Is It Too Late to Look to Flying as a Career?

M

mngtsystem

Well-Known Member
Hi JC Community!

I have been reading and getting a lot of interesting info from all the knowledgeable people on this site and recently registered on the site. I am one of those guys that have always dreamed of flying a plane and i have had the opportunity to fly a Cessna 172 with a friend of mine. It was so overwhelming to be at the controls but what an experience!

I am 36 years young and interested in starting to map out a plan to making my way to flying for a living. Ultimately would like to fly for an airline flying the 747, 767, 777, 787 type of aircraft (A340 and A330 included) - yes it's a long road but it's the journey that is worth it. And who knows - the path may change to another aircraft. It's a bad time for the industry (and it's volatile) and the economy just now. I understand this but I have to try. I also understand from my reading that it's important to head in the right direction in terms of experience to get to your desired seat or costs may get out of hand.

The costs of learning to fly are quite substantial and i am interested in any ideas on how to shave costs. I am currently employed full time and I have looked to getting a loan. I also know that there are no shortcuts to experience. If i could get into some kind of dialogue about ideas that would be awesome.

I feel if i don't take the first step soon life will overtake me.
Questions to think about and opinions on the following will be most welcome:
1. Costs of FBO's vs the accelerated programmes.
2. Loans vs paying my way and the time involved.
3. # of times to fly a week and juggling ground school and personal reading and studying.
4. Ideas on how to shave costs
5. Ideas on how to get more practical knowledge i.e. - volunteering to do line work


Thanks again for taking the time and I hope to be able to contribute in the future to the community.

PS: Apologies for the length of this wordy essay!
 
Wish you the best of luck in your career change. Make certain that you keep reading. The right path for you could be different than the path a younger pilot might choose to take.

While certainly being a pilot for a major airline is an honorable profession, you might find yourself drawn to other segments of aviation. Perhaps you will enjoy agricultural flying, charter flying, freight, corporate aviation, or even flight instructing. Perhaps you will build a career flying for a regional airline in anything from a 19 seat turboprop to a 70 seat jetliner. Or perhaps that right career for you is flying an 8 passenger piston twin between the Islands off of Cape Cod to Boston, Providence, and throughout New England.

There are a plethora of career options that would allow you to fly professionally. Don't lock yourself into one vision of success this early in your career.
 
Others may disagree with me, but if you're starting from scratch at 36, I'd say the odds of you ending up in the front seat of a 747, 767, 777, 787 type of aircraft (A340 and A330 included) are about the same as the odds of winning the powerball lottery. That's not to say that you can't start at 36 and fly for a living. But making it to the frond seat of a heavy in the majors is going to be tough when all of your competition for those seats is 10 years younger than you are and has twice as much experience as you do.
 
Thanks so far for the info - it's true that while learning you might find you have other interests in the aviation industry. i am definitely open to that. Thanks for the insight on the chances of making it onto a heavy, the more opinions and info - hopefully the more well thought out my plan.

re: ZapBrannigan - any ideas on possible paths? (anyone for that matter)
 
Is the dream over? Nah, not really.

Is it highly unlikely that you'll be in a position to make it to the 'big leagues' and real money at this point? Yep. Doesn't really matter what your age is, the "easy in, easy up" moment has passed. If another comes around, it'll be years from now.

Most airlines have guys on the street on furlough status that will get called back before new hires get called to interview. Once you get in, you're behind all of them in line for upgrade to your first captain position.. and eventual interview at one of the 'majors'.

Ask yourself if you can sincerely live on $30,000 a year for the next 5 years combined with being away from home up to 16 days a month.

It's a tough nut to crack. If you really want it bad enough, go for it and more power to ya... but don't let the flight schools selling bulk packages con you into believing there's some sort of 'pilot shortage'. If there is a shortage, it's years in coming.
 
Firebird2XC said:
Is the dream over? Nah, not really.

Is it highly unlikely that you'll be in a position to make it to the 'big leagues' and real money at this point? Yep. Doesn't really matter what your age is, the "easy in, easy up" moment has passed. If another comes around, it'll be years from now.

Most airlines have guys on the street on furlough status that will get called back before new hires get called to interview. Once you get in, you're behind all of them in line for upgrade to your first captain position.. and eventual interview at one of the 'majors'.

Ask yourself if you can sincerely live on $30,000 a year for the next 5 years combined with being away from home up to 16 days a month.

It's a tough nut to crack. If you really want it bad enough, go for it and more power to ya... but don't let the flight schools selling bulk packages con you into believing there's some sort of 'pilot shortage'. If there is a shortage, it's years in coming.
Click to expand...


What he said except there will never be a shortage of pilots. Never has been and never will be.
 
Firebird2XC said:
Is the dream over? Nah, not really.

Is it highly unlikely that you'll be in a position to make it to the 'big leagues' and real money at this point? Yep. Doesn't really matter what your age is, the "easy in, easy up" moment has passed. If another comes around, it'll be years from now.

Most airlines have guys on the street on furlough status that will get called back before new hires get called to interview. Once you get in, you're behind all of them in line for upgrade to your first captain position.. and eventual interview at one of the 'majors'.

Ask yourself if you can sincerely live on $30,000 a year for the next 5 years combined with being away from home up to 16 days a month.

It's a tough nut to crack. If you really want it bad enough, go for it and more power to ya... but don't let the flight schools selling bulk packages con you into believing there's some sort of 'pilot shortage'. If there is a shortage, it's years in coming.
Click to expand...
:yeahthat:

Firebird said it much better than I did. If you want a career as a pilot, it absolutely isn't too late to start. But there is no shortage of professional pilots and its unlikely that there will ever be a shortage in our lifetime.

