Family Life as a Pilot

[WhataYoke]

How is your family life as a pilot. What works for you? What doesn't work? How did you keep your kids happy and not hating you when you where away on important dates. How did you raise/start a family on a pilot salary? Debating whether to give up on aviation just to keep my current employment which is stable for future family planning.

Lets get personal, I'd love to hear all your stories/opinions.

[digits_]

Hi everyone

I'm currently a junior 705 pilot laid off which picked up employment in a different industry that is very stable and pays well. I was originally looking forward to the day getting my recall but now I'm dreading it because of the choice I'm going to have to make. I'm lucky to have a great girlfriend which I'm planning to marry in the next few years and start a family. So this leads me to my question, which I didn't think much of before as a single pilot but now is a big concern.

How is your family life as a pilot. What works for you? What doesn't work? How did you keep your kids happy and not hating you when you where away on important dates. How did you raise/start a family on a pilot salary? Debating whether to give up on aviation just to keep my current employment which is stable for future family planning.

Lets get personal, I'd love to hear all your stories/opinions.

I settled down around the area where I got my first pilot job (which is rural, but not too remote). From that moment on, every job I've taken, always had the priority to maximize my time at home. It's also the reason why I didn't apply at the big airlines. I've made my peace I won't make the big fat captain salaries in 10-20 years, but so be it.

I too have looked at non aviation jobs I would qualify for. Financially they would work better. The work itself might also be fun, but soo far my drive to fly professionally is still too strong. Not sure how that will evolve in the next few years.

[Dias]

Widebody airline pilots are sometimes working like 9 days a month. At some point you're looking forward to a trip to get some time apart.

[ant_321]

I’m not sure what the issue is with being a pilot and having a family. Sure you won’t get to every hockey practice and Xmas might have to be on the 22nd but overall I feel my work life balance is wayyyy better with my pilot schedule. Since COVID ive been working 9-5 jobs and I feel like my family life has greatly suffered. By the time I get home from work it’s time to eat and put the kids to bed. The only time we can do anything is on the weekend when everything is crawling with the 9-5ers. Pre-COVID I had 16-18 full days a month to spend with them. I grew up with a father who worked a rotation job away from home. If you make good use of your time off it can have a lot of perks. Not many people can decide on a whim to leave the next day for a 7 day canoe trip with a 9-5 job. I’m willing to bet I spent more time with my father than any of my friends growing up and he was away 6 months of the year.

[frog]

In the 705 I work for (not much these days...).
I used to work an average of 2 to 3 days a week max.
The rest of the time is off or on reserve.
And you don't get too many reserve calls anyway.

So yes, you might have to work some Christmas/birthday etc...but as soon as you get enough seniority you can hold these days.

I am not a big fan of my job, but for the life style, it is unbeatable.

[flying4dollars]

This question is hard to answer. It depends on a variety of metrics. Where you live geographically, kids? Where do they go to school. What's your partners career (if applicable) like? What level of your career are you in? What is your end goal geographically? Most importantly, what is your seniority like?

Me personally, I'm at a 705 flying a 737 and well, when we resume to full time blocks, I'll be home most nights as everything shifts to mostly turns rather than multi-day pairings. My seniority at my base is at the bottom, but overall it's top 20%. Even when I was doing multi-day trips, I pretty much got the trips I wanted and most were 2-4 day pairings. I was home for periods of 3-5 days off at a time and like someone mentioned, I was mostly able to avoid the M-F 9-5ers rush on my time off. I eventually bid weekends off to match my gf's M-F work schedule at the time but now it looks like I'll work about 8-12 days a month on average. I wouldn't trade my job, career or schedule for anything else, even if it paid me $50k a year more.

[TalkingPie]

As has been said, aviation life is going to be highly variable. A senior captain on a widebody at a 705 is going to have a very different work schedule than a flight instructor, bush pilot, or regional airline pilot doing 4 legs a day.

Having spent a decade as cabin crew at a big airline, which has a very similar work schedule to the pilots, I'm currently struggling working a normal 40 hour/week job. At the airline I had so much free time that even while doing a degree part-time or flight training, I still had entire days to sit around, work on home projects, etc. Now I feel like I don't do much aside from work and rest up to go back to work.

The biggest issue at low seniority is going to be holding holidays off. Once you accept the fact that holidays and birthdays can be celebrated a few days earlier/later, it's not such a big issue unless you really value having time off at the same time as your non-aviation friends and family.

There's no question that being a pilot is a long game. The scheduling and financial payoffs come only after paying your dues. It seems to me that if you've already made it to a 705 you're probably past the hump of getting to those payoffs.

[47north]

An AC pilot gave me great advice when I was starting out. Get a seniority number with a reputable operation and then stay senior in the seat and equipment. I have followed that and haven’t worked a birthday or holiday for 20 years that I haven’t chosen to. It has cost a few bucks over the years on a junior equipment type or deferring an upgrade, but lifestyle has been second to none. Many neighbours over the years have thought I work part time or am semi-retired.

[valleyboy]

Here is an issue that seems to be missing. Most partners work. They are likely 9-5vers or possibly shift work as well. You as a pilot have a mix of time when GDO's and reserve days fall. The pit fall is that you are passing your better half in the dark a lot. Your wonderful schedule and only working around 12 days a month is certainly not all "family" but solo time and possibly hanging out with some friends but then they either work 9-5 or if colleagues schedules only mesh once in a while.

I worked with an airline with with almost 30 years in and still could not hold summer holidays.

Be careful because your "time" off can fall into the "selfish" drawer and will breed resentment, especially if you are having a little "speed bump" in your relationship.

Trust is the biggest adhesive to any relationship. If your better half can't have complete trust in you when you put on that monkey suit you have the makings of major problems, same for the other way as well. You need to trust her or him as well. I can't count the number of horizontal bops I witnessed over the years, and even few lads with new babies at home. Ya got to keep it in your pants!!! There are so many temptations out there.

Don't look at is a just days not worked. Different schedules are just as bad as no time off.



I had a rule, you don't play around and especially in your own back yard.

[rigpiggy]

Married for 24 last month, seen her for maybe 10. Missed very few birthdays, and only 2 xmas's. Amazingly I'm still married, I think it is because I'm away so much