Advice for 37 year old looking to get into flying.
For 15 years I was working for a large manufacturing firm working my way up from the shop floor to a decent managerial position. Ended up getting made redundant in 2020. Changed jobs for about a year but found them all a bit rubbish and the people around me terrible. I looked for a quick way out and ended up retraining and doing my HGV Licence and have been doing Class 1 lorries for the best part of 3 years now. I love the job compared to my old site based roll. Job satisfaction, travelling all over the country, the journey and everything is fantastic. The Hours do not bother me either as I have been used to that all my life. The only thing is the pay which just isn't good enough for what responsibility you have and the future looks the same. I am not really grumbling as I have a very good life and I am in a fortunate position compared to most in this country but after my redundancy it has opened my eyes a little to possibilities. I guess it is very easy to get into a rut with life as it was in my old job instead of pushing forward.
I have done a couple of flight experiences over the years and was a bit of flight simulator fan in my 20's and absolutely loved it but never thought I would ever be able to do it due to cost. I have a general love for engineering, absolutely love my cars and have a very mechanical mind and skillset. I self taught myself to do pretty much everything from welding to stripping and rebuilding engines. I would say I am a very good learner and pick things up quickly. Out of the 100+ drivers at my workplace I am consistently in the top 10 with the KPI's they measure us by. I am also very safety cautious and rule regulated person (My father was a career solider of 22 years) so I think I would fit into the pilots workplace.
Academically I was quite good at school getting 10 GCSE's A-C with A in Maths and Science. I did AS level in Maths and BTEC Diploma in computer programming. Unfortunately my father got cancer and died when I was 20 and it turned my life upside down a bit. I had a child at 21 with my now wife and was just looking for a job to provide for my family. I have worked hard throughout that time to get to this point where I am looking at still working for the next 30+ years and what I want to do with that.
I started browsing about flying and what is needed. I always new it was going to be expensive but there seems to be a lot of different ways to get on the ladder which seems a little confusing.
Financially it is not a problem for me. I have been very lucky with investments and buying my house directly after the financial crash. I have about 50k of capital in cars that I could sell and my mortgage is basically finished so could easily get another 100k on top of that. I can also do add hoc HGV driving all around the country on my days off if needed. That being said I would rather get the most thorough learning that will most likely land me a job at the end rather than the cheapest option out there. I am also under no illusion that this will be long and I will most likely be 50 before I even get the possibility of captain.
I have both UK and Polish passports and my wife is Lithuanian with right to live in the UK so we are pretty fluid in that respect although I would rather train in the UK. I also have a camper van and am totally used to living in a truck so I am quite flexible on being able to travel the country for training although i currently reside in Lincolnshire (About 10 minutes from RAF Coningsby).
I was initially looking at generation CAE MPL easyJet but it seems a couple of posts on here say it is not very good and doesn't live up to its promises?
It seems during March/April a lot of the big carriers start their recruiting is this worth waiting for or am I looking at a impossible lottery with that one?
Am I too old and should just forget it?