UPDATE to this blog post for those who want to know more about: Dating an Airline Pilot
Many of you may know already that I’m dating a regional airline pilot. I’ll actually tell you his name, Jake. I’m also just sick of writing “my boyfriend.” He is the reason why I’m interested in aviation, but we could break up and I’d still want to fly.
Now, the real reason I’m writing this post. When you date a pilot, you’re inducted into this special society of “pilot wives/girlfriends” which is nice in a way, because the lifestyle is different having your S.O. away for 4 days every week. But I find a lot of these women are prone to “pilot worship” their husband is GOD because he flies a plane. Him being a pilot is also always the excuse for any less-than-satisfactory-behavior. Just blame it on “oh, it’s a pilot thing.”
Alright, I’m getting closer to my actual point. These two articles have been floating around: 6 Reasons You Should Date A Pilot and What Every Girl Should Know About Dating A Pilot and I absolutely hate them.
Not only the feminist in me is disgusted that the women who wrote these articles is focusing on the only reason you should date a man is the perks from his job, but also, that all pilots are men. The one article references “The Boys” and “Ego” obviously are only referencing male pilots. Or the other saying you should enjoy your man at the helm and every woman loves a man in uniform, whatever. I don’t like it, I don’t agree with them.
You may argue that they are just meant to be humorous articles. I thought that through, while the one does have humor in it, I believe the overall message isn’t a humorous one. Therein lies the problem.
For me, the best thing about dating a pilot, is learning about the world of aviation. And you know what, it’s actually dating anyone you get to learn and share their hobbies, passions, careers. So I think these articles are extremely flawed in their views of relationships.
It inspired me to write my own list, what you should know about dating a pilot, general aviation, flight instructor or airline, male or female! So here I go:
What You Should Know About Dating A Pilot
1. You will forever have to read out letters in the phonetic alphabet.
What airport are you going to? Echo Whiskey Romeo. What’s your apartment number? 11 Bravo. You get the idea.
2. Something aviation related on TV? You’re watching it.
I am very guilty of this. Just started Air Aces, super excited! We just need to set our default channel to the Military Channel.
3. You know when a plane is around because they’ll be looking up.
I know I do, and we live by 3 major airports, so there are planes always around.
4. Whether it’s YouTube or Pinterest, you’ll spend hours looking at or watching planes.
I’ve had to watch countless videos and he has watched me on Pinterst going nuts with plane pictures. This is by far my favorite plane video.
5. You’ll always know more accurate weather because the only way to properly check it is by looking at the TAFs.
It is true. That’s how I plan beach days….you know, if I ever went to the beach.
That’s my take on the article that can be true across the board. Now, I must be off because I’m being punished for blogging by Jake. He turned on a WWII documentary, but it’s NOT about planes.
So good to see someone being proud to say she’s a feminist, challenging “girly” nonsense in a clear serious way and being funny all at thesametime, in one short blog post.
P.S. I used to work in the travel industry, so #1 is also true in my world. UK postcodes are alphanumeric so I always say November Golf 9, etc. And I know that EWR is Newark. How’s that? LOL!
You know, I used to be very hesitant to use that word. I felt feminist had such a negative connotation to it, I’m not some man hating woman who doesn’t wear skirts or a bra or make up. I had fallen to believing the stereotype. It all changed when I read “How To Be A Woman” by Caitlin Moran (yes, I totally read it because we have the same first name) and it made me realize exactly what being a feminist is. Now (thanks to the book), I say it loud and proud.
I’m glad you enjoyed it! I was a bit worried about posting it since the reaction I’ve seen to those articles is that people think they are funny and cute.
Nice! EWR is his base so, of course, the first thing to pop into my head. Glad you use them, it now extremely bugs me when people say “B as in boy, N as in Nancy.” That’s not right!
You are SOOOOOOoooooo right… about everything, but mostly about Nancy Boy! LOL! x
Reblogged this on Lindsay Kitson – Dieselpunk Author and commented:
Reposting this because I think it’s awesome 😛 So annoying when people assume that “Pilot” automatically means male.
