Hi I'm New :)

[pilots_wife]

Hi everybody!
I'm new to the forum and look forward to having people who understand this unique lifestyle to listen to me and get info from!

My hubby flies an ERJ145 out of Orlando. We/I live in St. Louis. Its really hard right now because he just started and he's on reserve all the time - in Orlando. People look at me like I have 2 heads when I start to try to explain it!

Anyway, I'm excited to be here!

[rgphib]

Welcome!

My Dh flies out of Cleveland, Ohio for Continental Express. We live in NH.

Don't worry about trying to explain it to others They will never get it. DH has been based in Cleveland, Newark and Houston. They had such a hard time understanding why he would get on an airplane to fly to work. Never mind when he was on reserve! They could never understand the term "crash pad" and why he had to sit there and wait for a call. I am a teacher so I finally just told people that reserve is like a subsitiute teacher...if someone is sick or something happens and they need you then you fly...if not you sit and wait!

We will be married 4 years in August and have been together for 10 years. I have basically been with him since he started his CFI (maybe a little before that, but he actually started flying in high school so when he went to college he started already a private pilot). Even though there are times I would love him to be home every night.....and I hate that he works almost all holidays....but I love him and I don' t know what I would do with out him.

It is an adjustment. Just take it one step at a time. Pretty soon, it will just be your lifestyle and it will be normal (well, normal to you.....it will never be normal to others )

Robyn

[pilots_wife]

^^Thanks!
We both know it can only get better from here. Right now we're just trying to learn as much as possible about this lifestyle. We've been together 10 years, and just celebrated our 3 year wedding anniversary. He was starting ground school when we met right after high school, then we went to college together and he majored in aviation and got a bachelors and masters in it, then right when it was time for him to hit the aviation job market, 9/11 hit, and he ended up being a stock broker!!! He HATED being out working and seeing planes fly over. Its in his blood, he needs to do that for a living!

Sooo, we've been through flight time, he instructed, and now he got a job. And, he's just sitting there in Orlando waiting for a call, none yet. He's bored, and only knows a few people. Thats also hard to explain, and to be honest, its hard for me to understand, how people deal with your pilot being on reserve in another state, paying rent at a 'crash pad' and having a morgage back home. What do most couples do? Move to the base city?

[Kristie]

some move to the base cities, others wait it out and commute.. it really depends on what your resources are, if you can live without each other from time to time (or longer) and if there are kids involved! It doesn't sound like you have kids yet so you have the option of staying and/or going depending on job and so forth...

back in the day, my DH and I decided that my stable job was more important than moving from base to base - esp back then when bases were always changing and he was with the regionals AND i was the suga momma...so it made sense for him to commute and have a crash pad so I could keep my job and keep money flowing for him (no joke! haha)...

but it just depends on the circumstance and what you want....

I've just always been told never to chase metal because metal can move quite often and then poof, you have to move again.. and again..and after a while, it can really be more costly than just staying and commuting.

when you say your new to the lifestyle, i take it you mean the airline/commercial lifestyle and not so much the ground school/flight school/cfi period of "lifestyle" right?

most 9to5 er's really have a hard time understanding our lifestyle.. so it doesn't surprise me that you get "the eyebrow" when you try to explain it to other folks! that's pretty common actually.. after a while of knowing you and how your relationship works, they tend to start understanding more and it gets easier! the hardest part, i find, is just getting out there and meeting people!!

In any case, welcome aboard.. we're glad to have ya!

[biochemtine]

We've been together 10 years, and just celebrated our 3 year wedding anniversary.

Hey, cool. DH and I have been together 10 years and celebrate anniversary #3 in 2 weeks.

[pilots_wife]

^^Thanks! Yeah, I'm new to the 'airline' lifestyle, not the aviation/flight instructing/ground school/ratings....lifestyle.

We always knew when he got a job in the airlines (right now a regional) that his schedule would be crazy, but, I think its alot harder for him than me. I'm at home, doing my usual routine, hanging out with friends and family, while he's in a new city with nothin to do, and no friends, ya know? He keeps asking me 'when are you gonna move to orlando' and he's halfway joking. But, I know he wants me to, I just don't know if its too soon to make a decision like that. I can't leave my job for a while, at least not until the end of the year, so I guess we'll just see what happens. I think I just need him to be patient.

[biochemtine]

So DH is a CFI living 100 miles away right now. When we made this decision and were asking for prayer from our bible study and congregation. It's been 6 months now. Everytime someone asks about it we say we're doing OK, God's teaching us a lot, etc. Then they all say, "How much longer until he moves home?" ummmm ...... when he retires?????

They just don't get that this isn't temporary and something that we'll do in some way, shape or form until retirement.

[pilots_wife]

^^I know! Everyone's like, "so, when is he coming home again"? And I say, "Not untill sometime in July, at least" And then thats when they start, "Oh, well, at least they're paying for his hotel, right?", or, "Well, at least he's flying alot, right?"...then I get this:

And, I tried to get to nonrev to orlando this weekend and see him, and since we're still new, I thought I better go to the airport and make sure I have everything to nonrev, and turns out I'm not even in their system! Hubby is, but not me At least the ticket agent was nice to me.

[biochemtine]

Oh that's frustrating. So much for visiting him.

My DH is trying to get me to move out to where he is. It would be cheaper, but I'm NOT ready to leave the bay area. And as of right now, I can't take my job with me.

We're making it work. I wish that there were somebody in our church who we could use for a support group. Military or something. The only person I know IRL who can relate is my co-worker's wife (they lived 1000 miles apart for the first 6 months of their marriage when he was in the marines), but I can't talk with her much.

[Kristie]

Originally Posted by pilots_wife

And, I tried to get to nonrev to orlando this weekend and see him, and since we're still new, I thought I better go to the airport and make sure I have everything to nonrev, and turns out I'm not even in their system! Hubby is, but not me At least the ticket agent was nice to me.

did hubby fill out all of the paperwork so you could have a spouse card? do you have a spouse card? if not, then you probably aren't in the system...

also, be careful about nonrevving into mco, it's typically very difficult every day of the week!! we have to use our S2 priorities to try to get into that area when we need/want to. sometimes, even that doesn't work. but it's always worth a shot!!!! never know when your gonna get lucky!