Abstract
Abstract. This study investigates how pilots perceive the way in which their work and shift patterns may impact upon their personal relationships. It also examines the way in which pilots cope with frequently having to form and then put on hold relationships both at home and at work. Three hundred pilots were surveyed by questionnaire to examine the impact of working in the airline industry on personal relationships. Participants were recruited over a 4-year period between 2012 and 2016 on a university’s Master’s program in Air Transport Management. The qualitative data were analysed using thematic analysis (TA). The study found that that partner support was key in managing the demands of shift work and that having an understanding partner was the key to the relationship working. This study is representative of a single sample of mostly male pilots flying for more than 2 years. Future research may seek to use a more diverse sample.
References
2017). Pilot mental health and support. London, UK: Taylor and Francis.
(2006).
(Aviation mental health: An introduction . In R. BorT. HubbardEds., Aviation mental health: Psychological implications for air transportation (pp. 1–12). Aldershot, UK: Ashgate.1958). The nature of the child’s tie to his mother. International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 39(5), 350–371.
(1969). Attachment and loss: Vol. 1. Loss. New York, NY: Basic Books.
(2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3, 77–101.
(2013). Successful qualitative research: A practical guide for beginners. London, UK: Sage Publications.
(2002). Assessing pilots with ‘the wrong stuff’: A call for research on emotional health factors in commercial aviators. International Journal of Selection and Assessment, 10, 168–184.
(2009). The effects of fly-in/fly-out commute arrangements and extended working hours on the stress, lifestyle, relationship and health characteristics of Western Australian Mining employees and their partners: Report of research findings. Unpublished report. University of Western Australia, Australia
(1998). ‘Shift-ing lives’: Work-home pressures in the North Sea oil industry. The Canadian Revue of Sociology and Anthropology, 35, 301–324.
(1985). The sources of stress on the wives of commercial airline pilots. Aviation, Space and Environmental Medicine, 56(4), 317–321.
(2008). Every time you go away: Changes in affect, behavior and physiology associated with travel-related separations from romantic partners. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 95(2), 385–403.
(2002). Mental health insurance claims among spouses of frequent business travellers. Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 59(3), 175–181.
(2009). Managing work and relationships at 35, 000 feet: A practical guide for making personal life fit aircrew shift work, jetlag, and absences from home. London, UK: Karnac.
(1993). Long distance commuting: A new approach to mining in Australia. The Geographical Journal, 159(3), 281–291.
(2002, August). The intermittent husband – impact of home and away occupations on wives/partners. Paper presented at the Queensland Mining Industry Health and Safety Conference, Brisbane, Australia.
(1997).
(Neuropsychiatry in aerospace medicine . In R. DeHartEd., Fundamentals of aerospace medicine (pp. 593–642). Baltimore, MD: Williams & Wilkins Publishers.1989). The spousal factor in pilot stress. Aviation, Space and Environmental Medicine, 60(11), 1112–1125.
(2017).
(Pilots’ emotions in the cockpit . In R. BorC. EriksonM. OakesP. ScraggEds., Pilot mental health assessment and support: A practitioner’s guide (pp. 382–397). London, UK: Routledge.1985). Oil wives and intermittent husbands. British Journal of Psychiatry, 147(5), 479–483.
(2005). Living two lives: Perceptions, attitudes and experiences of spouses of UK offshore workers. Community, Work and Family, 8(4), 414–437.
(2010). Long-distance romantic couples: An attachment theoretical perspective. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 36(2), 15–125.
(1990). A retrospective study of marital discord in pilots. The USAFSAM experience. Aviation, Space and Environmental Medicine, 61, 1145–1148.
(1994). Aircrew wives and the intermittent husband syndrome. Aviation, Space and Environmental Medicine, 65(3), 654–660.
(1986). Stress coping strategies in commercial airline pilots. Journal of Occupational Medicine, 28(1), 49–52.
(1985). The psycho-social consequences of intermittent husband absence: An epidemiological study. Social Science and Medicine, 20(9), 877–885.
(1994).
(Issues of evaluation . In P. BanisterE. BurmanI. ParkerM. TaylorC. TindallEds., Qualitative methods in psychology: A research guide (pp. 142–159). Buckingham, UK: Open University Press.US Department of Health and Human Services . (2017). What is Mental Health? Retrieved from https://www.mentalhealth.gov/basics/what-is-mental-health