Best course of action

0

06Flyer

New Member
I am 37 years old and interested in becomming a professional pilot. That deosnt neccessarily mean airline pilot. I have a commerical single engine lisence. I have around 450 hours. I am going to start work on my multi engine in June and then I want to get my CFI. I am a brand new police officer and am entering the Field Training Officer program. I want to get my CFI before I do that because there is no way I could do both at the same time.

I would love to be an airline pilot but after reading these posts on here and other boards, I dont really want to be 37 years old making $20K but I am not sure I would turn it down. Being that I am a police officer, I have thought about going into flying for law enforcement. I would have to find a department that flies airplanes and most flies heliopters. Before anyone says it, I cant fly for federal law enforcement because the maximum age to be a federal LEO is 35.

Like I said, I would consider Corporate, charter and I have also thought about teaching aviation at the college or university level. I dont mean a $14/hr CFI. I mean a part of the college faculty. I will be working on a Masters degree in Aeronautical Science.

What do you all think is the best course of action to achieve these goals at my age?
 
Best Course of action is this......

Are you ready? Do what makes YOU happy. You are older and wiser than most people on here anyways. You didn't get into Law Enforcement for the pay, chicks, bankers hours did you?

You will get some good input here, but I just take the sour grapes with a grain of salt and laugh.

You are well on your way, already. I am sure your work experience and life experience will be an asset to an Employer. I think if you are a confident person, you will see through some of the pessimistic view. Notice that these same people aren't changing careers, or if they are, it was all for the Dollar. Not happy without the money, never gonna be happy with the money.

You get the point. Now let these other guys tear me apart for those statements.
 
Most local departments do fly whirlybirds. Some state LEAs fly fixed wing. I know that the Oklahoma Highway Patrol, Oklahoma State Bureu of Investigation, and Texas Rangers all fly some fixed wing aircraft. Just do some searching. The down side is that, in most cases, you have to earn your way to these positions by seniority. The OHP requires 7 years as a patrol officer before troopers can apply to special services such as air, tactical, or lake patrol. I don't know if they have age limits.

Good luck to you.
 
Cograts on getting into the police dept. I'm sure every dept. is different, but here is some info on my state police dept.... In Indiana a cadidate must be between 21 and 35. Right under that it states that applicants will be considered if they will be no older than 40 upon appointment as an employee. Man, there's age waivers for everything!

You have to be an officer with them first to be considered for the aviation unit. It seems like a KILLER flying job too. In KIND they have two Bell 206's, a King Air 200, a Baron, a Bonanza, and a C-172. All of the 3-4 pilots based in Indianapolis fly all of those aircraft. I've talked extensivley with a couple of the guys and both of them were not rated in helicopters when they got on with the aviation unit. They are pretty much home every night with their families. One of the guys told me the last thing they were looking for in an aviation candidate was someone who thought they were God's gift to aviation, even if they might be....They were looking for a solid state police officer that happens to fly aircraft too.
 
I'm no expert on this and I'll probably get soundly proven wrong by fellow forum members, but to me it seems the best route to becoming a professional pilot after age 35 is flying helicopters as the upgrade time seems to be lower, but I'm not sure about that... I think there is a couple of helicopter pilots on here that can give you some advice. Of course, if you have fixed wing license, you would want to use that...
You might want to try looking at gasline patrols, surveying and that sort of thing (for fixed wing).
 
Law Enforcement's philosiphy, and I agree with it, is it is better to take a police officer and make him into apilot than to take a pilot and make him into a police officer. 95% of departmens you have to be a ocop for many years before you can get onto he aiation unit.

You guys misunderstood. I am not a helicopter pilot. I am a fixed wing commercial single engine land. And I amNOT focused on law enforcemtn flying. I just mentioned it because I happen to be in law enforcement. Believe me, once I get to about 1200 hours, I will be looking at airlines and corporate jobs. I have no desire or intention on getting a helicopter add on. So, if I do decide to become a police pilot it wil have to be with a department that flis fixed wing. I have been looking at Florida Highway Patrol. They ave nothing but a fleet of 12 C-172/182's and a Piper Navajo. Again, they say you only have to be a Trooper for a year. Most State Patrols fly airplanes and most Local police departments fly helos
 
06Flyer said:
Law Enforcement's philosiphy, and I agree with it, is it is better to take a police officer and make him into apilot than to take a pilot and make him into a police officer. 95% of departmens you have to be a ocop for many years before you can get onto he aiation unit.

You guys misunderstood. I am not a helicopter pilot. I am a fixed wing commercial single engine land. And I amNOT focused on law enforcemtn flying. I just mentioned it because I happen to be in law enforcement. Believe me, once I get to about 1200 hours, I will be looking at airlines and corporate jobs. I have no desire or intention on getting a helicopter add on. So, if I do decide to become a police pilot it wil have to be with a department that flis fixed wing. I have been looking at Florida Highway Patrol. They ave nothing but a fleet of 12 C-172/182's and a Piper Navajo. Again, they say you only have to be a Trooper for a year. Most State Patrols fly airplanes and most Local police departments fly helos
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I'm pretty sure Pennsylvania flies some fixed wing, but there is the trooper requirement again.
 
Rotor flying is some of the most enjoyable flying you could do. Only problem is that a helicopter certificate cost about twice as much as its fixed wing counterpart. I had about 5 hours of dual in a helicopter. Then I decided to buy a house and had to give up the fling wing.
 
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