Uh, what about all the new FEs which will be needed? I would say new hires would have an equal chance getting the panel and thus would have to be SDF based. To the uninformed ANC will only have the 747-400 and MD-11 and neither of those airplanes has an engineer. We still have 747 classics, DC-8s and 727s that need an FE and they are all based in SDF. I think it is more probable for an FE to have to take an upgrade to ANC a year or so after being hired. FEs are paid as FOs until the point that they decline an upgrade to the first available right seat.