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Thread: Am I too late?
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Old 13th Feb 2005, 10:24
  #12 (permalink)  
scroggs
 
Join Date: Dec 1997
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Whether you're too late or not depends entirely on your aspirations, your determination, your luck, and your capacity for work.

Most people here can only post of their own experiences - and any advice they give will be heavily influenced by those experiences and their remaining hopes. Thus those over-30s still in the training system want you to go for it whatever, because that's what they want to hear for thmselves; those who've succeeded in entering commercial aviation will sound a more cautious note - because they know how hard it really is - but will be generally encouraging; those who have completed training but have not found a job (but are still hopeful) will display a level of cynicism directly proportional to the time they've been job searching; and those who have given up (who knows how many?) won't be looking here and therefore won't post...

So what to do? Well, I'm sure you understand that the later you leave it the less likely it is that you'll get that A380 command. It may not be impossible, but it's less and less likely. So you must tailor your expectations to reality. You must then decide whether the realistic expectations can match your aspirations - and you need to be fairly precise about what these are, as the non-specific target 'to fly commercially' is too woolly to focus on as an ambition.

You will need the ability to keep an eye on your overall target while you are neck deep in the swamp of training and examination-chasing, and you will need to be flexible enough to alter your expectations as events unfold, both in the overall aviation market and in your personal life. Your chances of success are hugely influenced by the genuine support (or lack of it) of those around you. If you have a wife and family, and they don't support you 100%, your chances of either getting a flying career and/or making a long and happy marriage are seriously compromised. If it came to a choice, which would you rather give up - flying, or the family? This is not a trivial or fascetious question - plenty of pilots have lost their families along the way, myself included, because their single-minded pursuit of their ambition took priority. Is it worth it? Only you can say.

So, it can be done. There are no guarantees, and the costs, finacial and personal, can be huge. You could be a B744 pilot by 45 - or you could be divorced, broke and back in rented bedsits if it all goes against you. How much risk are you prepared to take?

Scroggs
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