parmandjack
New Member
Hi Everyone, I'm new here.
I didn't realize this "Career Changer" section was here, this is terrific.
I'm an older guy just starting out, and I'm fishing for information; hopefully someone here can help.
I'm interested in whether or not age is a disabling factor going against me starting a new career as a professional pilot, as I am planning on changing careers late in life.
Here's my bio and a bit of background so you can give me a good idea of whether or not my age would stand out alone as a determining factor, or whether my accomplishments would negate it.
I'm 44, and will be 45 on April 4th, 2008, and I'm interested in a career with the majors. Let me re-phrase that... I'm absolutely obsessed with changing my career and flying for a living, especially for a major airline... I can think of nothing else.
Its been my dream ever since being a kid (my family flew a lot), but I thought you could only do it through the military, or darn near perfect marks at school.
I'd be happy flying jets with a decent Regional (or turboprop (to start)), but I think (at this point in life, as everything always changes as your grow older), that the Majors is where I'd like to end up if possible.
I will be (re)starting my flight training on Jan 7th, 2008. I say restarting, because 9 years ago I started doing it, flying out of Thunderbird Aviation at Flying Cloud airport just west of Minneapolis. I bought and owned my own Beechcraft Muskateer with a lovely IFR package, and managed to accumulate exactly 50 hours before packing it in. I'd completed all my training, x-country included and was ready for the checkride :-(. I say I had 50 hours at this point not because it took me that long to get ready for the checkride, but because during my 2nd solo, I had a partial engine failure right after take-off. That shook me up pretty bad. After getting the aircraft repaired, my next flight saw me caught in a very bad windstorm, and it bounced me ALL over the bloody sky... that was pretty much it for me. After that, I flew with a case of the nerves each time I went up, and although I kept plugging away at it, my confidence didn't return as I didn't trust the aircraft at that point, and I eventually quit, but not before making a good attempt at overcoming the issue with more hours. My instructor though (John Walsh - who went to Masaba to fly Sabbs in, oh... 1998. I've since lost touch with him unfortunately) told me that he'd rather fly with me than the other instructors because I'd experienced an engine failure and stayed calm enough to land it (so now belonged to an "elite", "tested" club ;-) on my 2nd solo, while they had never had an engine failure, so he didn't know how they'd react... I knew what he was trying to do, but it didn't work unfortunately, and here I am 9 years later. HOWEVER... the bug never left me, and two years ago I was up in a 19 seat charter (twice) for work related purposes (excluding numerous trips on major airlines since my engine failure), and realized I was over my fear. At this point though, I figured I was too old to start again, and stalled on it (no pun intended
.
So now, as I mentioned, I'm 44 going on 45 in 5 months. I am an IT professional with 15 years in the IT industry, as well as 6+ years in the Armed Forces (Canadian) in telecommunications. I am a Project Manager for IBM, and make over $100K/yr salary, not including bonuses. I also hold a 4 year Bachelors of Science Degree with Honors, as well as numerous IT industry certifications (to show my prospective airline employer I am capable of learning new things, as well as being eager). I mentioned the salary for no purpose other than highlighting my extreme desire to fly as a career, and what I'm willing to give up to get there (doesn't mean I'm happy about taking a pay cut that size after years of chasing the buck to get there though ;-)
I have done a lot of research and understand what the first year pilots are making, as well as the first few years of pay rates, and I am willing to give up my 6 figure salary to do this. (side note - why ARE pilots paid so poorly for such a mission critical task, loaded with such great responsibility?)
Although the salary drop will be darn near crippling (with 4 kids under 5 years old), we have about $350K worth of equity in our pocket from our home once we sell it, and no other debt. This will allow us to ride the wave (sort of) while I get established in the aviation industry (I expect). Am I being niave here?
I will be obtaining the ratings part-time, but expect to have my PPL and CPL completed by early summer '08, with CFI by late summer '08. At that point, I plan on building time as a CFI while obtaining my multi engine and IFR ratings. I "expect" to be ready with minimums, by Jan of '09, which would put me at 45 (going on 46 in April '09). That would give me 15 years of professional flying time ahead of me, or 20 years should they raise the retirement age to 65. My assumptions at this point in time are that that is plenty time to work my way back up to the pay levels I'm used to (even if I don't, but manage to come close, I'd rather earn less and be happy with what I'm doing, than earn a lot, but be miserable at what I'm doing). In preparation, I have also completed and just received my Cat 1 Medical certificate, so that piece is already taken care of.
