Moto Rinzler let me guess, is it the highways agency you work for?
Barriers to an over forty year old male being employed as a minimum hours commercial pilot:
1. Your age.
It has to be said, you will be viewed as a training risk because of this. The training environment can be ruthless and very demanding. As unfair as it may sound, older candidates are deemed to be slower learners and unable to progress as quickly as their younger cohorts. You will want to excel in all facets of initial flight training. Modular training may be an issue as you will not have had your progress monitored. It is without doubt that airlines employing ab initios prefer the younger candidate.
2. CV.
When applying for jobs, your previous background from what I can see will include no aviation experience. Why now they may ask? Your experience will not be commensurate with age. Your CV/application is likely to languish whilst more favourable options are explored and filed above yours, A REALITY! I have personally watched this process with my own eyes, days if not weeks of work put in by a candidate to perfect an application that is passed over immediately because of any one particular thing. Just ask yourself, what is going to make my application stand out from all of the others? Unfortunately, your life experience won't make you stand out against 22 year old Tarquin with a first in biology and a 98% average in his ATPLs!
3. Flexibility.
Airlines will require a lot of it from a noob. You would need to prove this unequivocally at interview and make them believe it. It's all been seen before! Pilots that are based away from home can prove to be a thorn in the side for a company. Relevance to yourself being perhaps a regional operator with a number of bases, they will indeed try and recruit local candidates for this very reason. Married with children away from home will be discussed
post interview and could be significant.
The positives of employing 'older guys' in the right seat can be summed up in that they are less likely to move on. We all know that this is rubbish unless you land an A320 or 737 job on your doorstep (money will always be an issue), a medium jet skipper can earn £120k plus and you don't want any of that? What are the real positives if any because I can not think of one unless you come with previous experience. This is a harsh analysis I know but you rarely if ever bump into 40 year old first officers with just 200 hours in their back pocket. Sorry to use the word REALITY again but almost every brand new guy I fly with is under 35 years of age, the split being about 50/50 ab initio vs previous airline experience and almost no flying instructors interestingly enough. The oldies, +40 (sorry guys) tend to be ex turboprop skippers who have moved onto jets, some of whom have been waiting an age to unshackle themselves from their previous existence. Flying commercially is not a social activity, it is a high stress environment. I personally don't care for 'life experience'. I want the guy next to me to be a switched on cookie with a good dose of modesty thrown in. You mention being 'headstrong' and taking the lead, how would this apply on the flight deck? It's a fine balancing act.
Starting with a blank sheet would be a good idea, dump the preconceptions and a drink a pint of humility. When seasoned commercial pilots offer you real world advice about what it's like in THEIR industry you may want to take note as it's certainly no picnic starting out in this game. Sometimes you have to walk away and bite your tongue if you don't like what you hear, just like we do every six months after walking out of the simulator ;-)!
In this overtly PC world I feel obliged to say yes go for it, you can achieve your goal, you can achieve anything if you put your mind to it. Hypothetically, if it was me knowing what I know about this business I wouldn't do it. I would be building my children's future on the foundations that I have already laid, playing roulette with my families finances because I wanted finally to become a pilot would not be an option. But that's just me.
Last edited by shaun ryder; 5th Sep 2017 at 12:57.