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Captain Robert A. Stone - 10     September 14, 1948

Survivors' insurance is effective immediately upon a pilot's entrance on duty so far as work injuries are concerned. At present pay scales a pilot is insured for death from any cause after he has had continuous service of not less than 14 or more than 18 months; i.e., 6 consecutive calendar quarters in which he earned $250 or more, or was in military service. Those pilots who were in military service before starting on the air line would, with rare exceptions, be insured in every respect the minute they begin air line service. If a pilot leaves service before he has 10 years in as a pilot, he has paid-up insurance for a period of time after his service terminates approximately equal to the time he worked as an air line pilot. After 10 years the insurance is permanent; that is, if a pilot works 10 years from the time he is 18 to 28, then gets another job and works until he is 58 and then dies, he is still insured under the pilot's system. A pilot who is disqualified and gets the annuity (the insurance status is unchanged in all cases when a pilot is receiving an annuity) has his insurance paid up, even though he has less than 10 years' service.

(13) The present draft of the plan guarantees that not less than half of the taxes which a pilot pays will be returned in benefits to him or his survivors. In the event that he dies before qualifying for an annuity and he is not survived by any dependents, his estate would receive at least half the taxes he paid. Further, the total paid to his survivors entitled to deferred benefits in the 60 months following a pilot's death will be at least one-third of the taxes paid, or $350, whichever is the larger.

Suppose the pilot referred to in question (2) were to die at 50, leaving a wife of the same age and no children under 21. She would be entitled to an immediate payment of $6,561, and, at 60, unless remarried, a monthly benefit of $78.81. The value of the latter, on the present John Hancock rates, at age 50 for the widow, would be $10,575.

(14) I have not hitherto heard of anything referred to as the "Blue Book". If, however, this means the pamphlet entitled "Air Line Pilot's Retirement Project Explained", I can only say that any misinformation contained in it is attributable to my own stupidity in failing in the last 22 years to learn as much as I should have about the workings of retirement systems. I would, of course, deeply appreciate having my errors pointed out. It would be a great service to the Air Line Pilot's Association to have this done, both in order that the errors might be corrected and that they might be led to engage a competent consultant.

(15) I will cheerfully refund all the fees which I have collected to date from the Air Line Pilot's Association for any information which will lead to the discovery of a commercial insurance company which will guarantee to pay