If you say my age is a non-issue, I have one last question. Although I am Canadian, (presently live in Calgary, Alberta) I lived and worked right across America for 5 years (so far) in my IT career, as getting work visas was easy for me due to my Degree. Is it the same in the airline industry? Do US air carriers hire non-Americans, Canadians specifically? (I can provide proof of eligibility to work legally in the US).
Oh, one last thing, My wife and I are willing to relocate to just about anywhere in the US, because during our 5 years there, we came to love America, and want to move back anyway... if not with an aviation career, then again through IT. So with this piece of the pie, I'm trying to show any possible airline that I am flexible and willing to work with their needs.
Hopefully, these details of myself provide a big enough picture to let you determine whether or not I'd be denied simply because of my age, or whether my life experience and professional management experience in high-tech, as well as level of education and military experience would be considered strong intangible assets being brought to the table (besides the applicable ratings and minimum hours).
If I was a gambling man, I'd bet that you already know what I'm hoping your answer(s) will be, as I hate my job/career (no matter how successful its been), and dread Monday mornings starting around... oh.... Friday nights.
Thanks for any help you can provide, and thanks even if you can't. I'm going to scour this website and learn as much as everyone is willing to tell
Jack.
I didn't realize this "Career Changer" section was here, this is terrific.
I'm an older guy just starting out, and I'm fishing for information; hopefully someone here can help.
I'm interested in whether or not age is a disabling factor going against me starting a new career as a professional pilot, as I am planning on changing careers late in life.
Here's my bio and a bit of background so you can give me a good idea of whether or not my age would stand out alone as a determining factor, or whether my accomplishments would negate it.
I'm 44, and will be 45 on April 4th, 2008, and I'm interested in a career with the majors. Let me re-phrase that... I'm absolutely obsessed with changing my career and flying for a living, especially for a major airline... I can think of nothing else.
Its been my dream ever since being a kid (my family flew a lot), but I thought you could only do it through the military, or darn near perfect marks at school.
I'd be happy flying jets with a decent Regional (or turboprop (to start)), but I think (at this point in life, as everything always changes as your grow older), that the Majors is where I'd like to end up if possible.
I will be (re)starting my flight training on Jan 7th, 2008. I say restarting, because 9 years ago I started doing it, flying out of Thunderbird Aviation at Flying Cloud airport just west of Minneapolis. I bought and owned my own Beechcraft Muskateer with a lovely IFR package, and managed to accumulate exactly 50 hours before packing it in. I'd completed all my training, x-country included and was ready for the checkride :-(. I say I had 50 hours at this point not because it took me that long to get ready for the checkride, but because during my 2nd solo, I had a partial engine failure right after take-off. That shook me up pretty bad. After getting the aircraft repaired, my next flight saw me caught in a very bad windstorm, and it bounced me ALL over the bloody sky... that was pretty much it for me. After that, I flew with a case of the nerves each time I went up, and although I kept plugging away at it, my confidence didn't return as I didn't trust the aircraft at that point, and I eventually quit, but not before making a good attempt at overcoming the issue with more hours. My instructor though (John Walsh - who went to Masaba to fly Sabbs in, oh... 1998. I've since lost touch with him unfortunately) told me that he'd rather fly with me than the other instructors because I'd experienced an engine failure and stayed calm enough to land it (so now belonged to an "elite", "tested" club ;-) on my 2nd solo, while they had never had an engine failure, so he didn't know how they'd react... I knew what he was trying to do, but it didn't work unfortunately, and here I am 9 years later. HOWEVER... the bug never left me, and two years ago I was up in a 19 seat charter (twice) for work related purposes (excluding numerous trips on major airlines since my engine failure), and realized I was over my fear. At this point though, I figured I was too old to start again, and stalled on it (no pun intended
.So now, as I mentioned, I'm 44 going on 45 in 5 months. I am an IT professional with 15 years in the IT industry, as well as 6+ years in the Armed Forces (Canadian) in telecommunications. I am a Project Manager for IBM, and make over $100K/yr salary, not including bonuses. I also hold a 4 year Bachelors of Science Degree with Honors, as well as numerous IT industry certifications (to show my prospective airline employer I am capable of learning new things, as well as being eager). I mentioned the salary for no purpose other than highlighting my extreme desire to fly as a career, and what I'm willing to give up to get there (doesn't mean I'm happy about taking a pay cut that size after years of chasing the buck to get there though ;-)
I have done a lot of research and understand what the first year pilots are making, as well as the first few years of pay rates, and I am willing to give up my 6 figure salary to do this. (side note - why ARE pilots paid so poorly for such a mission critical task, loaded with such great responsibility?)
