Being gay in the flight deck...

[andy_mtl]

Greetings !

First of all Superchargedrs... please be realistic. Everyone when you go fly will ask you about if you have a gf wife bf husband or what else.

My experience in a few words:

Started off in a skydive centre where i spent 3.5 summers. At first i was a bit terrified of the idea of coming out at work.
Eventually i did.. maybe a week into it.

I had only great experiences there.
Even tho the skydive world is filled with the super duper macho ego thing... if didnt bother me or them any bit.

I have only good memories from my paradrop days.

After that i moved up to Thunder Bay to fly for Thunder, and again nothing but good comments there too.
I remember coming out to one of my captain in fort severn. It was hilarious actually. Dave if you re reading this!

At Thunder everyone made me feel welcome and not judged. Made some great friends along the way, and educated some people on the topic , that, up north isnt being discussed much.

Finally i moved over to Jazz.
I believe Jazz must be the most accepting and welcoming employer in the industry to anyone that is different if so i can say. Meaning race sexuality and so on everyone is accepted.
My training class was just awesome. All the guys were really great. I tried to lay low... but only lasted about 45 mins when they asked ... tell us something about you and i go :
I love to go Hunting!
(Everyone looking like.. wtf?)
And i complete me sentence:
Hunting.... at the mall for specials! Lol!

Anyway, moving onto the line i flew in yvr for a few months in yyz for another few months and finally back to yul.

Every captain i fly with ends up asking me if i have a gf ( seriously guys? You even bother asking?
And when i state i have a partner they all understand.
Havent had any issues to date, couple of guys stop the convo rather quickly wich is ok and i respect that. Some other ask more questions and thats cool too.

There will always be the person that wont underatand why but i m not there to change their ideas or anything.
Im there to do my job be a professional and have fun doing it.

If you have any questions feel free to Pm me.

Also like stated above, canadian aviation pride on fb is a great group.

Cheers,

Andy

[Rowdy]

I'll never forget the laughter that ensued after you said that Andy

[mmm..bacon]

10 years ago I was at a dinner with my wife and about 40 other pilots. One of the pilots came to the dinner in full drag... and was very serious about it. Nobody really paid it much attention, it was in fact quite an impressive display of "who cares". This from a bunch of airshow/aerobatic adrenaline junkie macho type pilots was quite unexpected but pleasant to observe.

Now if the guy had come all in favour of automation / side sticks he would have been in big trouble in that crowd for sure... far more sensitive issue

Were ya hangin' out with peeps from the other forum?

[atpilot]

I wear flannel shirts, fly old bushplanes, am completely non polically correct and suffer from machoism!

With that said, I couldn't care less if you are of the other persuasion. It's none of my business after all.

I sincerely hope and trust that my fellow co-workers and fellow breathern have the same views of equality and respect while on duty.

Follow your dreams. Don't let your sexual orientation, fear of judgement or misgivings dictate your career path.

All the best, masalam.
TPC

What he said!

[Old fella]

Well..... being from the old stock as my graduating H/S year was 1968/69, that's a long time ago pushing over 65 yrs of age. I can honestly say the vast, vast majority of my "agers" that I know are quite accepting and more to the point, gratified that one's sexual orientation is not an issue like it was back then. Why, tis because we-they-I have friends, family members who are gay and are very good people. Yes, there are some old male/female demagogues of that bygone era who are lock wired to that 1968 Mary Hopkin song "Those were the days, my friend, we thought they'd never end.........." I know of such people and are acquainted with them but fast forward to 2016 I will always be of the view " Those were NOT the days" my friends, those 60's days were not great at all, never were. I was around then and still am now.

To the initial poster, all I can say is enjoy your aviation career that is ahead of you be it airline or where ever.

[Flapsdownletsgo]

Greetings !

First of all Superchargedrs... please be realistic. Everyone when you go fly will ask you about if you have a gf wife bf husband or what else.

My experience in a few words:

Started off in a skydive centre where i spent 3.5 summers. At first i was a bit terrified of the idea of coming out at work.
Eventually i did.. maybe a week into it.

I had only great experiences there.
Even tho the skydive world is filled with the super duper macho ego thing... if didnt bother me or them any bit.

I have only good memories from my paradrop days.

