I am wondering if there are any husband and wife full-time pilots out there. My girlfriend and I are both attending Embry-Riddle Prescott as aspiring commercial pilots. We both love to fly and have always wanted to be airline pilots. We have been dating for 2+ years and I would love to marry her. I worry about the QOL down the road though. I know that the first years will probably be the worst always being away from each other. I also know that how much time we get to spend together on a month to month bases will depend on our luck in the scheduling department. She is from DFW and I am from SMF. I like DFW and wouldn’t mind living there. Any suggestions?? Any been there..done that tips?? Thanks

 

I know a few married and non-married couples that are both pilots. Only one of them has kids. Having kids will be the hardest when you come to that point. One of the couples I know both decided to move in different directions with there flying once they got out of the regionals in 2001. One went to United and the other to UPS. Best decision they could have made. She was furloughed from United after 9/11 and he is doing well at UPS. She now stays home with the kids and teaches college while he flies. Not sure if she will go back or not? (Now on deferment with a class date at United) Remember there are different paths the both (or one) of you could go with your flying like corporate ect. Good luck with your careers and your life together!

 

My fiancee and I have been together for 5 years and we are both pilots. We used to fly together at a regional and once we were with eachother 24/7 for 21 days straight. It was awesome. Now we are at separate companies and there have been times when we were brand new at both companies where we wouldn't see eachother for 3 weeks. It sucks but I love him with all my heart and I just look forward to the next time we will see eachother. We have accepted that this is just a part of this job and we just deal with it. I would never give up flying and if he did, that would be his choice. No matter what his choices are, I will support him. The cool thing is that when we are together for 3 or 4 days, it's 24/7. That kind of makes up for the other times. I know for a fact it can be difficult depending on seniority, bases, etc. but if you both love to fly and love eachother you just make it work. Good luck.

 

Yikes! Good luck with that, I think you'll find it about as easy as putting up with military deployments. Talking from experience with those - it's tough on any marriage and quite a number of them don't make it. But really it will all depend 100% on your relationship not on the scheduling.

 

Agreeing to have frequent sex with other people seems to be the hallmark of a successful two pilot family....

 

See my reply to your post on the Majors forum.

Hey, one piece of advice:

Don't get your degrees in aviation. This way, if things aren't working out and one of you wants to quit flying, you have something else to quit it for. Otherwise, you will have to quit just to go back to school or flip burgers. Good luck.

 

LOL.....ummmm...ok

 

No kidding. I don't understand it either.
I've had people ask me when I am getting married. When I tell them we have other things going on right now, they say "Oh, just go to Vegas."

Why? WTF is the rush?

 

Im getting the feeling that we will just have to see what happens. Like you said, I think getting to see eachother 24/7 when we ARE home will be great. I think thats what you have got to do with any marginal situation...look for the good and capitalize!!

Just curious...who did you fly for together..and where are you both now??

 

Well, we are both juniors at ERAU majoring in Aeronautical Science (Pilot), minoring in WX. But, the good news is, We are both going to be CFI's and getting our Dispatcher licenses. I think that should give some good fall backs for medical and family life purposes. What do ya think??? Kinda late to change majors now!!