*le sigh* I skimmed over those two posts you linked and had to roll my eyes at the fact that of course the posts assume that all pilots are men. My instructor told me a story about when she gets asked what she does for a living. “I fly aeroplanes,” she answers, and invariably, she gets that surprised look, and the “Oh, wow, that must be exciting!” And then comes the “What does your husband think about that?”
And a friend of mine read your post
and had a couple to add:
“You should add to that list.
– always identifying planes flying overhead or on TV, also runways, flight patterns, etc. Often in the middle of utterly unrelated conversation
– always pointing out inconsistencies in TV or movies no one else would care about
– having cooler headphones than everyone else because they’re using their goddamn flight headset… Fucking pilots having better toys….
And I’m not even dating you. :p I bet Nathan has more.”
Inconsistencies in movies/TV are the worst. And I mean that in general because I’m so nit picky. I really like How I Met Your Mother because they keep it consistent and reference older episodes correctly which makes me extremely happy.
I like those adds!
She and I were watching the movie “Altitude” and about 5 minutes in, the main character is taking off 36 right after ATC gave her the winds as 180@10. I was like “umm….”
They aren’t worth an in-depth read. Don’t read the comments, some will make you angry as well. Oh wow, I can’t believe they ask what her husband thinks! Rude!
That’s awesome! And I agree. I see a lot of female pilots out there and think the articles are a little short-sighted for that. I do enjoy your breakdown of the five items though as I find myself, as the pilot-to-be, fitting in to them already! Hehe.
Ok, so I’m not the only one who can’t stand the 6 reasons for dating a pilot “article.” I can’t believe that airhead was serious.
Check out my blog entry about the same article!
http://emptykitchen.wordpress.com/2013/08/
hey, thanks for the like. i was surprised anyone else read my totally unpublicized blog. really interesting to see how your training in the usa compares to that in canada!
i think the one thing that my gf had to put up with when i was in training was the totally unpredictable schedules – it was hard to make weekend plans. one moment i would plan to be flying, and the next moment the clouds would come in 500 feet too low, and then suddenly “hey – i’m free – wanna hang out?”
she was very patient! and ended up being my first non-examiner passenger.
anyway good luck on your training!
Yeah, my boyfriend is gone a lot of the time so I always try to schedule lessons on days he’s not around but I have scheduled some lessons on his days off. We haven’t been getting a lot of time together lately because of both our schedules but I promised him it’ll get better once I get my PPL. He understands because he flies too, but I don’t think he’ll be happy if I decide to do my instrument rating right after this!
Loved this! When I was a student pilot I wanted to take my parents up and show them that I was nearly done with my flight training and had made a lot of progress over the years. So I chose an instructor near their house in the Mojave Desert. The instructor was terrific. As we came in for landing he said to me, “Compliments to your instructor. You’re a good pilot. He’s done well.” I replied, “I’ll let her know!” My instructor Maria and I are great friends and now she’s in training to become a commercial pilot for the airlines. Hope you have the opportunity to take a flight lesson this year! It’s exhilarating. Have you thought of joining the Ninety-Nines?
Woops, never mind, I see you are in training for your PPL! Good for you! Let me know if you ever need anything. I’ve been through a lot with my training!
Thanks! I feel like I’ve been through a lot already with my training and still have a bit left. I’m totally starting to get “get-there-itis” I feel like, it’s been a long journey, longer than I thought it would be. I am a member of the Ninety-Nines (your other comment) unfortunately I joined when there wasn’t an upcoming meet in July and now the first meeting since I joined I cannot attend because I work in the evenings and weekends. I wish I could be more active in it, but because of my schedule and how I get to the airport I feel stuck.
Enjoyed your site
I am a pilot looking for a lady pilot to fly with me as an equal in my airplane.
I live in Vero Beach, Fl.
Com, multi, inst
Have Plane, Will Fly!!