Flying and Family

[nanocas]

Hi all!
I have been reading pprune forums for a while now and this is the first time I am actually posting a question.
Just by way of introduction, I am a female, 32 (since last week..:} ) and have a husband and 3 children aged 10, 2 and 1. Have MBA and was working in a bank as an auditor. But (there is always a BUT..), since i was a little girl, my dream was to become a pilot. To cut a long story short, I have since left my job and, with the full support of my dearest husband, decided it was now or never if I still wanted to have an opportunity of being an airline pilot. I am now halfway through my PPL, just passed the theory exams and about 12 hours practical. My question (finally:zzz: ) is, are there any other female pilots or student pilots out there in the same situation as myself, meaning taking care of family etc.. and studying for atpl/working? and how do they cope with flying job and family life?

This is something I have never come across in this forum yet... so if anyone has any info, ideas, tips etc... I would love to hear!
Cheers!
N

[biminiflyer]

nanocas
good for you taking the chance to follow your dream,i did it at 35 years old with wife 2 kids gave up good job etc..
i didnt want to get to say 60 and say i wish i had done that, life is too short.
Went and did the whole thing ppl/cpl/multi/ir/mcc then did the gecat sstr on a320, got picked up by uk operator on 320/321 which is where i am now, really enjoy it and dont regret anything apart from wish i had done it sooner
good luck with it and if i have any advice is make sure your family are 100% behind you as it is tough,maybe more so on them.
bf:ok:

[nanocas]

Hi Biminiflyer! Thanks for the kind and encouraging words! and congratulations to you too :D ! it's very motivating! just another question, how are your working hours and how do you combine that with family? are you at home every evening? also, how long did it take you to finish all the studies and practical part? I will obvisously have to stay local, aiming possibly at VLM from antwerp, they do only short flights mainly to england.
I just started the theory ATPL, and it's snowing.. so not much flying though..:{
My husband is definetely 100% behind me (lucky me) and as far as studying and all that, it happens at night after I put the kids to bed etc... My main worry is the working hours, as my family was used to me working a typical 9 to 5 job...

A big thank you!

[biminiflyer]

As far as my working hours go i do about 50/60 flight hours a month with standbys also all of my flights are scheduled as a there and back so i am home every night apart from during the summer when there are night flights but that means home during day before and after, my wife works full time but we work it out in advance for kids etc when i get my roster for example today for march next month so to arange child care etc..i get more time off now over the year than i did in my old job
the training took about 2 years from ppl to frozen atpl then gap working, then a320 rating overall about 3 years.
As far as the study for the exams i found to get through the ATPL exams it took studying during the day and weekends also, its pretty intensive,also do some "brush up" courses for the exams some of the better schools in the uk do them and i found they help alot rather than sitting at home on your own trying to figure things out!

Hope the explanation about the hours/home life is helpful
i think it will be difficult but it gets easier as you get used to it with a little bit of planning ahead

PM me if you need to ask anymore questions i have details on those schools in the uk etc.. and other web sites to look at that if i put it on here the moderator will take off.

regards

bf

[Zest]

Hi Nanocas,
I am 33, a girl, got 1 child, and gave up my previous job to achieve this dream to become a pilot at 30. Today, I don't have this first jet job yet, but I am sure everything worth it, whatever would be the result, I tried and achieve this dream. The CPL IR ME/ ATPL training took me 3 years (got a baby in the meantime). The more important is that your family supports you, because some periods are difficult, especially when sending CV for months without any airline sign !
Biminiflyer told you everything, if you have any additionnal question, do not hesitate to contact me.
Zest

[nanocas]

Zest and Biminiflyer! It's great to hear about your experiences! very encouraging, Zest congratulations on your baby also! How old is he/she? and what kind of flying job are you looking for? (local? type of aircraft?)

Biminiflyer, I am doing the distance learning program at a very good school here in belgium, lot's of progress checks and a compulsory 120 hours of ground training (that's about 2-3 days every 6 weeks) so I think that will fix me with a good "brush up" for the exams, i hope..:bored:

I am happy to hear that you get enough time off for family life as that has a central role in my life next to my enthusiasm for flying. I hope one day I will be in a position just like yours, just what I wanted to hear! thanks!:ok: