So, let me get this straight...when the ANC domicile was announced you and your wife decided THAT NIGHT to TAKE THE UPGRADE FIVE YEARS SOONER than expected. Then the NEXT day you did some research. Sounds like the two of you were initially chasing the almighty $$$$.

I'd suggest you and your wife now sit down together at the kitchen table and list all of the advantages and disadvantages of the move to ANC. Now that you're over your initial buyers remorse, you can make a decision based upon facts and QOL, not just cash (with the current pay scales and COL in Anchorage, going from senior FE/FO to junior FO/Captain is not much of a raise).

A good friend of mine lives in SDF and is a senior MD FO. He and his wife decided NOT to go for the $$ with an ANC Captain upgrade for many reasons: he didn't see a huge raise in take home pay or QOL upgrade with the move. They didn't have an issue with ANC lifestyle, but decided to remain in SDF to enjoy the senior FO lines, etc. It took them several weeks, and actual house hunting visits to make the informed decision.

Everyone's issues are different. You won't find you answer here. You and the frau need to sit down and make a decision based on knowledge, not the first night "oh my gosh, I could be a FO or Captain" emotion.

 

Dude, there is no magical answer. And several people have listed many reasons besides "great hunting and fishing."

Here's why IMHO:

• Summertime! There is nothing like hanging out on your deck with your friends at midnight with the sun still above the horizon!

• Wintertime! IMHO...there is nothing better than watching all the kids in the neighborhood getting bundled up on Saturday morning to go sled-riding or walking down to the nearby school to play hockey on the outdoor rink! Oh, and BTW, the Alyeska ski resort has had 550 inches of snow at the summit and 326 inches at the base so far this year. It also has some of the best rooms I've ever stayed in.

• You are adventurous and like doing any sort of outdoor activity, both in the summer and the winter. I am not a hunter, nor am I a big fisherman, but I love Alaska. There is no better place to enjoy the outdoors and mountains. There are hundreds of biking and walking trails all over the Anchorage municipality. BTW, the municipality of Anchorage is bigger than the state of Delaware. You can walk, run, hike, bike, ski, snowboard, cross-country ski, skijoring (like dog-sledding, but with one dog and you are on skis), mountain bike, rock climb, ice climb, snowshoeing, camping, boating, GA flying, you name it. And, you can do all of that without running into a million people all doing the same thing. Try doing that in the lower 48. I lived in Colorado, and after fighting traffic for hours, you can enjoy your favorite outdoor spot with thousands of your closest friends. My favorite activity is sea-kayaking in Prince William Sound. There is nothing like paddling around the most beautiful waterway in the world, enjoying the wildlife and scenery, and not seeing another human being except your family all weekend. If your idea of the great outdoors is hanging out by the pool in the backyard all summer...don't move to ANC.

• Crime is no worse than anywhere else in the lower 48. Do you believe everything you read on the internet? I doubt it. I've lived in PA, TX, SC, MS, FL, GA, CO, and AK. I feel considerably safer in general in Alaska than I ever have in any of those other states...you just learn to stay out of certain parts of town just like anywhere else. American society has been going downhill with respect to crime for quite a while. Alaska is no different.

If you or your family are the type that wears a sweater and parka when it dips below 60-degrees F...don't move to Alaska.

And finally, a LOT of people here in Alaska don't make anywhere near the money a purple/brown pilot makes and they survive just fine.

Good luck finding your magic answer.

 

What nonstop to HNL?????

 

This is still my favorite Anchorage thread: http://www.airlinepilotforums.com/sh...4089#post74089

The entire thread had some good info (like this one does).

 

And crappy trips. I am speaking from experience. Hence the move to the MD.

 

No offence, but is sounds like you are in HELL!! I am not sure if you are trying to make it sound horrible or great. Either way, it sounds pretty bad. I have been there many times during my trips to the PAC RIM. Great place to visit..(in the SUMMER), but I could never live there. Good luck to you.

