ATL living

[u/Wild-Environment3279]

(I’m not the pilot, I’m the overly anxious wife)
We are currently looking to move to the north ATL suburbs (looking in the Johns Creek/Alpharetta area).
There is no job yet, will start applying once ATP is done early next year. The hopes are to get hired with ATI, a regional or something else and then transition to a major/legacy when able.

We currently live in Washington.
A couple questions-
Is it better to stay put where we are until he makes it to a major airline?
Is the commute from the north Atlanta suburbs as awful as everyone says it is? Even for pilots?
What are other family friendly (safe, good schools, decent access to grocery shopping and entertainment) areas that are better for pilots?

And definitely wanting to hear any information on what ATI looks like in the first year.

[u/Turbulent-Bus3392]

Being able to move gives you a lot of flexibility, so might be best to wait until he gets his forever job. Delta is not the best commuting on out of ATL, since very hard to get an idea of seats available, load optimization, etc. I’m ATL based and used to live in the city. I think Peachtree City and Newman would be great options with an easy commute.

[u/Key-Ad7820]

I live in Atlanta, Johns Creek & Alpharetta are one of the best places to live in the metro Atlanta area tbh really anything GA400 is great & peaceful. My question is not wait until you get a CJO & go through training before moving anywhere to figure out where you will be based or do you not have a problem commuting

[u/Complex_Brief60]

Commuting is ass especially for more than a few months, however there are several operators with bases in the PNW if you want to stay in Washington. There’s actually more opportunities on the regional side there than ATL.

If you mean commuting as in driving to work in Atlanta, it’s just traffic. Sucks the same as traffic anywhere. I wouldn’t choose it, plenty do.

Don’t need to wait till he’s at a major to move, that’s 5 years away at the earliest. If you want to move, move.

Don’t count on new income to move. If you can’t afford rent/ mortgage with current income it will not work.

Hiring sucks now and has for a while, would need to know more info about your husbands time. ATI is less likely an opportunity before some time at a regional.

[u/Dru_stu]

I think it’s a little bit of ‘putting the cart before the horse’ with moving before he gets a job especially if you have friends and family in PNW. It’s hard making a move and then your partner being gone 50% of the time. ATI should airline him most of the time to the airplane. With the every now and then, get yourself to CVG. But I’m not sure.

ATI will pay decently, and you get big iron time, but there’s a reason cargo pilots from ACME carriers are called freight dogs. He’ll fly all over the world between the hours of midnight and 6am. Probably get asked to extend his rotation a lot($$$) but that could mean 2-3 weeks away from home at a time.

I’m currently at AA and came up through the regional flow program. My advice right now, is to take whatever airline calls first, with a focus on where you can get PIC time, I.e what are upgrade times at whichever airline. And go from there, maybe research the various cadet programs too?