My 2p worth
Ok, so to give my honest but yet very humble opinion on this one...Here is my story.
I had a very good paying job and a career which was on track for my age at the time. I was 37 had a PPL and was doing a lot of aerobatics. After asking the, "am I too old to do a commercial license or will I possibly get a job in an airline" about a million times and getting pretty much the same advice as above I decided to take the plunge and go for it! I sold property, cars and pretty much everything I owned and immersed myself in my studies and flying. Here's what I have discovered since completing my fATPL in 2008...
Finding it near impossible to find a job I went and completed an instructors rating (adding another 5 grand to an already massive mountain of debt) and after getting in the car and driving to just about every flying school within a 20 mile radius of my house I managed to get a job and to be honest it was some of the best and most rewarding flying I did. From here on in things didn't go so well. It has undoubtedly been the hardest 8 years of my life. I have had countless contracts (in business aviation) that have never been honoured (eventually getting a bizz jet job) I have now discovered an industry that will quickly take 20 something year old cadets fresh out of CTC or OAA before they even so much as give an experienced pilot a look in. Besides my wife leaving me, living in backyards and eating out of tins to survive I have come across and industry that is rife with extreme nepotism, ageism and sexism. I have even flown with Captains that make you feel inadequate because of your age! That said I now have well over 2600 hours of which 1300 hours are on jets and "hey" guess what I still can't even so much as get an interview with an airline! In fact with the aviation industry being as fickle as it is I now find myself with no job at all and as so much time has passed I can't even go back to my old career..
So, I guess the million dollar question "if I had the choice again, would I go for it?" to which I would without a moments hesitation say, "absolutely not" If you have a good job and over 35 years of age think long and hard before committing to the world of aviation.
Now, this being "pprune" and the fact that I am now probably going to get a complete onslaught of negative comments I would like to put forward a massive disclaimer!
These are my views borne completely out of my own first hand experiences. I know everyone is not me and that some of you have had a very positive outcome (all 3% of you) I just wish I had someone like me to talk to before I jumped into the most difficult thing I have ever had to endure. I do love flying and when I am doing it there is nothing quite like it. For me it was just too much of an ordeal to get anywhere and if I can help anyone make up their minds in a constructive and logical way I will be more than happy to give you the facts and let you decide for yourselves
Last edited by SlingsbyT67M; 16th Aug 2014 at 18:30.