Viewing page 72 of 102

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

- 51 -

47. Q. Can I secure quarters of coverage before I am age 32?

A. Yes. You can get a quarter of coverage by working as a pilot and meeting the tests outlined in question 44, no matter what your age. But the counting of quarters for the purpose of determining how many you must have to be "wholly insured" does not begin until age 32. For example, suppose you start work at age 22, and you work regularly for five years, getting 20 quarters of coverage. You would be "wholly insured" for 40 quarters after you reach 32 because, at the end of the 40th quarter after you reach 32, you would be "wholly insured" if you had 20 quarters of coverage. That is, one-half of 40.

48. Q. What is meant by "temporarily insured" status?

A. You must have had six quarters of coverage in the period consisting of the quarter in which you die and the 12 immediately preceding quarters.

49. Q. What is the difference in terms of benefits between the survivors of a pilot who dies "wholly insured" and survivors of a pilot who dies "temporarily insured"?

A. Before answering the question, it is necessary to specify the classes of survivor benefits. They are as follows:

(1) Annuities to widows who are 60, or when they attain age 60;

(2) Annuities to widows having care of eligible children of the deceased pilot--that is, children who are unmarried and under age 21;

(3) Annuities to eligible children of the deceased pilot;

(4) Annuities to dependent parents of the deceased pilot who are over 65 if male and 60 if female, provided no widow or eligible child under 21 survived the pilot;

(5) If there is surviving at the death of the pilot no person entitled immediately to one of the above benefits, a lump sum payment is due. (See question 49.)

If a pilot dies wholly insured, all of the above benefits are payable. If he dies while only temporarily insured, benefits listed under items (2), (3) and (5) only are payable.

50. Q. Having determined that a pilot is "wholly insured" or "temporarily insured" at the time of his death and that there are survivors entitled to benefits, how do you go about calculating the amount of benefit to which a survivor or each of the survivors is entitled.

A. The first step is to calculate the "average monthly remuneration" of the pilot. The first part of this step, therefore, is to determine the total remuneration creditable for survivor purposes. This total is the same as the total creditable compensation for retirement annuity purposes except that for survivor purposes there is normally no compensation creditable before July 1, 1949 (but see question 54) and the maximum amount creditable in any one year is $9000 instead of $12,000. The second part of the first step is to count the number of months by which