After that i moved up to Thunder Bay to fly for Thunder, and again nothing but good comments there too.
I remember coming out to one of my captain in fort severn. It was hilarious actually. Dave if you re reading this!

At Thunder everyone made me feel welcome and not judged. Made some great friends along the way, and educated some people on the topic , that, up north isnt being discussed much.

Finally i moved over to Jazz.
I believe Jazz must be the most accepting and welcoming employer in the industry to anyone that is different if so i can say. Meaning race sexuality and so on everyone is accepted.
My training class was just awesome. All the guys were really great. I tried to lay low... but only lasted about 45 mins when they asked ... tell us something about you and i go :
I love to go Hunting!
(Everyone looking like.. wtf?)
And i complete me sentence:
Hunting.... at the mall for specials! Lol!

Anyway, moving onto the line i flew in yvr for a few months in yyz for another few months and finally back to yul.

Every captain i fly with ends up asking me if i have a gf ( seriously guys? You even bother asking?
And when i state i have a partner they all understand.
Havent had any issues to date, couple of guys stop the convo rather quickly wich is ok and i respect that. Some other ask more questions and thats cool too.

There will always be the person that wont underatand why but i m not there to change their ideas or anything.
Im there to do my job be a professional and have fun doing it.

If you have any questions feel free to Pm me.

Also like stated above, canadian aviation pride on fb is a great group.

Cheers,

Andy

Hey Andy,are those Unicorns and rainbows still following you everywheres?

[andy_mtl]

There s only 1 pilot i know that can see my unicorns following me all the time! MR GC.

No i replaced them with a rainbow contrail system .

So my dash8 can now be spotted in the sky by a double rainbow following it !
Muahahaha

Andy

[Flapsdownletsgo]

There s only 1 pilot i know that can see my unicorns following me all the time! MR GC.

No i replaced them with a rainbow contrail system .

So my dash8 can now be spotted in the sky by a double rainbow following it !
Muahahaha

Andy

OHMYGAWDDDDD A DOUBLE RAINBBBOOOOOWWWWWWWWWW!!

[steve10509]

Being a gay pilot definitely has it's challenges. People here say why bring it up, why flaunt it, just fly the plane. Others say the topic comes up when other pilots ask about girlfriends/wives. In my experience that's when it comes up. In 10 years of flying, I've only had my sexual orientation be an issue once, very early in my career. But, the person responsible for it, the CEO, was soon fired, as it was just another note in a long history of unacceptable behavior. Most folks these days don't really care. If you're confident with who you are, then it shouldn't be an issue. And if someone ever says anything, well just remember there's a cvr, and companies are very supportive if you approach human resources with an issue. These days it doesn't matter if you're male female gay straight or a dolphin. Discrimination of any kind is not tolerated. I worked at Porter for a few years with John who commented on this page, and it was honestly the most accepting company I've worked for. My sexual orientation was well known, even at the top of management and I was never treated any different. I was treated as a pilot. I brought my boyfriend to staff parties, he met the chief pilot, then I went to work and flew a plane. If you're at all nervous, go to Porter. You have my guarantee there will be no issues. I'm now at a major carrier on a 330, and again its no issue. I flew with a 64 year old captain and even he had no issues. My best piece of advice is to be yourself. Don't hide who you are, and when the girlfriend question comes up, just be honest. A lot of the time I'd answer with "nope no girlfriend. I'm a big homo." Or "nope, I'm into dudes. REALLY into dudes." Or just nope if I was cranky. It generally got a laugh and then we'd fly. Sometimes people would ask more, sometimes not. I was one of the boys at Porter and never felt uneasy about being gay. Most folks know someone gay, so people aren't afraid of us anymore. But, on the other side, if you're constantly spewing out gay this gay that, people will get annoyed. It's like listening to a bro talk about his weekend conquests. If you want to talk to someone with many homo years in the industry, send me a pm and I'll be happy to help you out. Homos unite! Happy flying

[Bede]

A lot of the time I'd answer with "nope no girlfriend. I'm a big homo." Or "nope, I'm into dudes. REALLY into dudes." Or just nope if I was cranky. It generally got a laugh and then we'd fly.

lol. It's that kind of sense of humour that breaks down barriers. Good for you for having a sense of humour.