Family life

[scottn2flying]

Any advice on balancing a career in aviation and a family. Such as how do you seperate the two or give both priority without hurting the other?

 

[Av8rPHX]

Dont work for an airline. If you do, dont commute.

 

[Superpilot92]

i work for an airline and the family life is great. I dont commute though. I live 20 mins from my base. I avg 14 days off a month in which i spend all day with my wife and son. Its what you make of it.

Good luck. no job is worth your family though.

 

[sidesaddle]

When you are home, be home. By that I mean don't walk in the door and grab the golf sticks.
I like to take care of stuff like haircuts, balancing the checkbook, taxes, (OK an occasional golf game too)and whatever misc. stuff I can do in the hotel room or on the road so when I get home I can give much more attention to those who mean alot more than airplanes.

Just $.02 from a Corporate pilot

 

[satpak77]

family is with you for life, the job is just a job. Be careful which one you choose to be priority.

the "job" will replace you in a millisecond and nobody will loose any sleep over it

FYI

 

[Lead Sled]

Satpak77,sidesaddle, and Av8rPHX gave excellent advise. I tried the airline thing for a little while, but I could start to see where all of the commuting and time away from home was taking my marriage. I sure it can be done, but I wasn't able to figure out how to do it. At our airline the HR people told us that their "average" pilot had been married 2.7 times. I could see why.

The only counsel that I could add to what has already been given is to remember that there is nothing that can compensate for failure in the home. No job or career is worth it. Families are forever, jobs aren't.

'Sled

By the way, I've been happily married to the same wonderful woman for over 33 years. We have 5 kids and 10 grandkids. I am a happy man. I also have one of the best flying jobs around. You can have it all.

 

[pilotviolin]

(singing right now) 'families can be together forever'

 

[DwayneWorthless]

Family Life

Listen to me, you can be an Airline Pilot and have a family too. If you get furloughed, maybe your kids can get a paper route to pay your Union Dues.

 

[Gulfstream 200]

live where you fly.

dont chase the money once you are comfy.

Be loyal to your family, not your job.

 

[semperfido]

...marry a good woman

 

[inthewind]

...marry a good woman

If you don't your life will be hell on earth! My-ex hated and beotched about every job that I ever had. She beotched when I was home, beotched when I was gone and beotches now that we're divorced. She's just a plain beotch!:laugh:

 

[norskman2]

My-ex hated and beotched about every job that I ever had. She beotched when I was home, beotched when I was gone and beotches now that we're divorced. She's just a plain beotch!:laugh:

And you married this charmer of a woman???

 

[inthewind]

And you married this charmer of a woman???

She changed into the devil about 30 seconds after I said, "I Do." She started yelling at the photographer, telling him that he was doing his job wrong. I knew right then and there that I had died and gone to hell.:angryfire

 

[trainer8]

Family first

Any advice on balancing a career in aviation and a family. Such as how do you separate the two or give both priority without hurting the other?

Don't balance family and career. Make the family a priority; the job comes second. You will never regret it. If you're both committed to each other and you put your wife and kids first...if you keep that priority, she won't walk away and the family will stay intact. While interviewing with the CP of an aviation department, he asked me why my SIC time was equal to my PIC time. I told him that my family was more of a priority than my aviation career and that I had put off upgrading until I could hold a line as a Captain in my domicile, where I drove to for each trip.

If you can keep family first, the rest will come together. If the flying job begins to take time away from family, its time to move on to another operator or career. Don't let the seniority or the spoof of more money suck you in. There are few aviation jobs out there that offer good pay, and a give you quality and quantity time with your family.

No doubt I'm fortunate. Some guys win the lottery. I won a different lottery 23 years ago and married an awesome woman. She gave me 4 beautiful children.

No aviation job is worth giving her or them up.

T8

 

[HMR]

By the way, I've been happily married to the same wonderful woman for over 33 years. We have 5 kids and 10 grandkids. I am a happy man. I also have one of the best flying jobs around. You can have it all.

For those of you who don't know Sled; he speaks the truth. The guy needs to write a book on balancing family and career. I've never met another pilot with a better QOL.

 

[bobs98tlr]

How about secrets from lead sled then...you too HMR..you always have a smile on your face and a great view..any tips that will help the normal guy other then luck?

 

[Lead Sled]

How about secrets from lead sled then...you too HMR..you always have a smile on your face and a great view..any tips that will help the normal guy other then luck?

I've got no real secrets to share. I think the key to a happy family life is to simply follow the golden rule - treat others as you would wish to be treated. Unfortunately, once the "novelty" of married life dissappears, too many people return to thinking interms of me and mine instead of ours. That's when the problems start.

Things in life always seem to go better if you have a plan. Formulate a master plan, set intermediate goals, prioritize, then see how things evolve. You're going to have to make certain choices that will have long term effects. Make sure that those choices don't have negative effects on your higher priority items. In my case, my marriage and family was number 1. My aviation career was number 4 on my list of priorities. At this point in my career I could have been quite senior at either Delta, American, United, or JetBlue. The fact that I am not is as a result of consciencious choices that my wife and I made. Do I regret it? Not for a minute. I've had a very fulfilling career so far and other than getting to fly a 747, I've pretty much been able to do everything and go everywhere I've ever wanted.

'Sled

 

[Av8rPHX]

She changed into the devil about 30 seconds after I said, "I Do." She started yelling at the photographer, telling him that he was doing his job wrong. I knew right then and there that I had died and gone to hell.:angryfire

For some reason that sounds eerily familiar...

 

[norskman2]

For some reason that sounds eerily familiar...

Me three!

Did we all marry the same Lucifer-ette?

 

[Skyline]

Put the family first

Family Life

How can you be doing right by your family while flying for a living? Even if you live at your base then most likely that means that the family must move away from friends and family to live in a strange city to be near you. The wages are so low at the regionals that you will have to cram everyone into a getto 2 bedroom apartment. Sure you are at home and have 14 days off a month, but what about the rest of the picture? It takes money family and friends to properly raise a family. You might get lucky and have a good set up for a while but things change.

Skyline