The Divorce Factory..

Before I started flight school my then girlfriend and I split up. The amount of work and the fact that we would be away from each other would have meant that we would have had to have dealt with a difficult long distant relationship [not that I was shying away from commitment].

On the course there were a number of other guys who were in happy relationships prior to starting, a few of which like mine ended prior to starting the course.

Not to sound too depressing, there were some who kept their relationships going. For them, there has always been the ever present dilemma of "do I hang out with the guys or do I visit the gf?"; those who have visited the gfs have failed to completely become integrated within our "band of brothers".

With the amount of work we have to do and with the visible lack of free time, I can't imagine trying to maintain a relationship at this time. Also, I have found myself travelling the country and indeed the immediate continent in my free time.

I constantly hear stories of pilots being married and then divorced, usually, but not necessarily limited to flight attendants or to the opposite sexes in the industry. With such an inconsistent work schedule it must make raising a family incredibly difficult, not least maintaining a relationship or marriage.

With pilots being of a gregarious, fun loving type and always being all over the place having fun, maybe it isn't possible to truly do both; without at least giving up the long haul, jet set lifestyle that one has long aspired for..?

This isn't something I will have to deal with for some time, thankfully.!