Trading your military uniform for a flying job
What if someone were to pay more than half of your flight training expenses? You'd be pretty happy, right? If you are a veteran of the United States armed forces and meet certain criteria, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affair's flight-training benefits can be yours.
Although some pilots may be turned off by the bureaucratic hurdles required to get the funding, the program does work, according to those who currently use or have used the benefits.
Collin Wayne, a native of Wisconsin now living in Orlando, Florida, recently put his VA benefits toward flight training to earn his instrument rating and commercial certificate through Comair Flight Training Academy in Sanford, Florida. Today, Wayne is a first officer on one of Comair's Fairchild Metroliners.
Wayne, 30, spent much of his military career at the controls of a Sikorsky SH-60B Seahawk helicopter in San Diego. During 12 months of his duty, he squirrelled away $100 of his pay per month toward post-military education. In 1992, he decided to leave the military and suit up for civilian flying. With about 1,200 hours logged, only 100 of which were in fixed-wing aircraft, Wayne arrived at Comair in search of training — with a hopeful eye toward a career as a civilian airline pilot.
As a veteran, Wayne was eligible for 60-percent reimbursement of the costs required to get his flight training. For him that amounted to about $10,000.
By now, you're thinking, "what a great deal," but there was a time when VA flight training benefits weren't available at all. After many veterans utilized the benefits without pursuing aviation careers, Congress canceled the program in 1977, claiming it had low completion rates and was being abused.
Senator Thomas A. Daschle (D-SD), Senate minority leader and an AOPA member, has been the leading proponent in resurrecting the flight training benefits program. Daschle emphasized to Congress the importance of training new pilots and pointed out that aviation will be faced with a pilot shortage in the future.
After some refinements to discourage abuse, such as requiring a private pilot certificate as a prerequisite, the VA flight training benefits were temporarily reinstated. Congress passed the bill but restricted it to a four-year test period that began September 30, 1990. The test was a success and led to permanent implementation of today's program.
According to a VA survey, under Daschle's test program 1,793 veterans had been paid almost $4.5 million in flight-training benefits as of the survey date of February 28, 1993. Fifty-six percent of those surveyed were employed in aviation-related jobs and 33 percent were employed in aviation, solely as a result of the training. The majority of some 2,500 veterans who trained under the VA program in the past four years are now working within the aviation industry, Daschle noted last August. And up to the survey date, fewer than 1 percent of respondents were found to be using the funds for recreational flying. Today, according to a VA official, there are 2,120 pilots training under the VA plan.
It is simple to apply. Just fill out VA claim form 22-1990, and wait...and wait. The VA flight training program is extremely complex. Receipt of financial aid depends on many factors, including the dates when the veteran was on active duty, the rules under which the participating flight school operates, and the aspects of training covered (e.g., dual instruction, solo, ground instruction). The approval process is time- consuming, but no one said it would be easy to get money from the government.
The current legislation, the Montgomery GI Bill, was named after Representative Sonny Montgomery (D-MS), who drafted the bill in 1980. It was finally implemented on July 1, 1985. These are basic requirements one must meet to be eligible for flight-training benefits under the Montgomery GI Bill:
- Must have entered active duty for the first time after June 30, 1985, and served continuously for three years. (This is a tricky one — keep in mind that there are numerous "what-if" factors that determine individual eligibility and, if you don't meet this particular requirement, you are likely to be eligible under another. VA officials urge you to apply to determine eligibility).
- Must have a valid private pilot certificate. Benefits help only those in search of advanced ratings or certificates.
- Must satisfy and maintain second-class medical requirements.
- Must attend a flight school approved under FAR Part 141.
- Must use the training as a supplement to attaining an aviation-related career goal (e.g., airline pilot, flight instructor, mechanic, or FBO operator).
- Must pay 40 percent of training costs for ground or flight instruction.
For Bart Pearl, a flight instructor who spent 20 years in the Army, the VA benefits provided approximately $5,500 worth of training for his multiengine, instrument instructor, and multiengine instructor ratings. "Dealing with the VA was definitely not a pleasure, but it is definitely worth it. I would really encourage veterans to do it," said Pearl.
