Twin Wasp

Take a die and carve HKG PVG NRT AUH ANC and LEJ on the six sides. Roll it. Congrats, you're now a crew scheduler.

CL65driver

Just submitted my PAQ and resume. Any idea on what they're looking for to be competitive?

Tacos

Honest question for the career Atlas guys. Can Atlas be a career and are there guys with families, WHO KEEP THEM? I have an interview coming up and it's a place I'd like to be, but I am married and believe it or not, I'd rather keep it that way. We are both aware of the long trips and I don't think it'd be a problem. International travel, I don't believe would be a problem for us either. I know the money isn't Delta, but I have a sugar momma so it's not a major concern for me.

What appeals to me are the ability to live where I want and not "commute", and I like being able to lump everything together into larger days of days on/off. Not to mention the variety of payload, destinations, bases...etc.

So are there guys who work there who stay married and have kids and actually enjoy the place? All I've ever heard is that it's not a place for married people.

jonnyjetprop

Not an Atlas guy, but a family man who did 18 years at World Airways. The answer is it all depends on your wife. If she looks it, you'll like it. My first wife didn't like it because I came home and interrupted her social life. The second one loved it. It was like taking a vacation every month.

The big issue is that she will not know if she likes it until you do it for a year or two.

plift

Definitely depends on what the couple is comfortable with. I live in base and get a fair number of mid pattern layovers at home so I'm usually gone no more than 14 days a month. My wife is happy with things, the larger blocks of days off are nice and my longer patterns broken up by in base layovers are also. The gateway travel is a nice benefit at Atlas(vs jumpseat at a major) but I couldn't handle this job for my whole career if I wasn't in base. 17 Day patterns plus travel on off days, no thanks. Then again, I couldn't see myself commuting for any airline as a career. I know its common in this industry but its not for me. I'd either move to a base or keep trying to get on with an airline that has a stable base where I want to live.

In base layovers at Atlas are probably most common in CVG on the 76 and MIA on 74, ANC is also decent for them, PAE if your LCF line holds up and IAH for the very senior guys who do Luanda runs. CVG and LAX on the 74 could be good if schedulers would leave the lines alone but you usually depart out of there with a 4 man crew and they don't want you to get back to base because they'd owe heavy rest.

LuckySOB

So far my wife complains less than when I was flying at a regional. Long stretches off are nice, but by day 14 or 15 of a pattern, she starts to get irritated. I also have a toddler. I hate being away from him, and he is aware enough now where he asks when I'm coming home a lot and gets a little upset, but when my wife brought him into the airport to pick me up after this pattern, he lit up like I've never seen before and that was pretty cool.

All in all it seems like it will this tolerable, but hopefully a future contract will get us home some more. If not, my efforts to move on from here will increase!

I'm still in my first year, so things may change, but researching this place a lot (reading majority of this thread was very helpful), and discussing realistic expectations with my wife were key to this working out. I love the job, and would like to stick around, but we really do need some serious improvements in this contract.

Also, for those wondering about bases, things change of course, but I was able to hold CVG starting next month, and I was a March hire.

Talon1011

The previous posters are correct. This is very much like life was flying the C-141 in MAC, my 14 month remote tour on Diego Garcia, and the following 14 years with ATA. If you have a strong marriage and a strong self-reliant spouse then you will be fine. If your marriage has cracks then this life will expand them perhaps to the breaking point. Whether it works or not really is more a function of the marriage than it is the job. It most certainly can work. My wife and I celebrated 41 years this year and a considerable amount of that was as described above.

ateam

I entered the pool 10/12, just got the call today with class date Nov 30th, 747.

MD11Drvr

Congrats Ateam......Knowledge brought courtesy of a firehose. But its all good so far...

EdwardTeach

I recently took the online test and got in the mid 80's. I logged back in and looked at the report to see the score and it said that there were 2 attempts made on the test. Is this a computer error? and should I be worried ?