their financial incentive is now competitive with AAG’s wholly-owned carrier offerings.
“First Class” Recommendation: Offer RTP training funds that are not deducted from any First Officer hiring bonus, but rather tie them to a training contract for a specified term based on how much money is needed for the transition.
#5. Enhanced Benefits (Early Seniority, Cadet Program Benefits, etc.)
Issue: With the net result of any rotor transition program being an ATP-eligible FO candidate, any additional benefits or perks (or lack thereof) could be a deciding factor in choosing a company with all else being relatively equal.
Discussion: The advent of the rotor transition program is an incredible recruiting tool by itself; opportunities have never existed like this for one of the most underrated aviator talent pools out there – the military helicopter pilot. Understandably, the benefit alone is more than sufficient for those looking to do an intra-aviation career change. However, all else being equal, there are a lot of options for military pilots in the current hiring boom. Some enhanced benefits currently being fielded for RTP candidates include enhanced seniority from GoJet and Trans States Airlines: they will allow active duty military helicopter pilots with a company CJO secure an early seniority number up to 90 days out from their availability date. Other ideas taken from existing cadet programs include SkyWest‘s early company seniority (albeit not pilot seniority), Air Wisconsin‘s non-rev travel benefits, 401(k) matching, company-paid CBT for ‘Airman Trainees,’ Envoy‘s enhanced class seniority for cadets, and so on.
“First Class” Recommendation: Create additional incentives that result in quality of life or quality of career enhancements that will uniquely identify your company’s RTP from the others.
For additional news, networking, and resources, The Aviator Agent recommend’s RotaryToAirlines.org as well as their highly active Facebook group, RTAG – Rotary to Airlines Group.
To see The Aviator Agent’s current ranking of RTP programs for 2018, check out this year’s current guide for the top airlines for transitioning military helicopter pilots.
THE AVIATOR AGENT 