The paperwork has to be flawless, said Pearl, referring to a math error of $50 that took six months to straighten out while he was working on his MEI. The flight school where he instructs currently has one active student on the VA benefits plan and one who will apply as soon as he passes his private pilot checkride. Pearl tells those planning to use the benefits to have enough money to pay for three months of flight training out of their own pocket. That's about how long it takes for the reimbursement checks to start arriving, he said. Pearl also points out that the 60-percent benefit does not cover books, taxes, or checkride fees.
How much money can you be reimbursed by VA? At the moment, the maximum anybody can get paid is $14,500, over a period of 36 months. That figure changes as the cost-of-living index fluctuates. The reimbursement system is confusing because it depends on your length of active duty and what kind of training you are receiving.
For a quick and dirty example, let's say you trained 10 hours last month at a rate of $100 per hour. VA would pay 60 percent ($600) leaving $400 up to you. However, you would lose approximately 1.5 months of eligibility because $100 per hour is more than the average rate. So for those of you wanting to add a Boeing 747 type rating to your certificate, you'd better do it quickly because your eligibility will get gobbled up at an alarming rate. Eligibility runs out 10 years after the last separation from service.
Comair's Wayne still has $7,000 in benefits available to use within seven years. "I could get a master's degree, get some type ratings, whatever," said Wayne.
Lamar Thigpen of Statesboro, Georgia, earned his instrument rating and his commercial and ground instructor certificates under VA benefits last year, in his efforts to become a flight surgeon for the Air Force. Like Pearl, he compared receiving money from the VA to pulling teeth; but in the end, Thigpen admitted, it was worth it.
After completing his application in 1992, Thigpen — and the flight school he attended — waited a year to "get blessed by the VA," he said. Thigpen actually finished his ratings eight months before he saw the first check. However, he was ultimately reimbursed $5,200 by the VA.
Unlike Thigpen, Wayne had a fairly easy time getting approved and receiving his checks in 1992. It took a couple of weeks for the paperwork to clear, with only a little hassle; and after that, the checks showed up regularly, he said. According to Aaron Thiel, an admissions officer at Comair, the VA's promptness was far better then. Their performance really started going downhill in early 1993, said Thiel. "Now it takes months for the approval process, and students count on that money for training."
For this reason, Comair and most other schools require their students to pay for training in advance. Thiel also pointed out that students are having a hard time getting approval for loans from banks or other financial institutions to pay for their training up front. Apparently, the banks are also aware of the VA's reputation for less-than- prompt payments.
Why do the payments take so long? The VA's main offices for each region processes all of the paperwork by hand — and only once every three weeks.
For the flight schools, the VA benefits program does not provide much in the way of direct monetary rewards. VA approval usually means only a few more students. One FBO said its VA approval was a benefit only for the veterans, not for the school. According to the FBO, the approval process was painstakingly long and redundant. "We had to fill out the same form as many as five times and eventually had to call our congressman to get any action out of the VA."
The Department of Veterans Affairs does not allow the use of flight-training benefits if the student is already using educational benefits for another degree. Students at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, for example, are not allowed to use flight-training benefits if they concurrently apply educational benefits toward their degrees.
Now that flight training benefits have been extended, is there a chance we'll see a more efficient VA program? "It's too soon to tell," said Thiel. "I haven't seen an improvement yet."
Like many government services, the flight-training program could use some help in the areas of ease of approval and promptness, but every veteran we spoke to seemed to forgive the government after it sported 60 percent of the bills. All of them believe that the VA benefits have helped them get to where they are today. For some of them, it was the only way to afford their advanced ratings. Without the aid, many of the thousands of veterans whom the VA has helped to train would probably never have become pilots.
For a complete but painful explanation of the requirements needed to receive VA benefits, call your local VA regional office and ask for pamphlet 22-90-2 Summary of Educational Benefits Under the Montgomery GI Bill-Active Duty Educational Assistance Program if you are or were on active duty. Reservists should obtain pamphlet 22-90-3.
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