Originally Posted by
73DT
Hello
Honest advice sought please.
1. Job opportunities - what (if any) job prospects might there be for a 50 year old pilot with a low hours CPL/IR? Where is the best place to look for such opportunities?
2. Training - would my employment prospects be strengthened by completing my training with one of the bigger flight training organisations?
3. Other ideas - are there any other interesting aviation career opportunities I could consider instead ? For example, I saw some advertisements recently for UAV pilots that appeared to be open to PPL holders, which sound interesting. As well as some flying experience I also had a successful 20 year career in business and I am also a qualified healthcare professional so perhaps there is a way to utilise this combined experience?
Any advice gratefully received, thank you.
Best wishes
73DT
Hi, like the question, this obviously isn’t a pipe dream!
1. Good, provided you are willing to potentially pay 30K for a type rating at somewhere like Ryanair. Jobs are available without but very competitive. £30K in the bank and a licence in hand today and you can be a Ryanair captain in five years on the right side of £100K
2. No No No No No!! I cannot stress this enough. The big schools are sausage factories which exist to maximise the revenue extraction from every student. You get the same bit of paper at the end but will pay £100K rather than £60K for the privilege. Expect to be treated like a 15 year old, seriously. I was a mere uni grad and it was a shock to me, you’ll be taken aback by how you’re treated. Have a look at how some of them handled their students over covid, disgusting. Go Modular, use the saved money for a type rating.
3. Meh, honestly it’s probably just little jobs to use PPL holders. They know they’ll work for nothing to get ‘drone pilot’ on their CV. You’re getting a licence, you want to be an airline captain, presumably, I wouldn’t mess about with that sort of thing (you wanted honesty)!
Age wise won’t be an issue in Europe, you’ll be a breath of fresh air to your instructors if anything.
Get your class 1 ASAP. If you get that in hand then look at options, here can help a lot.
Good luck with it! You’ll get a solid 12/13 years from it if you keep going until 65, and there is absolutely a real chance of being a captain for a good number of those years.