What are my wife's chances?

[Nevets]

Here's another tidbit:
controllers can retire after 25 years of service at any age, or after 20 years of service if you're 50 or older. You must retire at 56. This comes with a government very nice sized pension (dependent on your # of years of service) and a 401K with excellent govt matching (we call it TSP - thrift savings plan) at the end.

I will be able to retire at 48 with a full govt pension and will still be making more than most of your early year captains (at the regionals) just off my pension portion.

Just another good reason to consider this avenue!

Also, just to add, you can retire at the minimum retirement age + 30 years and have all your ATC years computed at 1.7% for your annuity/pension! And the mandatory retirement age isn't so mandatory. You can request a waiver or try to get promoted to a second level supervisor before reaching 56.

 

[atl pilot]

Actually, to figure out retirement pay for an Controller who retires under the current (FERS) system, you must figure out what the average is of your highest consecutive 3-years of pay was. Then you get 1.7% (of that average figure) for the first 20 years (34%), plus an additional 1% for every year after that. So if you serve for 25 years and retire at age 48 (like I will), and if the average pay of your highest 3 consecutive years of pay was $100,000, you would get a pension of $39,000 per year. Plus you get a social security supplement from the FAA, from the point at which your retire until you turn age 62, when your SS actually kicks in. That works out to roughly 75% (just for estimations sake) of whatever the SS would be (on that statement you get every year near your b-day). At ATC-12 level, that works out to roughly another $10K per year for the supplement portion. So, roughly a pension of $49,000 per year.
Also you can put into the TSP (Thrift Savings Plan - the govts version of a 401K). The FAA has great matching - look at my post under ATC benefits for more exact details.