I am glad you came back.

When I got hired here 2.5 years ago I was sent to ANC, kicking and screaming! In fact I have been screaming for close to 2 years now, but I really love the job. ANC is a great domicile, with great crews and supervisors. Sure AK is far away and gets cold in the winter, but for 3-5 years it will be home. I was one of the vocal whiners about my hatred for the state, but guess what, it grows on you. In 2012 I am pretty confident I will be able to bid to somewhere in the lower 48 and let the future new hires take my spot in the great white north. I consider this all some more dues to pay.

I am sorry that you are having such difficulty in your career here, but when you accepted this job, you also knew the junior domicile was ANC. In 2006 I knew that if I got hired by UPS, I was coming to ANC; I still accepted the job. By the way, I have flown less than 200 hours this year and am going on a trip for the first time since May - without any vacation. Bottom line, I am home a lot, and so are my fellow ANC based pilots. Plus, we spend very little time in the SDF sort while drawing a pretty nice paycheck!

Our timing sucks, as since we began our employment we lost the 727, 747 and DC-8 fleets as well as age 65 and the poor economy. I don't blame UPS for any of this, as they could not predict these events.

As for our future hires, let this be a lesson for you. If you do not want to spend time in AK then DON'T apply, because clearly you will be miserable!
The good news is that we shouldn't be losing any more airplanes any time soon, and age 65 will have become a thing of the past. Upgrades will be long, but the pay and benefits are still top notch. I would recommend staying away from the SDF sort, but that is my opinion. Besides that, the flying is interesting, and linear; very few out and backs like you see in the passenger world and we still have many round the world trips which are a blast. Good luck!