need a lucky break

[Bealzebub]

I think you have really answered your own question.

"At a push I could maybe cover half that cost, but only if there was 99% chance of making a living out of it in the long run."

There isn't, or anything like it. So if that is an accurate appraisal then best you forget it.


"The bottom line is, I really want to fly. I could finance my way through my PPL, but I could not justify doing so unless I knew I could go further and make a career out of it, and turn the cost into an investment."

Many people do have an ambition to fly. However very few go on to do it commercially. Given the relatively low cost of a PPL compared to a professional licence achieving the former is not a great financial risk for many people. In any event it allows you to achieve your goal of flying. If you can only "justify" it by incorporating it into an investment in a further career then it is rather like saying I can only afford to gamble if I win the jackpot. My advice would be don't do it under those constraints.

I don't think your age is prohibitive although it obviously gets more difficult when you are competing with younger aspiring applicants. As others will tell you sponsorships are few and far between, even then most will only provide a partial assistance towards the licences.

In reality there is a high degree of financial risk with embarking on a career in civil aviation. You only have to search through these threads to become rapidly aware of that fact. The costs of obtaining a licence are very much ball park costs as the real (often very much higher) costs depend on an enormous variety of things. This is a career with many expensive requirements. These include obtaining expensive licences and ratings. Maintaining those licences and ratings. Strict medical criteria. Maintaining those medical criteria.

Most people who do obtain their professional licence and having struggled to obtain their qualifications do not then walk into the right hand seat of a well paid airline job. The reality of the marketplace then becomes critically apparant. For a few luck will be on their side. For a few more, less desirable jobs will open up. For many it is a case of taking any job ( flying or not and often not), to keep the wolves from the door. A few having obtained the qualifications will be unable to maintain the licences or medicals and will be unable to advance further. Many people will be saddled with debt from their training and will have to deal with this burden whatever the outcome. I would reiterate that a few are fortunate and many work long and hard to get a foothold into this industry. Most pilots would tell you that this is not the career it once was. Salaries and other terms and conditions have been steadily eroded as the industry has evolved in recent years. The glamour and kudos that might have been associated with an airline pilots job 30 years ago or even more recently is certainly heavily tarnished in most of todays industry.

This is an industry that still attracts many candidates, and many do complete the difficult requirements often through financial risk and sacrifice. The younger you are the easier it is to absorb the risks and the less existing commitments you are likely to have. On the other hand the older you are ( within reason) the better placed financially you are likely to be. The more maturity you are likely to posess and the better your assesment of risk is likely to be. Nevertheless the odds are always going to be time weighted towards the younger applicant.

Only you can decide what is sensible and right for you, but be under no illusion, there are major costs and risks involved. The only thing that is guaranteed is that there are absolutely no guarantees !