Opportunities beyond CPL
 

Hi,
I'm just about to embark on my PPL at the grand old age of 36 with the intention of going on to CPL and have found lots of good information on this site already.
Does anyone know where I can find any further information on other aspects of making a living as a professional pilot? Specifically things like banner towing, surveying, aerial photography, dropping skydivers etc.
Since the wages of flight instructors are relatively low, does anyone have any experience of buying an aircraft and starting out on their own?
Thanks in advance.

I've seen a post in this forum saying that a friend of this guy got his first pilot job at the age of 40! That's all I can say about this topic!

Thanks for the encouragement.
Out of interest, what job did your friend get and what was his experience level?

He's no friend of mine. I read it somewhere on this forum a few days ago - can't remember where exactly, that this guy did it modular, and got the first job at 40. No flying experiences. However, as you may reckon, the chances of getting a first pilot job decrease with increase in age... but there's no harm in trying if you've got the money.

http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?t=237447

This thread may help.

Cheers

36 years old?

I am 38 and I don t find anything even with turbine experience...and my wallet is empty.

good luck anyway..

Banner towing etc and 'making a living' are mutually exclusive expressions! Try instructing after you have invested your 60K for training and after about 18months you will have enough hours to go to ME/IR training and make a fairly poor living! :ok:

So the question is ...
is there just no work for pilots and aircraft to do?
or is the available work not sufficient for all the qualified pilots?

If there's lots of work, wouldn't it be better to get a CPL (and maybe FI), and then spend the extra £30K setting up on your own rather than going the ATPL route. Okay, it's not the airlines, but you'd be working for yourself doing something you loved?

Of course, if even the schools and banner-towers themselves are struggling ....