Night jobs and family life

RyanShort1

RyanShort1

Final Approach
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RyanShort1
So, let’s say a job possibility came up that was intriguing, but would require flying from 8pm to 4am. Just how much does that affect the average person and how difficult would that make it to be a good dad with a kids weekend schedule?
Would the experience gained be worth it for say a year?
 
Age of the kids would come in to play. At 15 and 16, mine I think still live here but I am not certain.
If they are little, it means you can do the morning routine and then crash for the day so you get some time with them each day.

I have had a normal job for my kids lives and the mornings are generally the time I see them. In the evenings other than dinner, its homework, activities, etc.
For the first 5 years, my wife worked nights and I don't think anyone suffered for it. She felt guilty but I handled night time duties and the kids were fine.
I think you can do it and it will be okay but I think you might feel like you are missing out on something or worry that they are.

The more I think about it, I don't think it would be too bad actually. sleep from 8-3 every day, You are there for dinner, go to work, come home and send them off to school.
You are spending more time with your kids than our generations' dads did.
 
Family life is one thing, but there’s not enough money in the world for me to live on the back side of the clock anymore. An 8p-4A flying schedule wouldn’t ever really be conducive to spending time with anybody during daylight unless you’re willing to throw the circadian rhythm out the window and stay in a constant state of fatigue.

I did about 900hrs of flying like this across a couple of deployments, where everybody I lived with was on the same crew flying the same line. If you’re not asleep before the sun comes up, it’s pretty hard to convince the body it’s time to sleep. Once you wake and get sun exposure, it’s really hard to get back to sleep. Nap strategies are great in theory, experience says you’re in a constant state of sleep deprivation if you can’t get 5-7hrs uninterrupted sleep at a time.

The younger you are, the easier it is to pull off.
 
My brother in law worked as a pressman for a newspaper for years while his two kids were babies on up through probably high school-ish before the dying gasp of the paper closed down his press. It was in some ways a burden to the family...I think more so for the marriage than it was for the kids...but they made it work. It helped that my mom lived close and helped with the kids
I think the other posts already have it right. It's not horrible but it's not great. I wouldn't want to do it long term
but
For a year.... yeah anything is doable.
 
It really depends on you. If you are a typical early morning person, it may not. If you typically got to bed late it may be. I prefer nights. But some are early risers and prefer days. Is it a job where you fly somewhere 1-2 hours away then sit for a long time, then 1-2 hours back? I could easily do 10 hour duty days of steady flying, but throw in a 3-4 hour break and it's hard to get spooled up again. But that's me.
 
back in jersey I had to work an overnight shift, 3am-11am (in IT). I thought it was going to be awesome, and for a very short time it was. figured I'd get out of work, play a round of golf, spend some time in the evening with my girlfriend, have dinner, maybe some shtoopy time, go to bed, go to work when everyone else is sleeping. it became extremely difficult to force or trick my body to live on this schedule. I do believe it messed up my metabolism, as after doing that for a while is when I started putting on weight (I come from a pretty skinny family tree). it ended up being the worst thing evarrrrr. swore I'd never do that again. of course now there's a local company flying pc12's that has a 2nd and 3rd shift openings available and I'm kinda torn but I'm just not gonna do that again if I can help it. but then again I might. 2/10 do not recommend.
 
It depends on both you and the details of the job. On-call for med flights, base to crash at, FBOs to crash out at (without getting kicked out), number and length of flights, opportunity for naps, how well maintained the aircraft is, how much pressure is present on completing every flight, etc. So many variables. If the work has a routine every night, getting a little rest here and there is easier. Know those details so you can decide better. Any experience being PIC at night is good experience.
 
A company I worked for would say: There are 3, 8 hour shifts a day. 1 belongs to the company, 1 belongs to sleep, and the 3rd one is your time. Say you get off at 4 am and home in bed by 5 am. 8 hours sleep gets you up at 1:00. If you have to leave at 7:00 to get to work, you have from 1:00 to 7:00 to be with your kids and do what else you need to do. That is actually the perfect time. They will be just getting home from school, you can help with homework and spend quality time with them. They will be asleep most of the time you are at work. Kids know dad or mom or both have to work. The fact that you are asking if you can still be a good dad doing this, makes you a good dad. A bad dad wouldn't care. I think it is more about whether or not you can adapt to the nocturnal life. Sleep depravation and flying do not go well together.
 
Add to the complication that I’m doing dad solo… I’m not liking the prospect even though in different circumstances I think I’d actually like to do it for the experience.
 
Well, being a single dad would complicate it. Child care or babysitters are not easily available for those hours.
 
sometimes you have to decide. Years ago I knew an instructor who was on track to an airline career. One day he told me he decided to pursue another option. I asked why and he said, “I had to decide between being an airline pilot and being a dad.”

Only you can make the decision.
 
Only you can make that decision. I’ve got a 5 month old and I’m doing mostly 2 day trips to maximize my time at home (my airplane doesn’t have day trips). Staying a senior FO at the airlines will ensure I’ll be home for her events when she’s older.
 
You will need to remember the weekends. Do you keep your sleep schedule, or try to adjust to everyone else’s schedule for two days and sleep through the weekend while everyone else is out doing weekend things?

From my experience working overnight shifts, the weekends were the worst.
 
aterry1067 said:
You will need to remember the weekends. Do you keep your sleep schedule, or try to adjust to everyone else’s schedule for two days and sleep through the weekend while everyone else is out doing weekend things?

From my experience working overnight shifts, the weekends were the worst.
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yeah, if I remember correctly that was a big part of the gripe in my brother-in-law's case. Even things like planning thanksgiving dinner even when he was off, had to be at least in part worked around his oddball schedule....
but you said only for a year....... If you can work out that single dad thing, then a year aint that long if you want the experience
 
I wouldn't do it past a year. A good friend of mine drove a regional route for UPS, Albany to NYC and back every night. I'd talk to him on the 2m radio often when he was headed down, and once in a while in the morning when he was headed back up. He didn't mind the driving, but it wasn't good for the family. Oh, and the food available at those times is generally terrible. He thought the food at the 24 hr truck stop at Port of Albany was good. Hint - it decidedly is not.

There's a saying that nothing good happens after 2am and I think that's generally true.
 
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