ACK Tower

dmcburn75

New Member
I was just looking at locality pay for Nantucket, MA tower. At 13.18%/level 7 atc....How do these controllers afford to live? The obvious answer I'm assuming is that they live off Island in such areas as Hyannis, Cape Cod etc..
If this is the case do they have jump seat agreements with other airlines? I found this interesting ever since I flew into ack a few weeks ago. Thanks
-Daniel
 
I happen to be a controller there, we all live on island, it would be too hard to commute back and forth. we dont have any jumpseat agreements, as that would be illegal. any other questions just ask.


-Rabbi
 
Pleasure to make your acquaintance. I am speaking out of ignorance as I am not aware of affordable housing on island..

I only ask because I scored very well on the atsat and it is coming time for geographic preference. If I could justify cost of living I would be open to many affluent/costly areas including ACK. Thanks for the advice Rabbi

-Daniel
 
I happen to be a controller there, we all live on island, it would be too hard to commute back and forth. we dont have any jumpseat agreements, as that would be illegal. any other questions just ask.


-Rabbi

That's a good piece of info. I figured most of the controllers commuted. It makes a lot more sense now!
I picked MA as my number 2, but requested not to be placed at ACK. As far as I know, there's not a whole lot of housing in the "affordable" category, but I'm not entirely sure on that. A little while back I attempted to find apartments or small houses for rent, and came up with nothing.

One thing you would want to consider if commuting there, is that the ferries don't run in really bad weather. That wouldn't work out too well if you need to get to work every day.
 
I am sure one of these guys would rent a room out to you! :)

wings-show.jpg


YES, I WENT THERE!
 
One thing you would want to consider if commuting there, is that the ferries don't run in really bad weather. That wouldn't work out too well if you need to get to work every day.


Not only that, the tower opens before the first ferry arrives and closes after the ferry leaves.
 
There must be some way to balance it out...I don't imagine all the controllers in Nantucket were born wealthy nor do they all rent one bedroom mid island.
 
AH well I guess a second job would be worth it to live on Nantucket. We could all unwind at brotherhood of thieves for a nice cold pint.
 
Where do they come up with the locality pay...it is rediculous. Nantucket has a 13% locality? Stockton has 30% but San diego has 23%? Really wierd. These people need to call a realtor and see what's up.
 
I do remember someone saying that locality wasn't based on cost of living in the area as much as it was based on how many government employees are in the area. I'm not sure if that's true or not, but that would explain why the locality rate is so low in some expensive areas and higher in less expensive areas.
 
I do remember someone saying that locality wasn't based on cost of living in the area as much as it was based on how many government employees are in the area. I'm not sure if that's true or not, but that would explain why the locality rate is so low in some expensive areas and higher in less expensive areas.

Here's an article I found about locality rates (note that they do not take into consideration housing & gas costs).

Article Here
 
Oh, that makes a lot more sense. Must be the illegal immigration in San Diego keeping the prices down...even though an illegal immigrant could never get this job.
 
Locality is based upon the federally determined "cost of labor" in a specific area, not the cost of living or employee numbers.
 
do you see that changing anytime soon? or ever?

Did you see the article I linked up there (look up). It talks about recent talks that began for / against revamping the system.

I will say though... if I stay in the Dallas metroplex... I hope they keep it the way it is... because people around here tend to earn more than they need (salaries are fairly substantial), which is evident in the locality % for Dallas because the cost of living here is not that high at all.
 
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