Originally Posted by
clipperstall
This is one of the best threads I have read in a long time. I would like to revive it considering the fact that I am considering leaving my good career to go fly for a regional.
I would like more input from first officers who have to commute to reserve AND have kids/wife/significant other at home.
Does the fact that you enjoy the job trump the enjoyment you gain from being at home with your family?
Good question--easy answer: NO
My background--senior regional FO that commutes to a line, not reserve. However, I still work 4-5 days a week. I am gone those days, period. I typically am out on the 6-7am flight day one and home on the 11pm flight day 4. Wife and child are asleep both when I leave and get home. To answer your next question...commuting was the only option, not a choice. We could not live in base (expensive city) and survive on what my company pays its FO's.
Keep something in mind...this is a lonely career. I fly with some
GREAT folks, but as is the case in airline flying, I may not work with them (or even see them again) for a year, if ever! Each week is like groundhog day, you introduce yourself, tell your brief 'story' and you fly. Easy enough, but after awhile you come to realize that you are alone most of the time. Sure, you possibly may eat dinner out with the other pilot and/or FA's once or twice on the trip, but much of your down time is spent alone. I'll say it again, I fly with some really GREAT people at my airline--but for most of them that I consider
friends, our
friendship is limited to seeing each other in the jetway when swapping airframes or in the crew lounge. I can count, on one hand, the other pilots that I keep in touch with outside of work.
Referencing what I said above, you will find that your own life slowly goes away. Friends, groups, things you belong to or participate in...they all seem to fade. You will find that you never really work a completely reliable schedule, unless you are really senior--but then there's that small matter of money, so you figure out that you HAVE to upgrade to captain just so you can support your family like a responsible person, now there goes your seniority. Family events, church on Sunday, kids' events...all these things your non-aviation friends do each week will become rare for you. The simple fact is that you are gone away from home, a lot. Because of that, you miss out on a lot. So to answer your question in different way, no--being gone all the time, even when its for a flying job, does not trump the fact that you are away from your family.