SkyHigh

A few months ago there was an article in the New York Times that described the reasons why GA was going out of existence. One of the biggest reasons was a surprise to me. Phil Boyer claimed that changes in the family unit had one of the largest effects. In the 1970's one earner family the father usually had total control over the family finances. When he decided that he wanted to blow his Saturday and families disposable income on flying then that is what happened. Today we have a two wage earner family system and shared power between spouses.

As a result all family spending and decisions have to go before committee and most often the choice is against such a large expenditure towards one individual. I believe that this observation can also be applied to airline careers. In the past an aviation career was able to support the entire family. As such whenever an opportunity came up the family just moved. The freedom made career advancement much more easy. Today there are lots of extras to consider.

People can not just up and move as easily as before. Many families are often made up of mixed individuals. Past relationships usually have strings attached in the form of court ordered visitations and restrictions as to where one lives. Additionally in the two wage earner family often the spouse also has a career in progress and can not easily move without doing damage to their dreams and income potential.

Lifestyle choices are a family decision now. A husband or wife can not unilaterally choose a path without facing the rest of the family first. Pulling up roots to take a job that pays less than the high school son makes at the grocery store is a hard sell. Most often in order to preserve an aviation career the choice is usually to commute. Commuting however is far from a cost free endeavor. Family time will suffer and the resulting hardship is not welcome to an already overloaded modern family life. The spouse who is left at home becomes a near widow and is overwhelmed by work, children and other household responsibilities. It is not fair and can lead to conflict.

In the past it was much easier to follow career trends and opportunities when it was more common to make the wages that the big three pay. The one wage earner nuclear family could absorb the changes and hardships that came with the profession. Today it is more difficult to fit an aviation life, and the demands that come with it, into the complexities of the modern family. As a result either career aspirations are forced to fall short or else the family may suffer.

Skyhigh