age vs type rating - put in perspective!

[bubble0seven]

Right, I am on the cusp of calling off thise pipe dream, in favour of just enjoying flying on a personal level, I have been through post after post on here for a while now and am sure that I have a pretty good idea of what the coup is.

Age :

At the ripe old age of 31 - I would be 33 when I got my fATPL and only £7000 in debt ( including FI )....

I guess that a profitable job that would offer any sort of quality of life and relative security woud take 5 - 10 years. I have no real preconseption that an airline job is what I deserve or is my right. I am more interested in flying, but to be fair for a reasonable life - relative to todays money - you need at least £40,000 per year. Its about money not kudos for me. Plus lets face it if I am lucky i'll be 38... not an age to be dodging un autherised overdrafts...

Thats could be it for me, but hey, sod the ethics if I want to do it as badly as I think i do there is the TR..morrals aside my circumstances dictate that I would need to "buy" job...a TR and line hours and then eagle jet it for a further 500 hours on type.... another £50k of my money I guess....sod the economics, its never been about money for me as i earn pretty good now....I am not sure but I can guess that with TR etc I am pretty well psoitioned to get the interviews.

Currently I work all over the world, spend my life away from home and am directly responcible for peoples lives day in day out..... the most part boring and the odd moment of sheer terror, when I have to man up and be the calm in the storm.... not so disimilar to a professional pilot?

I guess in essence, I would like someone to answer the following:

fATPL at 33 with FI ( may i remind you £40-70k down!) likley timescale to reasonalby paid job...

Likley resonably paid job with fATPL TR and 500-700 line hours ( paid for )

My last thoughts are I appreciate buying a job is stupid, the arguments against are valid and i agree.... but in the cold light of day my circumstances are my own and I canonly work to them.

Thanks for your time,

B

[MIKECR]

You do not need to 'buy' a job. If it is a 'jet' job then you may have to pay for your TR. If you are prepared to look at other options ie Turboprops, Air Charter and Biz Props/Jets then you dont need to buy your way into them. 500 - 1000 hours instructing will open many doors. 2 years as a TP FO and you will be promoted to left hand seat. You will be earning at least 45k a year. Dont be blinkered and assume the only way into aviation is through some sort of "pay millions of pounds" and buy your way into easyjet or Thomas Cook or whoever. There are those who are utterly desperate and seem to have a very blinkered view on the job front. There are other options out there!!

The other point however is - you've got to be mad to spend money on pilot training for the forseeable future. The industry is going into decline.

[BerksFlyer]

Agree completely with MIKECR.

You simply don't have to buy a job, I don't know where this whole thing started but you tend to find that people who pay for a job are so blinkered to jets that you wonder why on earth they want to pilots. Motives have to come into question if a jet is all you want.

Why not slowly train, do an FIC and instruct on the weekend. If you then want to take the jump you can start to ramp up the flying and go for it - but only when the time is right.

[bubble0seven]

MIKECR & Berksflyer : Thanks, really appreciate your thoughts...

Your right the buying your way in went against what i deem to be right, but I had to be a realist...

A TP job for me woudl be more than perfect! Given that could also realisticly be achieved quite quickly...ish.

I feared spening 10 years scraping around only to be told i'm to old by an airline whilst negecting my current career, in fact I have no real desire to fly jets, just to be able to pay the bills and lookforward to going to work is what i'll pay my modular money for...

[MIKECR]

Your not too old, your the same age as me. I've just done the major career change too and I dont class myself as being remotely old. I still have in excess of 30 years flying ahead of me. I finished my training last year, modular(cost me only 30k) and i now have 2 jobs lined up. Im just waiting on the start date, and both are bonded TR's. One, unbelievably, is my deam job.

There are people out there spending 3 times, if not 4, what i have spent. Its utter madness, and they still dont have a job. Theyre just going from 1 'buy' a "scheme" ' to the next.

Be sensible, train cost effectively and dont just enter into the idea of you have to throw money at it. It is perfectly avchievable in other ways.

[G SXTY]

My head hurts from banging it on the wall - no you are not too old. This question gets asked so often I'm thinking of making up a template to save typing out the same answer every time. Or we could ask the mods to put a banner across the top of the forum. Or I could start a premium rate advice line . . .

I know many, many people who started flying commercially in their thirties - I'm one of them. MIKECR is spot on again, and it's quite possible to go from a 200hr wet-ink CPL holder to command of a regional turboprop (circa £50k) within 3 years. A few companies are still recruiting, but there is no question that the industry is entering a downturn which will drastically reduce the number of jobs out there for the next few years. That said, if you pace yourself, train part-time while keeping your day job, you could be well placed for the next upturn in two or three years time.

And don't worry, you won't be too old then either.
;)

[Adios]

I won't beat the "No you are not too old drum again." I'll simply say that with the exception of those who buy 100 hours or so of line training, there is no such thing as buying a job. You buy training. There are many different products and many different prices. You don't have to buy the most expensive to succeed, not even if you are a bit older. You probably shouldn't buy the least expensive unless you are prepared to grin and bear it when you find out why it is least expensive. You may have to buy a type rating, but only do it if there is a job attached. You may get into the RHS without having to fund a type rating.

The truly foolish thing you could do is to plan for an fATPL with no way to fund a TR at the end or no way to stay current and renew ratings while having an extended search for a job where the employer pays for the TR. The advantage for someone your age is that you probably have the means to train with less debt than a 20 year old uses and you probably have the means to maintain currency for a few years if need be instead of buying a type rating.

Finally, since an FI rating is less expensive than a TR, you could go the FI route and get paid to stay current, while building experience that can set you apart. You might even find that you like instructing and discover as many others have that it is a satisfying career, even though not remunerated quite as well as airline jobs. I might add, not remunerated well at all the first few years.