Aviation career and Marriage/Family

N918KT

N918KT

Line Up and Wait
Joined
Jan 13, 2013
Messages
716
Location
Philadelphia, PA
Display Name
Display name:
KT
Just curious to all you guys who work in the aviation industry. How did working in an aviation career affect your marriage or starting a family? Were there any issues that came up? Did some of you even left your career in aviation to get married and start a family or were you able to work out the issues with your career and marriage/family?
 
I have slept in my bed for roughly three months out of the last year. Family has been with me for an additional three. Six months away from the family sucks. It takes a very special spouse.

My whole career has not been like the past year though, we started a business that has made things a little more demanding on my schedule.

I would say if you married the right person and you both put effort into maintaining your realationship its all good. How much time away that is ok for you and yours can only be decided by you and your spouse.
 
On the other hand, I know a couple where the husband was the pilot and away quite a bit of the time. Neither one of them were looking forward to his retirement. He wanted something to do and she wanted him out from underfoot. I think they've adapted, though.
 
My wife understands this is my career, and that sometimes we will spend time away from each other.

She is a very special lady and accepts me for who I am.

I think I worry about her more when I am away than she worries about me.

My 85 year old mother will move in with us this winter, so that will add a little more stress to the situation, but that is just life.
 
When we had our first kid, I was gone 10-15 days a month. When the second was on its way, we decided that my job wasn't allowing our family life to be structured the way we wanted. I changed jobs to where I could be home almost every night, but got to fly considerably less. I miss the traveling some and will probably move back in that direction at some point. But with a young family, we felt like I needed to be home. I think it was the best choice, and still value time at home more than pay.
 
Dad worked a lot in the beginning and was gone basically M-F. He never missed a holiday, basketball game, band concert, etc though. Now he's got about 20 years at Delta and he works about 5 days a month. I'm single so it's completely different for me. I'm working 18 days this month.
 
No different than a military career. That's how I grew up. And I....

Nuff said. Don't do it. Haha.

Seriously, that's life. Back in the day, cave men had to spend months in the jungle to hunt dinosours to put food on the table, or rock or whatever. Your average corporate CEO or other business executive experiences similar levels of isolation.

Plus it's your wife. You gotta get away from that from time to time anyway so you can keep sane.
 
When my wife and I got together, I had left the aviaton world behind and had returned to construction management. 9 years ago, when I was traveling way too much, I decided to get back in to flying full time. I'm home now more as a pilot than I was my last two years in construction. I'm certainly not in the highest paid job in aviation, but the quality of life works for me and my family. Mostly, I am grateful to my wife, because it's not what she originally signed on for, but has always been supportive.
 
Last edited:
Like Sac, I did a military career, though non-aviation. I spent a bunch of time away, especially when I was in Europe. I was home maybe 50% of the time. When I retired, I ended up in a corporate job where I traveled at least every other week. About a year ago, after my younger kid had left for college, I finally said enough and took a lateral move with very little to no travel. Now my wife wishes I'd go away some...

We've been married over 27 years now. She was a military brat though and understood how it was. I did see a bunch of folks get divorced, but at the same time say as many make it work. It takes work, especially when you are gone for extended periods and your wife becomes pretty self-sufficient...you can just walk back in and expect to take back over like before. That is a huge challenge for many couples.
 
I'm home every night, plenty of time off, if I wanted to settle down with a single woman and produce offspring, it would be rather easy, I'll probably wait a decade or so first.
 
Over 35 airline years working on the ground, I worked in 10 cities and owned 11 homes.
I worked in major hubs and small spoke cities. Almost every promotion meant moving,as did bankruptcies, buy-outs, city pull-outs, city start-ups. At one point I worked 3 months in preparation to start service in a new city, including making hiring commitments, ordering office furniture, hiring vendors and negotiating leases, when the PTB changed their minds.

In one 2-year period I moved 3 times. My older son went to three different middle schools.

All this was hard on the family, but we survived. If I had it to do over, I wouldn't change much.
 
Last edited:
GlennAB1 said:
The term AIDS didn't evolve for no reason
Click to expand...
No lie about that...
It takes a VERY special woman to put up with the lousy hours, the late night calls, the sudden transfers and temp postings, etc. I got damned lucky and found one.
She knew I loved what I was doing, and I made pretty damned good money doing it, in addition to that travelling around the world on vacation perk thingy.
 
Marriage: Some make it work, some don't. No other answer.

Kids: All sorts of kids out there born out of wedlock and raised by people who either care for them or don't. Making kids is easy.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top