Originally Posted by
TD40603
Trying to see where the furthest commutes come from. I'm retiring from active duty on 1 July and will be relocating back to Alaska for the next 20-24 months. I have done research and there are non-stop flights on AA from AK to Seattle, then Non-stop from SEA to CLT (also AA). Long commute I know. Having spent my last 28 months as a geo-bachelor though I am more than willing to do this commute. The plan is to move down back to the lower 48 after my kid graduates. A 2 weeks on/off schedule (or close to it) is way better than what I have going now. A crash-pad would definitely be part of the plan. Thoughts? Anybody else coming from a long distance?
So I've looked at the geographic distribution of our crew members, and as a matter of fact we have at least one who has an Alaskan zip code. I myself spent a number of years there long before I was an airline pilot. There are also a number of west coasters.
But to answer your question, 2 on, 2 off is not really possible. You can get anywhere from 7-12 days off in a row every month utilizing the SAP, but that would also require dropping down to 65 hours a month. Basically, Part 117 (our time and duty regulations) make a 2 on, 2 off schedule difficult for the type of flying that we do.
Some other commuting options you may not know about or have considered:
- Because of the growing amount of cargo (Amazon + DHL) traffic at our CVG base, I believe there there are cargo flights to/from there to ANC. First carrier I would check with is Kalitta, followed by Atlas, and beyond that maybe ATI or ABX? Beyond that, probably not many that do that route. Kalitta's schedule is easily available with a google search, Atlas not so much. Someone else probably has better intel on where / how to find that.
- FedEx and UPS. Both carriers operate large hub operations in ANC, with regular flights to/from the lower 48. Depending on the day of the week (not a lot of weekend flying in CONUS with either of those carriers, leaving ANC in the middle of the afternoon, transiting the US Sort facilities, and arriving at your destination at 0'dark:30 is possible. Both carriers operate "Jumpseat Finders" where you can look up schedules, etc.
Hope that helps.