The 6-month zero to hero schools will tell you all about how all the babyboomers are going to hit mandatory retirement age 'in the next few years' and thus create a shortage of professional pilots of epic proportions. Those schools have been selling that babyboomer chestnut to students since the babyboomers were in diapers. It's bs and nothing more.

There's no shortage of pilots and there never will be, and the payscale reflects this. So like Firebird said, expect to make less than $30k for five years or so. Also, expect your trip up the career ladder to involve relocating a few times. That's not to say that you'll definitely have to relocate, but its something you'd be wise to expect.

As for your questions on training, An FBO will almost always be cheaper than a pilot mill. An FBO will probably take longer, but not always. The more you fly, the faster you'll finish. So if you can devote two hours a day to flying and 6 hours a day to studying, five days a weeks, you'd probably get through a private cert in a month. Most people can't devote that kind of time and most schools can't provide that kind of availability so figure on it taking about 6 months to get a private cert if you keep working and fly every chance possible.

FWIW, I did my private in just over 4 months, flying twice a week with a local FBO while I was working full time. I took longer to do the instrument rating but I didn't have the cash to fly every week at that time. I did the commercial cert after my instrument and it was exactly one month between my IR checkride and my commercial checkride. By the time I did my instrument and commercial, I was a non-equity partner in a Mooney so I used that and an independent CFI instead of the FBO.
 
Jester said:


I am 36 years young and interested in starting to map out a plan to making my way to flying for a living.
Click to expand...

Don't you know 36 is the new 26? Go for it. If it is what you want, it will happen. Just be flexible and set your goals one step at a time.
 
Hi, Jester--welcome to JC. If flying is your dream, GO FOR IT! :nana2:
I know a few pilots who started even later than you and are now FOs at both the regional and higher levels. I started my career as a Flight Attendant at the tender age of 50. As long as you have the desire, there's nothing you can't do! There's a saying I read a while ago that stuck with me, and for the life of me I can't remember the exact words. Perhaps someone here can help me out. The gist of it is if you think you're too old to pursue a dream but don't, you'll still get older and won't have anything to show for it.

Good luck and always believe in yourself and follow your heart. ;)
 
Make sure you find out what you are getting yourself into before spending 40k$ on it. It's not what you see in the movies, thats for sure.
 
Qgar said:
Hi, Jester--welcome to JC. If flying is your dream, GO FOR IT! :nana2:
I know a few pilots who started even later than you and are now FOs at both the regional and higher levels. I started my career as a Flight Attendant at the tender age of 50. As long as you have the desire, there's nothing you can't do! There's a saying I read a while ago that stuck with me, and for the life of me I can't remember the exact words. Perhaps someone here can help me out. The gist of it is if you think you're too old to pursue a dream but don't, you'll still get older and won't have anything to show for it.

Good luck and always believe in yourself and follow your heart. ;)
Click to expand...

This probably isn't it but seems applicable: "You miss 100% of the shots you don't take." -Wayne Gretzky-
 
Jester said:
Hi JC Community!

I have been reading and getting a lot of interesting info from all the knowledgeable people on this site and recently registered on the site. I am one of those guys that have always dreamed of flying a plane and i have had the opportunity to fly a Cessna 172 with a friend of mine. It was so overwhelming to be at the controls but what an experience!

I am 36 years young and interested in starting to map out a plan to making my way to flying for a living. Ultimately would like to fly for an airline flying the 747, 767, 777, 787 type of aircraft (A340 and A330 included) - yes it's a long road but it's the journey that is worth it. And who knows - the path may change to another aircraft. It's a bad time for the industry (and it's volatile) and the economy just now. I understand this but I have to try. I also understand from my reading that it's important to head in the right direction in terms of experience to get to your desired seat or costs may get out of hand.

The costs of learning to fly are quite substantial and i am interested in any ideas on how to shave costs. I am currently employed full time and I have looked to getting a loan. I also know that there are no shortcuts to experience. If i could get into some kind of dialogue about ideas that would be awesome.

I feel if i don't take the first step soon life will overtake me.
Questions to think about and opinions on the following will be most welcome:
1. Costs of FBO's vs the accelerated programmes.
2. Loans vs paying my way and the time involved.
3. # of times to fly a week and juggling ground school and personal reading and studying.
4. Ideas on how to shave costs
5. Ideas on how to get more practical knowledge i.e. - volunteering to do line work


Thanks again for taking the time and I hope to be able to contribute in the future to the community.

PS: Apologies for the length of this wordy essay!
Click to expand...

If I were in your shoes, I'd go to ATPs and get it done, and try to find a job now. Build time, and be ready for when the market rebounds. Your dream of flying heavy iron is a possibility, it just might take awhile. Keep in mind, if you don't try, you can't succeed.
 
Toonces said:
What he said except there will never be a shortage of pilots. Never has been and never will be.
Click to expand...
I do not agree. You don't really get to see to many locals at flight schools these days. Most of the people that train here are from other parts of the world. Could be because banks are not giving away money anymore for aviation, and as we all know, it is not a cheap hobby. Yes, lots of us are "on the streets" right now-but and a year or two, down the road there will be a huge shortage. just come and visit our local flight schools and you will see.....
 
Ami said:
I do not agree. You don't really get to see to many locals at flight schools these days. Most of the people that train here are from other parts of the world. Could be because banks are not giving away money anymore for aviation, and as we all know, it is not a cheap hobby. Yes, lots of us are "on the streets" right now-but and a year or two, down the road there will be a huge shortage. just come and visit our local flight schools and you will see.....
Click to expand...
BS
 
I agree with Zap.................keep your options open. I'm 48 and still plan on going for it.It's not going to be easy...........anything worthwhile usually does'nt come easily.
 
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