Originally Posted by
Unusual Attitude
This is actually a very interesting thread as I'm in exactly that position. 48 currently and after having spent 30 years behind a desk building a very successful business I'm feeling its now time to go fly for a living before its too late.
Not exactly starting from scratch though, gained my PPL at 20, CPL at 30 and fortunate to now have about 1100hrs, with150hrs multi / IFR time gained flying my light twin for business trips and pleasure so plenty of real world experience flying up and down the country single pilot IFR in a 6 lever twin (think one armed paper hangar!). By the time I negotiate my company exit, redo my ATPLS (long expired) plus all the other bits MCC / UPRT etc I'm likely to be very close to 50. I've made my money now thought so would be more than happy seeing out my days flying a Turboprop around north of the border with a bit of instructing on the side.
Yes I'm old and crusty but wondering if my real world IFR twin flying and a bunch of hours might make my CV stand out a bit Vs a freshly minted CPL holder with 300hrs or whether, as has been mentioned previously, most airlines would much prefer someone they can mould from scratch and my experience is actually more of a hindrance?
Regards
UA
You are not starting from scratch, but slightly late, so that is better then many others of course, all depends for what jobs.
I don't know the current TP market, but I do understand that it is very hard to get a Jet job from TP, as many airlines unfortunately no longer appreciate this experience.
So have realistic expectations of where and how far you might go.
If I was you, I would take my ratings required and start applying, while still keeping my business running. You might get lucky, also most TP companies are not taking their pilots from the "sausage factories"
I am slightly more positive since you already have that amount of hours, but expect that you might get stuck in TP for most or all of your career. So there is limited returns on your investment, but if this does not matter then why not give it a go.
The problem with the "sausage factories", is that most there are already guaranteed a job with an operator as part of their selection process. Unless we see a sudden shortage of flight crew, I don't think there will be many from outside this.
BA, Virgin, Easy, Wizz and Jet2 have recruiting a lot, but all for people with hours and TR / experience. Ryanair are definitely slightly "ageist" based on personal experience.
But if you are happy with TP and instructing, I do think you would have a fair chance at this stage.