Well, Color me surprised... If only they knew how quickly they could AE to ATL in either airframe if they wanted. I, and many others, did.

Drinks on me next time you see me in a bar...

 

Great advice. I can't believe some pay $2000+ for a hotel. Unless you have gold bricks under your pillow that you need to get rid of, drive your car to atl and find a pad for about 500 for your own room. (you will want your own room for studying if possible) You will not regret having your own car. (sorry west coast guys)

What another guy said earlier, spend the extra 9 bucks and get A Cut Above shirts. Get the fitted, unless you have a big belly. In that case, eat more vegetables you fat bastard. Seriously though, delta would not have hired you if you were that fat, so it won't be an issue.

 

It's not as simple as having a load of gold bricks to get rid of. Drive the car round-trip for 3000 miles, gas, food, hotel, wear and tear; call that $800+. You lose a couple days off each way on the drive, you deal with Atlanta traffic and the weather getting to and from SIMS, The hotel has free food for 11 meals a week, you could probably turn that into five days worth of lunches if you wanted to, Time and stress saved by being 10 minutes from work means a lot . Split a room at the hotel, now you're breaking even. Don't get me wrong, I'm on a budget, I'm not sure which way I'll go. But staying in the hotel looks pretty dang good, even to a poor fellow like me.

 

I rented a car for ~$800 (I could have done better) and got a nice crashpad about 10 miles south (no traffic) for $350. Was cheaper than any hotel I could find and I enjoyed having wheels.

If on a very tight budget you can get a crashpad off Virginia for 200-250 and walk or jump hotel shuttles.

 

Ya, but then you have to be based in ATL...

 

I probably wasn't clear, when I said sorry west coast guys, I meant if you live that far away, sorry it might not work for you to drive your car. The atlanta traffic is not an issue, you just need to check the traffic and go a different way if needed. Time and stress is what it is all about. If you have wheels, you will be able to save lots of time because you won't be at the mercy of hotel shuttles. Being able to drive to get things you need etc. is invaluable. For those that do not know, it is about 1 month from when you come back after indoc till you finish the 400 series in the sim. That is a long time to be without a car and eating hotel food or the 3 fast food places next to the hotel. Not many of the hotels have 11 meals per week.
Stress: sharing a hotel room will be more stress than having your own room in a pad. Also, if you get the 717, the sims are at the boeing center which is miles away from Delta headquarters. There is a shuttle, but only once every 4 hrs. And you will have to take a hotel shuttle to the training center to wait for the boeing shuttle (exception, crowne plaza), so lot's and lot's of wasted time and stress.
If you live anywhere from Florida to New York, it is less than a 12 hr drive, (approx.) so just 1 or 2 tanks of gas each way.
I hope that helps.
note: you do Not need a car for your indoc. It is 2 weeks, and delta pays for hotel.

 

Good info, good option. Thx

 

Lots of changes in the spreadsheet. I hopefully made it more user friendly with a better breakdown of the class drops.

Lots of talk on where to live while in the sims. Spend your free time during INDOC drinking beer, then after that go look for a crash pad.

Seriously, I had pretty crummy, but liveable pad behind the Palms off of Virginia Ave. Not that secure, but for $300 and a room for myself worth it. I found a much nicer pad down by Pizza Hut when I was sitting reserve in ATL for $350. I think it is filled with SLI people now, but PM me and I can check if there is room.

There will be plenty of time to pick up your uniform during SIMs so go to the ATL pilot lounge and look for adds there. Anyway, best of luck to everyone.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...OC%20dates.PNG

 

Gents -

Retired USAF 1 June 2015 and was flying right up to the end. Not working now (cool!) but I'm also not currently flying (not cool!). Got an e-mail straight from Capt Kraby before I got the interview invite telling me that DAL usually looks for min of 100 hrs of turbine time in the last 12 mos to get the interview invite. Had about 200 when I retired and got the interview invite 15 Jul and the CJO 29 Sep.

However.....as we all know, pool time is running (right now) at almost 7 months CJO to Indoc. So here's my question:

Does anyone know if having a min of ~ 100 hrs turbine time in the last 12 months once you start Indoc (or sim start) is a show-stopper or not? If it is, I will NOT have it; at 12 mos out of the cockpit (5 months of military retirement + 7 months swimming) I'd be about 0.

I know AK says our CJOs are good for 12 months but it makes no sense to me that DAL pretty much requires 100 hrs turbine in 12 mos to GET the interview but they don't care about recency of flight time from CJO to indoc? Yeah, I know that 99% of swimmers are still flying but as a check-of-the-month guy I don't fit that category. Concerned about it because I don't want to show up in friggin' May 2016 for indoc and have DAL tell me I now don't have the currency they want to start training. Would REALLY appreciate any credible words from anyone, especially anyone that might be in the same boat. If I need turbine time even now (when I'm swimming in the pool), I need to fly temporarily for a puddle jumper vs getting a sim job or delivering pizza to sorority girls.

What say you?....

 

Congrats on the retirement and the CJO...the check-a-month club is a great place to be!

I don't have anything credible, as in from the company, but I can tell you nobody asks for any flight records after your interview. Show up at Indoc with all the docs they say to bring and get on with your retirement job.

If you're really concerned, email the hiring department your questions. I'm sure Capt Kraby or Andy will get back to you with the answers you need. You'll hear it repeatedly in Indoc, they didn't hire you to fire you. They want you here. I had questions coming up to my retirement and Capt Kraby could not have been kinder in his response, including how quickly he got back to me.

OBTW - Get your yellow fever now, or get it transferred from your mil shot records to the Yellow shot record. It takes time to find someplace to give you the shot if you're not current.