Low&Slow
Ancora imparo
This quote was made about 120+ years ago. Is it still accurate, specifically when referring to working as a professional pilot? Flying for a living is all I've ever wanted to do since I was about three years old.
I'm 45 now, and will be taking about a one year all expenses paid "vacation" to a location nobody wants to go to very soon. I will be turning 47 shortly after my return if I haven't already turned by then. I currently have CSEL/CMEL, Instrument Rating, just under 500 hrs, an Associate in Science degree (Engineering), an EMT license, and I am an airframe mechanic (not licensed by the FAA).
I am currently unemployed and am thinking about getting my CFI/CFII when I get back to the USA and trying to finally get a career as a professional pilot started. I currently have a really good job offer to work in NC as an airframe mechanic but unfortunately, due to some unforeseen recent events in my personal life, it looks very improbable that I will be able to take that job.
I have a family, but I don't need to be a Legacy Captain or make six figures to be happy. To be honest, I really don't know exactly what I want to do as a pilot, I just like to fly. Living comfortably while working/flying someplace beautiful would be the dream. Especially if I could fly a warbird like the DC-3, -4, or -6, C-46. I think I'd also like to fly a Beaver, Goose, or anything along those lines.
I'm not a city boy by any stretch of the imagination and don't like crowds or traffic so I'm not sure if airlines are right for me. Not sure I could stand to live in a suburb or a city. I like the peace, privacy, simplicity, and quiet of the country. Whether that place is in Alaska, Idaho, Wyoming, Michigan's UP, the Caribbean, Bora Bora, Hawaii, or??? Someplace not crowded or desolate, but someplace beautiful with a small community or communities nearby where everybody knows everybody, or just about everybody. I'm not a hermit, I just don't like huge, heavily populated areas.
Also, based on what I gather on here, I really need to get a Bachelor Degree in something if I want to fly professionally. If I did that too, then I would be somewhere around 50+ by the time I finished it and probably have student loan debt. Not sure I could ever afford to get an ATP, and I'm not sure how important that is to success as a pilot not flying in a 121 world.
Anyhow, I'm wondering if I'm being unrealistic to try and start a professional flying career this late in life. Is it too late to be what I might have been, or do I still have a shot at flying for a living?