The Atlantic Group Aerial Mapping/Photography
 

Does anyone have any experience with or knowledge of The Atlantic Group based out of Huntsville it appears?

A friend of mine told me that no one wants to work for them because of all the travel time away from home. But that looks pretty normal for these types of operators. I supposed it's a foregone conclusion that you can fly your butt off with any of this type operator and it's a great way to build time? What I'm wondering about specifically is safety, QOL type issues, pay, & schedule. Can anyone comment?

Thanks!

I have friends who work at survey companies and I have interviewed with a couple... Basically if you are interested now, you are already too late. The "survey season" starts in late August to early October and lasts until about April or May. This isn't for all of the survey companies out there, but this is how most seem to operate. For these companies you can expect months straight on the road living out of a suitcase and mediocre hotels. Not a bad gig if you are single and want to see the country. Otherwise, I would think really hard about it.

And there are some companies that do aerial surveying year-round but they tend to operate different equipment than most of the seasonal survey companies. Most seasonal companies will have you flying in C172s and maybe some 182s. Most of the salary year-round type companies will have you flying anything from C172s and C210s to Barons and Senecas. Some even fly Turbine aircraft like King Air 90s and Cheyennes.

Most of the companies that do the seasonal work pay a little better as a general rule of thumb but you are on the road the whole entire time pretty much. And then when the season is over you are out looking for a job again. The good news is, if you have low total time (less than 500TT) a lot of the seasonal companies will give you a shot. Most of the salary survey jobs require at least 700 to 1,000TT and many of the ones that fly turbine require something like 500+ ME time. As far as pay, one company I interviewed at said that including per diem, total pay for about 7 months of work can be anywhere from 45,000 to 60,000+. Obviously, when you have to pay for a hotel/rental car/food that eats into that sum pretty quick. Others that are salary full-time positions usually start around 25,000 but they pay all of your expenses when you are on the road. I know of a couple that will also offer something like a 3,000 bonus upon completion of contract (usually 18 to 24 months). Hope this helps.

For the seasonal jobs, can you bring someone (wife) along with you in the aircraft? Another option would be to have the wife follow along in the RV, how long do you normally stay in one area at a time?

I think that is generally frowned upon... And I've heard of someone following their spouse around in an RV but that just seems silly. Military families regularly endure through 6 to 12 month deployments... It isn't that big of a deal. Then again that is the way I was raised so maybe that's just my point of view.

Cant recommend
 

The Atlantic Group management has a disregard for FAA regulations , so if you value your pilot certificates and want to avoid the possibility of a civil penalty, stay away from this place. I'm one of a series of flight crewmembers for this company who were terminated for bringing up safety concerns/ FAA violations in the recent past. PM me for more info.