Should I Go Active or Stay in the National Guard after ROTC?

You can choose to go National Guard by making yourself a GRFD (Guaranteed Reserve Forces Duty) cadet. Active you'll have to compete for with OML, if you don't make it to active you're automatically put into the reserve forces.

As far as aviation goes, no matter if you're active or reserve you will fly the same minimums. Aviation in the Guard/Reserve is a little different in that you have to come in during the work week and fly to maintain your hours, and you get paid every time you do. So for instance at my civilian job I take a half day every week and come in to fly 2-4 hours in a Blackhawk to maintain my currency and hours, and I make up the lost hours at work by coming in an hour earlier or staying an hour later periodically. I know of a lot of guys in my unit that fly full-time civilian either has charter pilots, commercial, EMS, or just CFI.

That being said Aviation in the Guard is a select group that you generally have to contact the Officer management office for each state in advance and coordinate. Each state has different packet and interview times to make it into aviation. It's not necessarily hard, it just requires some advance work and thought. I started working on it the summer before my fourth year (and I was a 4.5 year cadet).

When you say you are contracted, have you actually signed an ROTC contract? If so, you are no longer an 11B Soldier but a 09R SMP cadet. Also, if you are on a scholarship, you already made the decision. The only scholarship option for a sophomore student in the National Guard guarantees you will go into the NG upon commissioning. If you are non-scholarship contract cadet, you can compete for active duty. Aviation is very competitive so you need to talk with your instructor on what you need to do to position yourself for success. Much of that will be your grades and PT score so you should excel in those areas.

I would always recommend going active as a LT. I did not and regret it. Reserve ROTC comissionees get the last pick of BOLC course dates, so you graduate find a job wait four months then leave for six. It's not a good combination for success in a civilian career. Also there isn't really anything for a reserve LT to do so the experience you get early in your active officer career is well worth it. Having a guaranteed job (provided your GPA is decent) is well worth it. Also if you want to transfer back into the reserves after your initial commitment is up you'll be way ahead of your peers, and the military experience looks good to.