stay single...
 

This is the advice that I received from a former Regional FO who got furloughed after 9/11 and did not go back into flying. Lucky for him he had a solid career to fall back on, but I asked him, why didn't you go back to flying? He said it had a lot to do with family/financial issues. Not that he does not like his current job, but to me it sounds a lot like, if he was single at that time, then he would have gotten back to flying later on. Anyway from talking to him, he wasn't extremely supportive of my goals, probably because of his bad experience...However, when he emphasized upon remaining single until having a stable position, I initially thought it was a joke. But then, it could be very true. I am single right now, and it's not like I have many women lined up for me, but any thoughts on this? Could being married or engaged in a serious relationship while flight training or employed at a regional limit one's career potentials?

My wife influenced where I wanted to work. She wanted to stay in CA. I wanted to be an airline pilot. If you are picky about location and company, you will greatly limit your potential. Go anywhere, fly anything.

I lost a couple of years (years = seniority lost) due to her. I finally went to the first airline that would hire me. It worked out OK, but I left CA for the East Coast. She still wants to go back, I don't. I've been married 17 years and been at the airlines for 12 years. We are still happily married. :)

Staying single...not hardly!! My fiance (who btw is my ex-wife) and I got together when I was in Sales & Marketing. We didn't know each other when I was in airport mgmt & ops.

She's an administrator in the school system where we live; I wanna fly airplanes. Life is to short. I love her and she loves me. We have a 3 yr old. We've agreed to work at making it happen this time around.


atp

Undoubtedly, being single keeps your options more open than any other way. You're only limited by your own decisions. If you are in a serious relationship or married, then that will (and rightfully so) affect your decisions, and likely limit your options further. Is it worth it? That all depends on you.

makes sense to me

If you really want the married experience:

1. Find a woman you hate
2. buy her a house.
3. save 10 years of misery

CE

You forgot:
-Give her half of everything you own and will make.
-Don't have "intimate relations" with her.

That's marriage.;)

You've GOT to tell me more about how that happened! Even if it's a PM. I promise I'll keep the secret :D

Pearle,

It all depends on the girl. My most recent ex was VERY supportive of my flying and all that it would entail later down the road. She knew up front what she was getting into, and it worked out pretty well. Heck, by the time we broke up, she could tell the difference between a 727 and an A320!

yes, stay single. i got married and then decided to pursue my career in flying because I was having too much fun as a bachelor to stay focused on flying. She got pregnant and my training slowed down. the baby was born and it was really hard to get any time or extra money to train. the baby turned into a toddler and she went back to work, we had more time and money with 2 incomes so I ramped up my training again.... and whalla, pregnant again... with twins. i trained every chance I could (which was about once every 2 weeks), now the babies are here and I don't have enough time to shower anymore, or enough money to buy ramen noodles.. bye bye career. Once again... stay single. or atleast if you decide to get serious with somebody, DONT HAVE KIDS!!!!