Although the salary drop will be darn near crippling (with 4 kids under 5 years old), we have about $350K worth of equity in our pocket from our home once we sell it, and no other debt. This will allow us to ride the wave (sort of) while I get established in the aviation industry (I expect). Am I being niave here?
I will be obtaining the ratings part-time, but expect to have my PPL and CPL completed by early summer '08, with CFI by late summer '08. At that point, I plan on building time as a CFI while obtaining my multi engine and IFR ratings. I "expect" to be ready with minimums, by Jan of '09, which would put me at 45 (going on 46 in April '09). That would give me 15 years of professional flying time ahead of me, or 20 years should they raise the retirement age to 65. My assumptions at this point in time are that that is plenty time to work my way back up to the pay levels I'm used to (even if I don't, but manage to come close, I'd rather earn less and be happy with what I'm doing, than earn a lot, but be miserable at what I'm doing). In preparation, I have also completed and just received my Cat 1 Medical certificate, so that piece is already taken care of.
If you say my age is a non-issue, I have one last question. Although I am Canadian, (presently live in Calgary, Alberta) I lived and worked right across America for 5 years (so far) in my IT career, as getting work visas was easy for me due to my Degree. Is it the same in the airline industry? Do US air carriers hire non-Americans, Canadians specifically? (I can provide proof of eligibility to work legally in the US).
Oh, one last thing, My wife and I are willing to relocate to just about anywhere in the US, because during our 5 years there, we came to love America, and want to move back anyway... if not with an aviation career, then again through IT. So with this piece of the pie, I'm trying to show any possible airline that I am flexible and willing to work with their needs.
Hopefully, these details of myself provide a big enough picture to let you determine whether or not I'd be denied simply because of my age, or whether my life experience and professional management experience in high-tech, as well as level of education and military experience would be considered strong intangible assets being brought to the table (besides the applicable ratings and minimum hours).
If I was a gambling man, I'd bet that you already know what I'm hoping your answer(s) will be, as I hate my job/career (no matter how successful its been), and dread Monday mornings starting around... oh.... Friday nights
. Thanks for any help you can provide, and thanks even if you can't. I'm going to scour this website and learn as much as everyone is willing to tell
Jack.
. But you create from the materials on hand, and now I know I'm good to go! :nana2:.
, but she is only 35 hehehe). So I'm all jazzed up now to get started flying again, and hope to finish the PPL, CPL and CFI by end of summer '08 (if the wife doesn't kill me for being an absentee husband to meet that goal :cwm27:. Have medical in hand, apparent future opportunities in regionals beaconing, and disposable income in hand 
! hahahaha - why do "they" call it "disposable" anyway? I for one like to "dispose" of my income by purchasing groceries, and gas for work, and clothes... etc... 
. But yes, I am thrilled. I remember being under the hood at night, and when I pulled the hood off, I was lined up to TnG at Mannassas, lit up all pretty like... I remember my TnG at Minneapolis International at night, followed by steep turns right over downtown Minneapolis, all lit up like Gold... I remember my 1st long distance cross country - sitting around 5500', flying over Lake Minnetonka, and seeing all the boats below, coke can sitting at my feet, and thinking to myself, "I wonder what the poor people are doing today"... meanwhile I was poor too, having put all my money into the Muskateer ! lol :buck: Yes, when the bug bites you, it NEVER leaves! ... thankfully 
and I actually do have one for you now....