Looking at making the jump and pursuing this venture. Ive been crawling all over this forum and the main ATP site looking at anything and everything. One major concern i have is scheduling. From what i have read is you dont know your schedule more than a day in advance. There is plenty of days/nights flying, extended time away for cross country etc. My main concern is im divorced, have a daughter and share 50/50 weekly custody. So for 2 weeks id have no issue with any flights at any time (could fly or test at 2am an i could care less) but for the 2 weeks i have my daughter, is it possible to request a time block to complete flights between 8am-5pm? Obviously for extended cross country and other big points that can be worked out. I just dont want to find out the day before, on a week i have my daughter, surprise you have a flight at 630pm and need to scramble to find care for my daughter for the evening.
Also what is your PERSONAL experience for a day to day routine? What did you do?
Honestly it’s not going work. While you can request a certain schedule in order for the program to work it and you have to be flexible. What if the weather is bad for 2 weeks in the morning but the evenings are fine. You’ll need to be available to fly in the evenings. What if you have a checkride coming up and you’re struggling with a particular skill or concept? That may involve long hours in the sim before your checkride which can’t be moved.
You’re going to need to work out an alternate plan.
Not going to lie, that’s a tough one. I’m in a similar situation and came to an agreement with my ex on time sharing during training. Since she was supportive of my pursuit, it worked, but I also didn’t have to worry about 2 week blocks of time where I had to be present for all hours other than a work shift even before my decision to go fly.
Then there’s the next step… what are you going to do when you start instructing? You will have many (MANY) 12 hour days. You wouldn’t want your instructor to only be available certain hours and slow your progress, right?
I’m not even gonna go into your schedule as a junior airline pilot, days away etc.
I think the bigger issue here is how do you intend on keeping this custody schedule when you are at the airlines? I just do not see this being a viable option for you as many pilots work upwards of 18 days in a month with schedules that vary widely.
As others have said, your situation doesn’t seem to be a good fit. I am also divorced with 50% custody of my daughter, but I have a very productive relationship with my ex-wife, we are co-operative on childcare arrangements and I’m making it work. Sometimes its tough. Most commitments will be 8-5 but not all and, no, you will not know your schedule more than 24 hours in advance. Stuff will get scheduled more than a day in advance, but then it will change, sometimes very last minute. I once received a call at 10pm asking if I can fly at 7am the next morning and my daughter was asleep with me scheduled to drop her at camp at 9am. I was able to move the flight to 8am and get grandma to take her to camp but…you get the idea.