Old Man Time
I've been watching (and occasionally posting on) this Prrune thing for some time now and the responses from apparently "knowledgable" people seem to vary considerably.
Someone will ask the question "am I too old at forty to start my ATPL" and the responses will be "no my friend did this and my friend did that and got a job" etc etc. Then in a different thread you see people saying "38 / 39 is the cut off age after that airlines won't employ you". I personally know of a guy who started commercial flying at 49 and ended up as a first officer on 737's, but that was sometime ago - have things changed ?
The same confusing answers come from the question "will I ever get a job". Some people say "forget it the industry won't be picking up for many years yet", the Ryanair site seem to be indicating they will be looking for hundreds of aircrew in the future years. Other people respond with "I can see the industry will pick up" etc etc
Are the people answering misinformed, negative, or simply trying to put others off (as has been suggested on a couple of the threads).
I know there is no right or wrong answer to these questions, but there must be a concensus of opinion one way the other.
So come on geezers what's your take on this - and if you do answer with something definite back it up with something more than "well that's what I think" if you can.
Might also be good to hear from some people who aren't necessarily doing the standard pasenger flying but are earning money perhaps from ferry flight, crop spraying, corporate work, aerial observation, cargo flying or anything really. I'd be interested to hear if their bit of the industry is picking up or slowing down etc.