SFO "in base" communities

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ColfaxChampion@reddit

I’ve been based in SFO for years - living in the Marina district and love it. There’s a handful of pilots I know who live here too, but wouldn’t call it a full community. Most of the friends I’ve made are outside of aviation, but it’s not tough to meet people. The city is expensive, but it’s only a 30 min drive to SFO and to me it’s worth the price for quality of life.

SFO is very junior and with all the commuters there is a lot of opportunity for picking up extra pay and day trips.

All of us who live in the city talk about how shocked people refuse to give San Francisco a shot. It’s not for everyone, but as a former SFO skeptic I would highly recommend!

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redwoodbus@reddit

The kind of trips/equipment people bid and fly may be influenced by this. As someone who lives an hour away I try to fly 1-2 day trips and often am paired with someone who lives not too far away either.

Some live in SF, some south bay east bay, some north, some Monterey Bay. I'd say the peninsula is fairly rare due to its cost but there are a few pilots there.

Sacramento/foothills, that's a hell of a drive with an awful commute crowd with the drive potentially taking 3 hrs due to traffic. At that point fly GA to SQL.

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clearingmyprop@reddit

Flying a pilatus out of SQL for a few years I met probably 5 or 6 United guys that commute in from Sacramento area in their own GA plane for what it’s worth.

I personally know one CA that lives in Santa Cruz

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thundergun67@reddit

flew into sfo on a GA plane?
sorry, lurker here with not a lot of aviation knowledge

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aypho@reddit

Fly to SQL and uber to SFO

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Junior-Special5159@reddit

it’s probably cheaper to do that and own your own GA plane than it is to buy a house within 1hr of SFO tbh

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TristanwithaT@reddit

I met a guy about 8 years ago who did just that. Bought a new house in Lincoln and a Cirrus and would commute in it to PAO a couple times a week.

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Junior-Special5159@reddit

honestly based

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novwhisky@reddit

literally based

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BaconContestXBL@reddit

With enough seniority that’s a drive u would gladly make. Monterey Bay Area is my jam, although the south side of the bay may be a bit too much.

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MeatServo1@reddit

17 can be a nightmare, and it's only 20-25 minutes to 101 from the south part of the bay.

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aypho@reddit

Sac/Roseville/foothills are by far the most common. Next I’d say the north bay communities like Sonoma and Santa Rosa. Quite a few in Marin County as well.

I’ve flown with a single digit number of people who live on the peninsula or in the city. And then barely a few in the east bay or South Bay.

We make a lot of money, but it’s still tough to compete with FAANG money on the peninsula and if you’re only making the drive once or twice a week, most people are moving further out.

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DFWmovingwalkway@reddit

You could live in the city in a 1 BR on 2nd year pay and be plenty comfortable if you wanted to. Most airline pilots just happen to hate living in cities.

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naterthepilot2@reddit

This is true but also most of us don’t drive to and from work every day so it isn’t as vital to live a normal driving distance from where we work. I’m LAX based and regularly fly with guys who drive from San Diego (until we get a SAN base in a couple months)

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Junior-Special5159@reddit

there’s liberals in the cities

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bottomfeeder52@reddit

do people really drive 3 hours and cross the bridge instead of living in San Mateo ?

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aypho@reddit

…yes. Have you seen the Bay Area housing market?

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Junior-Special5159@reddit

what’s wrong with Vallejo? I just looked okay zillow and houses are 400-600k like half of the san francisco side

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Pol_Potamus@reddit

Vallejo is the bay area's proverbial "wrong side of the tracks".

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Junior-Special5159@reddit

I thought that was oakland and stockton?

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bottomfeeder52@reddit

I mean I figure one would either just rent for a bit or condo rather than drive 3 hours. yes I live in the bay and know how expensive it is

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aypho@reddit

Pilots are dirt cheap. Guys making $500k will sleep in the crew room instead of spending $150 on a hotel, much less rent on a condo in the Bay.

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Flimsy-Ad-858@reddit

I love my legacy airline having signs in the crew sleep rooms saying "this is not a crash pad" like who the fuck is that lazy/cheap

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elgrecoski@reddit

People making far less than pilots do this all the time.

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Discon777@reddit

At a different mainline carrier with a large presence in the Bay Area, it’s quite a bit different which is interesting! There’s a handful, definitely a minority, who live in and around Sacramento. A handful on the peninsula/San Jose (probably equal to the Sac numbers). By far the most live in Marin county/north bay to include Napa, or east bay (probably equally split between the two regions).

Most of the east bay people seem to live in the hills or along the 680 corridor. Interesting difference in the usual locations for different carriers, with the similarity being north bay. That does seem to be pretty common!

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aypho@reddit

Yup, I think that may be due to the different trip structures with you guys having AM/PMs which would encourage more people to live closer to OAK.

For us on the WBs, 90% of trips are commutable on both ends which makes longer drives more feasible. But for every one person driving in, there are probably 6 or 7 people commuting in from SEA/PDX/RNO/LAS/PHX/DEN. I’d guess SFO is ~75% commuters, if not more.

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Discon777@reddit

Im actually referring to the other carrier with a base at SFO, not OAK. Obviously nowhere near as large, but it’s the closest analogy to the question posed by OP and your response! Your points are still very true though for OAK.

We also have probably 60-70% commuters but and trips are constructed to be as commutable as possible for narrow body flying. It’s obviously very different from a commuter’s perspective to wide body flying!

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aypho@reddit

Ah, my bad!

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TristanwithaT@reddit

I know a few in the Fresno area too.

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Various-Blood-3902@reddit

Whats FAANG?

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Galactic_Dolphin@reddit

Facebook Apple Amazon(?) Netflix Google, the big high paying tech companies

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blitzroyale@reddit

Yeah FAANG pay is on par with senior captains. And can easily exceed that if they get stock options

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Starboard314@reddit (OP)

I know what it means but it still takes my mind a second to not read it as Florida Air Air National Guard.

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Various-Blood-3902@reddit

I thought it was an Air National Guard thing

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Mazer1415@reddit

It’s for people with CA money who watch Jim Kramer.

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aypho@reddit

Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, and Google.

Software engineers making 200k in base comp and another 250k in RSUs. This, plus California’s refusal to build more housing is why it’s impossible for anymore making less than 300k to buy a house within a 60-minute drive of SFO.

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Oxygen_Converter@reddit

I live in the city supporter by my partners tech salary.

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ninjameams@reddit

I know of a decent number of guys on my smaller fleet alone that live in the city. Absolutely love SF if you like city living.

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Styk33@reddit

My buddy was based out of SFO for two years and he lived in the foothills (Auburn), and did the drive. Didn't bother him much, as most of his driving was non-traffic hours. He loved being in the hills!

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bottomfeeder52@reddit

in fucking Auburn? bro that’s 3.5hr drive to sfo in any time other than midnight.

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flyingmoa7@reddit

I live in the East Bay, kinda close to a well known university. There’s a couple of other pilots out here that work at my carrier, which has a large SFO presence. Flown with some guys who live in San Jose, SF itself, Walnut Creek, Marin County, etc

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SailTango@reddit

We have few living on boats in our marina in Alameda. You can get a 30-40 ft power boat for a few K. Marina fees about 600 USD per month depending on boat size.

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SailTango@reddit

Marina Village in Alameda. A number of slips available, but you will need to call them to find about live-aboard slots. This is a really nice marina and in a location where you can walk to shopping, etc. We have been there 10 years and like it.

I have heard Coyote Point is on the edge of closing, so check that out before going there. It sure is close to SFO. There are also marinas to the north of SFO in Brisbane, but I have not been there.

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