You might consider setting your sights, and budget a little lower. Your odds of getting good work until well past 60 as an instructor for example are probably far better than your odds of getting an airline front seat - the money aint as good, but the costs of training are far less also.
Of course, as an instructor with a CPL or frozen ATPL, there's nothing to stop you looking around if the jobs market perks up a bit, or sloping off to the back of beyond and doing some interesting if not-all-that-well-paid bush flying or what have you.
From what I've seen (and I freely admit to not being an airline bod) the lifestyle (in terms of what you do in the cockpit and your ability to sleep in your own bed at nights) of a professional little aeroplane pilot is far better than that of an airline pilot, it's just that the money is far far less.
Of-course, I post as a completely biased little aeroplane fan with little or no personal interest in big ones.
P
Last edited by Pilotage; 2nd May 2003 at 04:54.