A pair of “beautiful eyes” and an “innocent smile” during a flight engineering class for the 727 kicked off a near-three-decade long relationship for Walid and Cammie Nakib. Walid, a captain with Endeavor, says he was “very much taken” at their first meeting. The couple would go on to date for seven-and-a-half years, says Cammie (a first officer with Delta) before tying the knot. “We thought as pilots we would rarely be together at the same time and how could we raise a family,” explains Cammie. “But love won out and we decided we would make it work somehow.”
Once kids came along, “making it work” included sacrifices. Walid bypassed a captain upgrade for several years to keep his seniority as a first officer and bid the days off that the couple needed to have someone home with the kids at all times. “I was very committed to her success whatever the sacrifice,” Walid says. “I didn’t care as much about my advancement as hers.” Thanks to that sacrifice plus help from their family when overlaps occurred, the couple was able to raise their children without daycare as desired.
Their time together suffered, but they met that challenge as best they could. “Skype is a wonderful tool to keep you connected to family,” explains Cammie. The couple would talk to each other and their children, whether it was a simple “good night” or even helping the kids with homework via the technology.
To learn more about the sacrifices made, challenges met, and opportunities enjoyed by Walid and Cammie and five other married pilot couples that spoke to us, read Love is in the Air: When Pilots Marry Pilots.
