First of all, my sincere condolences in the divorce with children. As a once-divorced man where I did not have children, I feel blessed every day of my life for having avoided that life sentence. I am now remarried and have one child, and though my new relationship is night and day and I felt comfortable "gambling" and having a child, there are no guarantees in life as you're finding out. I find the proposition of a woman weaponizing children for the sake of that pension plan (child support) about the most crushing thing that can happen to a man of working age, second only to a work disqualifying lifetime illness.
Sorry my divorce experience is not of much help. I did find this
thread quite informative and may illustrate some of the pitfalls you're in for.
BL, what you're about to find out, is that court systems are not friendly to transportation workers, and that the person with the most free time and more "child-friendly" schedule gets the worm. As a man and a transportation worker, you're at a great disadvantage. I understand you're a Florida guy, and FL credits down your child support obligation as a function of how much physical custody of the child you're able to retain. So I fully understand why this is a preferred course of action for you. The problem is that we don't know when your ex will get smart on you and yank the chain and contest. At that point, off to court you go, and that's not a position of advantage for a non-standard schedule holder such as an airline pilot.
The experience of the co-workers close to me who have gone through this did not end up close to what you seek. It was primary physical custody to the mother, full up crushing child support to the fathers, and a lifestime of commutting to domicile while retaining residence close to the ex for the sake of the kids. De facto estrangement from the kids. Tough enough as it is to try to influence your child to the degree you'd want, against a person who holds full physical custody who you can't stand being around, let alone share the project of raising another human being in your image. Which is why many simply send the check and consider the kids from the broken marriage a lost cause. Good bad or indifferent, that tends to be a common outcome.
I sincerely wish you luck. I don't envy your particular situation, and I say that as a once-divorced myself.