Someday, I might get around to writing AIDS part one (no, you didn’t miss it).
\nThat would actually be about the AIDS you’re thinking about (the disease
\nrelated to \/ caused by the HIV virus). But this isn’t about Acquired Immune
\nDeficiency Syndrome…<\/p>\n
There are some serious drawbacks to working as an airline pilot for a living.
\nIt’s not the most ‘stable’ career. Airlines go out of business on a pretty
\nregular basis. Even if you happen to work for one that is financially
\n‘healthy’, there’s always the opportunity to fail a checkride, be in the
\nwrong place at the wrong time, have to go on strike, etc etc. <\/p>\n
Being a pilot is not particularly healthy, either. Long-haul international
\nflying is especially hard on the body. There is strong suspicion that the
\nexposure to UV causes higher cancer rates. It’s certainly not good for the
\nskin. The routine exposure to various ‘bugs’ from around the world doesn’t
\nhelp. Many pilots have back and other ‘structural’ problems. And the jet
\nlag, diet, and exercise difficulties are all detriments to good health. <\/p>\n
Though it’s virtually impossible to consistently eat right, avoid jet-lag and
\nget regular exercise, most pilots go ‘above and beyond’ and choose either to
\nnot proactively improve their health, or even to take active steps to make it
\nworse. I think it’s more the norm that we often don’t exercise even when we
\nhave the opportunity to (I know I’m pretty lax in that area). Even worse,
\nsome really enjoy the ‘party’ or drinking lifestyle beyond just a casual
\ndrink or two. At my last job, I knew a pilot who smoked and drank all his
\nlife. By the time he was 40, he looked well past retirement age. The
\nlifestyle just lends itself to self destructive behaviors.<\/p>\n
And then there’s AIDS – Airline Induced Divorce Syndrome. This is really just
\none part of a larger social problem that airline pilots routinely encounter.
\nPilots are typically gone from home about half the time. In most scheduled
\njobs, the trips are 2-4 days long. In the non-scheduled world (the kind of
\nwork I do), they’re much longer, though the stretches at home also tend to be
\nlonger. I try to go to work only once per month, for 2ish weeks at a time.<\/p>\n
This being gone makes it difficult to integrate into a ‘home’ culture the way
\n‘normal’ people do. In addition to missing out on a lot of social activity,
\npilots tend to miss out on a bunch of home life. This is very hard on
\nfamilies and results in a lot of divorces.<\/p>\n
I make a point of trying to figure out what tends to cause these ‘AIDS’ cases.
\nOverall, divorce rates are very high in America (around 50%), but I suspect
\nthat rate is much higher for pilots (and flight attendants for that matter).
\nI’d break the causes down into three categories.<\/p>\n
First, there are the couples that don’t survive simply because they wouldn’t
\nhave no matter what career they were in. These people most likely would have
\ngotten divorced anyway and the reasons are all the ‘normal’ reasons that I
\ndon’t really need to mention here.<\/p>\n
Second, there are the couples that divorce due to the time away causing
\nproblems for the husband. While the cat is away, the cat is playing.
\nEventually, that winds up ruining the marriage in most cases. It’s not
\nnecessarily infidelity in every case, either (though I suspect it is in most
\ncases). It could be the increased propensity for alcoholism, poor money
\nmanagement, communication breakdown, or other problems. But there are many
\nof those cases of the ‘girl in every city’, or at least one or two here and
\nthere. <\/p>\n
Third, there are the couples that divorce due to the time away causing
\nproblems for the wife. While the cat is away, the mouse is playing. I’ve
\nheard plenty of stories of husbands coming home from trips early only to find
\nthe boyfriend in the house (even in bed with the wife on some occasions).
\nAnd there are other non-infidelity problems that are common – financial
\nissues, social problems, outright missing the husband, communication issues,
\nand so on. Any of these can wreck a marriage if not dealt with, and they
\noften do.<\/p>\n
(Note: The genders above could be reversed in the cases of female pilots, and
\nI’ve seen that happen, too)<\/p>\n
Despite all this, I have had the pleasure of meeting a number of pilots who
\nhave remained married to their first spouse for an entire career. For
\nstarters, they’re not the ‘divorcing type’ (#1 above). But they’re also able
\nto deal with the issues in #2 and #3.<\/p>\n
It’s important to note that they’re subjected to all the same conditions and
\ntemptations as those who divorce. The question is not whether flying is hard
\non families. That much is irrefutable. The question is how you deal with
\nit. The ones that make it are the ones who learn how to deal with financial
\nproblems, communication issues, social disruption, health concerns, time
\napart, and so on. They sometimes even successfully deal with issues presumed
\nto be insurmountable such as alcoholism and infidelity. And in order to
\nsucceed, you have to do all that for an entire career.<\/p>\n
The consequences of pilots getting divorced can be pretty severe, too. I’ve
\nknown many who have divorced multiple times (my Captain is on wife #3 right
\nnow). This causes huge problems for any kids that might have come along the
\nway, and it ruins a potentially rewarding financial situation. Some pilots
\njoke that they have to make the ‘big bucks’ just so they can afford all their
\nex wives.<\/p>\n
I sometimes wonder if people knew about all the drawbacks to a flying career
\nbefore they got into it, would they still pursue it? This is truly just a
\nsummary (yes, there’s more). There’s plenty of information about the ‘good
\nlife’ and I could certainly paint this to appear glamorous. But there are
\ndefinitely drawbacks, too. So call this my attempt at being ‘fair and
\nbalanced’ \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n
V- (over Japan en route from Taipei to Anchorage with two AIDS victims on the
\ncrew)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Someday, I might get around to writing AIDS part one (no, you didn’t miss it). That would actually be about the AIDS you’re thinking about (the disease related to \/ caused by the HIV virus). But this isn’t about Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome… There are some serious drawbacks to working \u2026 Continue reading