35-37 years-old candidate
Hello everybody.
It would be a dream for me to become a plane pilot in Europe now that I could gather the money (my idea is to course integrated ATPL) and I have some important questions which are not so clear for me. I hope somebody can help me.
I am 35 years-old (which means that I would begin to look for a job being 37) and my height is 162 cm. Do you think this would be a handicap for European job calls? I know that I would be directly rejected by the Spanish airline Iberia because of my age, but I would like to know whether this is a rule or an exception.
I have checked the Internet, but I have not found the chance to get a job. For example, I know that Ryanair has hired around 800 pilots during the last year (if I am not wrong), but do you know approximately how many candidates there were? It would be very important for me to know against how many people I would have to fight.
In case I cannot get a job at an airline, would it be easy to get one out of airlines to gain hours? An example, cargo planes. It would be OK for me to go out of Europe for some years if needed, just temporarily.
The last question is: if I get a 737 type rating, do you think I would improve my chance? I heard that you can be hired in Asia if you have a type rating (as mentioned, it would be OK to get a job in Asia or anywhere else for a few years).
Thank you very much for your help.