Austin-Bergstrom - AUS

tarynlp Newcomer Lemoore, CA

Does anyone have info they are willing to share about Austin? Like the tower and radar setup, difficulty, and ambience? I'd like to get hired there, just want to hear from someone already there!

Thanks,
Taryn

ChrisDTC Junior Member Texas on my mind

A guy I know from PUBNAT 5-6 is going there, but thats all I know about it.

Rosstafari Daaaang. /X

I've visited Austin, since I live nearby in Round Rock. It's an up-down facility, across the tarmac from the Terminal. Class C airspace, don't remember what the rating is. AirNav says they do 570 ops a day, which sounds about right, with about half of that being commercial and the other half GA. There are a few flight schools based there, lots of tech people flying in on small jets. There's a national guard station there, but I've never noticed much military traffic.

The airport is only ten years old and has to be one of the nicer mid-sized ones out there. They do a lot of cool things, like having live music and a lot of local restaurants (as opposed to the usual chains).

I didn't talk to a ton of controllers, but the ATM showed me around and he was a nice guy. Also met an ops manager in the TRACON who was a friendly enough guy. They had a few developmentals when I visited, and I think they might've just picked up a couple more. The airspace covers some the Hill Country, reaches north to ZFW (with maybe a little ZHU in between), south to San Antonio TRACON, east till you get to some ZHU before hitting Houston TRACON. Those are rough estimates; I fly out of Georgetown, which is about 25 nm north of there. I think it'd be a good place to start at; enough to keep you busy without overwhelming a new person.

Hmm, what else. Living in Austin's all right. There's this kind of forced "Keep Austin Weird" mentality sometimes, and the whole Live Music Capital thing is kind of overrated, but it's a nice enough place. Good outdoor activities, cost of living is reasonable. UT sports are good to have. As with most places, you won't want to live right by the airport, as the neighborhoods aren't too good. Unless you're willing to live downtown, expect a 20 minute drive to work, more with traffic. Austin traffic, especially on I-35, is legendary for being bad.

Hope that helps some. They were good about letting me schedule a visit, so if you're anywhere nearby, give them a call and let them know you're interested in working there. I'm sure they'll accommodate you.

tarynlp Newcomer Lemoore, CA

Thanks so much for the info! The airspace and whatnot I had looked up in pubs already but thanks for everything else!