Age - Too Old?

[sammartin]

A friend of mine who is 31 year's old has just got her PPL in Florida and is desperate to become an airline pilot. She is currently a teacher but her dream has always been to be an airline pilot.
Have any of you got any ideas for her, what options she has, etc, etc?

Any info. would be greatly appreciated. Especially on airlines who do sponsorship for that age range.

[Iain]

There are no airlines that I am aware of that sponsor for that age group. 31 is not too old to become an airline pilot; 49 is the max age to apply for BA, so it is certainly possible for her to become a airline pilot.

[Wedge]

Contrary to what is said above some sponsorships allow age up to 35. I'm not up to speed with which ones are current, or about to advertise, but bmi max age limit was 32 last time I checked, and KLM uk (the Cabair instructor s'ship) was 35.

[MaxAOB]

Tell her to get the hours, become an instructor, study while an instructor and then apply for a job when she has some hours. Whole thing can be done in a couple of years from PPL to @1000hrs. Too many people on this site seem to think that they only need 250hrs and the licence and hey presto here comes a widebody jet job. If you are self sponsored you can pretty much forget it. I instructed for 2 years, got over 1000hrs and have moved from a 172 to an A320 - lucky yes but that seems to be the ball park for most companies, some may also be very lucky but on average - instruct, turboprop, jet, command. It takes a long time to pay back over 50K, especially without a job. Life is pretty sketchy on instructors pay but it can be great fun at a good and busy school. Best of luck.