Age Limits

[Fanstop]

Having 100hrs PPL, I am interested in flying for alivinnng. I have heard that it is unlikely that any airline will be recruiting for at least 3 yrs. I am 24 now, and would be 27/28 when they start again. Is this to old? Can anyone give me a headsup on age limits. <img src="rolleyes.gif" border="0">

[thedove]

in the past 6 months that i have been looking into this I have met folks kicking off their careers who are in their 40's wife and kids in tow - and my hat goes off to them, brave men indeed. I think that for a solid career (and this is only my humble opinion) you need 20 years - 10 in the lhs and 10 in the rhs, so kicking off at 35 your looking for a solid career. most airlines will retire you at 55 - however, you can push it to 60 with others. You have nothing to be concerned about!

[ILS27R]

Fanstop,

Are you taking the p***? Prior to 11/9 there were guys in there 40's getting their first breaks in commercial aviation.

So Fanstop what age do you think is ideal to start in aviation? Age 10 perhaps?

[gordonburns]

Speaking of which, who knows the age of the youngest ever person to fly a plane?

just wondered, thats all

[Lucifer]

You may still qualify for some of the sponsorships in 3 years time, and with lcuk if you siomply keep the PPL ticking over by doing the necessary hours, this will not be seen as unnecessary training, precluding you from sponsorship. There is no too old (unless you are into your fifties for commercial flying), and there have been people at a few weeks past 16 to obtain their PPL: in fact there are probably a great number due to how keen many are. Flying as a lesson prior to 16 does not in my mind make you a pilot, and that girl who was killed travelling across the US simply had irresponsible parents. However I digress...

[Sagey]

Probably too old for BA, have to be under 27 the last time it ran.

Some are 28, some are 31.

It all depends really!!, I also wonder whether Sept 11 has put some of the younger generations off ie the 11,12,13 year old now who previously had wanted to be pilots. Time will tell I guess.

Sagey

[Mattuk]

Any suggestions for a wannabe pilot aged 16?

[Lucifer]

Join an Air Training Corps, go for a Air League or GAPAN PPL sponsorship scheme or RAF sixth form scholarship in whatever form it is now without the flying. Try working at an airfield, get good A-Levels, go to university doing an academic, braod subject and join a University Air Squadron. Take a look at the RAF, join or don't join, then graduate and look for sponsorships.

[greengage22]

Good sense, Lucifer. Couldn't do better myself - (and that's praise!!!)

[Mattuk]

Thank you, I have about 10.0 dual hours in a PA28-161.

[Captain Numpty]

I know an F/O with Ryanair who started his flying career (at the PPL stage) at the age of 38. Suffice to say, within three 3 years, he "landed" his first commercial job at the age of 41....So it goes to show that you are not necessarily ready for the "Donkey Sanctuary" by the time you hit the big 40!

Good luck

C.N. <img src="tongue.gif" border="0">

[ 22 February 2002: Message edited by: Captain Numpty ]</p>

[scroggs]

The only absolute age limit is that you may not command a commercial passenger aircraft in UK above the age of 60, so you have a while yet! This forum has many contributors well into their later 30s and plenty over 40, so you're far from unique.. .Unfortunately, as you said, it's a bloody difficult time to be considering flying as a career. A purely objective view would be to say 'forget it, put on the list of thing I'd like to have done', and get on with the rest of your life. As we all here well know, it isn't that simple! A desire to fly is fairly immune to objective logic.. .So, don't rush into spending lots of money just yet, and hope for a strong airline recovery in the next couple of years. And keep contact with your old career - you never know when you might need it!

[GearUp CheerUp]

Scroggs,

"The only absolute age limit is that you may not command a commercial passenger aircraft in UK above the age of 60"

Better not tell that to any of the over 60 captains I know who are flying then.

The French (typically) have a rule that prohibits Captains (or pilots?) over the age of 60 operating in French airspace but they are the only European country to do so.

[Whirlybird]

Way back when I was a newish PPL, and getting jump seat rides was still possible (ah, those were the days <img src="smile.gif" border="0"> ) I was asked by the captain if I was going commercial. I said that if I was younger I might have considered it, but that I was over 40 already. He laughed and told me about someone in his airline who got his first commercial flying job at the age of 54, and was 60 and still flying. And there's a PPRuNer I know of who's out in darkest Africa somewhere on his first flying job right now, and he's in his late forties.

I guess us oldies can't get too fussy, but if all you want to do is fly something for a living and not necessarily end up as a BA captain who doesn't know what to do with his massive salary, there seems to be not that much in the way of age restrictions.

Though I might change my mind about that if I qualify as a heli instructor and still can't find someone to employ me. I might blame ageism, or sexism, or anything else I can think of. :)