 

NWA runs a seasonal ANC-OGG-HNL-ANC trip (daily right now) and Hawaiian Vacations has been running ANC-HNL roundtrip for years operated by Hawaiian Airlines (jumpseat available last I checked). For those who think ANC wx/life quality is "hell"...a. They do not understand sarcasm. b. Believe the world is flat. (6 months of darkness goofiness) c.have some notion that some large city in "america" is cheaper to live than ANC (Not!) We Alaskans get great entertainment from the misconceptions of "outsiders" and enjoy toying with the tourists. I had a tourist years ago actually ask me how much it was to mail a letter to MS. HSLD referred to a great previous thread above. "My pickup truck is a Cessna 180" is a common theme in that one. You either love Alaska or hate it.

 

Word on the streets is that AK also pays 2K/yr per child to homeschool. Most good curriculum is available for ~500 so the rest of the budget can go for fieldtrips, computers, supplies, etc. Another carrot for those looking to head that way if homeschooling is your gig.

Took the family for a visit in 04 and we liked it -- picture CO on steroids. I echo the post that advises to go and try it out for a week and see for yourself what so many others love/hate. Personally, I've seen winter in CO, WY and WI and all are worse than winter in AK imo. We’re hoping to 'have to' move there in the next 1-2 years – an unusual goal for a SoCal surfer dude.

ddd

 

Stay away from Anchorage! It's colder than liquid nitrogen 11 and three quarters months out of the year. The summer they speak of lasts two days and local bush folk will club your favorite baby seal for lunch if you try to take him for a walk. It is dark year round and you have to carry a flashlight just to find your truck.
Schools are non-existent, crime is out of control, and most of the citizens are political and criminal refugees from Russia and the lower 48. The cost of living is higher than a shopping trip on Rodeo Drive every day of the week.
The government won't raise taxes to protect these foolish freedom loving people from themeselves. These fools just love wide open spaces and little control over their lives, they just don't know any better. The local ruffians are heavily armed at all times and quick to shoot over the smallest dispute of imagined honor and even faster reloading than they are at emptying their weapons. Like turn of the century Shanghai the local business is primarily brothels and opium dens fueled by the China trade. Certainly no place for children, indeed those few inhabitants with children must constantly be on guard lest their charges be spirited away and forced to labor in the local establishments.
They are trying to import more people from Newark and Detroit to make it more Metro America, but the breeding program has been a failure so far and the gene pool must be restocked every year because they often die before adapting to the harsh climate and lack of Government regulation. Many of these former urban residents die during the first days of winter, frozen solid in snowdrifts outside local watering holes with their blue fingers forever outstretched for the dollar it would take to get their snowshoes out of hock.

Just the other day as I was foraging for food(they have no grocery stores, everything edible must be caught and killed in the most brutal fashion) I came upon a poor unfortunate who's snow machine had broken down. His beard was heavily frosted by that time. "Looks like you blew a seal." I said. "No, I just kissed her." he replied. Just one example of the kind of depravity you are likely to encounter up there. May God help you if you choose to venture this way.


Let us not forget the working conditions for the wretched crews there either. You will be chained before the mast on the most dangerous aircraft ever foisted on the cargo industry. Old tubs tarted up with new paint in some third world sweatshop. Castoffs from airlines too broke to afford the upkeep. Consigned to travel through twenty timezones a day with a skeleton crew aboard the well named "Deathstar".
Forced to sleep in aptly named "coffins", getting what little sustenance you can from cardboard boxes filled with garbage from local eateries, drinking coffee made from dried sawdust. You will watch your formerly strong body become whittled down to a bent figure as you are stressed with little sleep, cosmic rays, lack of vitamin D and food that can kill in 24 hours. Your only hope is a quick death from a grounding in the polar regions or the frigid Northern Pacific.
I am only here to tell the tale because I was able to survive twelve hours until rescue inside a freshly killed Moose carcass.
I have tried to paint my experience in a fair light and as a result may have been entirely too kind to the region and it's inhabitants.

 

Reminds me of the famous quote of a Texas woman visiting Yosemite for the first time: "What a beautiful place. It's a shame nobody's done anything with it....."

By the way, if you're FDX and hired before 6/02, I agree with jungle's post, above. Don't go there.