A Career in aviation....
 

As a relative necomer to these hallowed halls I'd welcome learned advice please.....

Its looking increasingly likely that I will be presented with a 'career opportunity' early next year where my options may be to either seek to continue my telecommunications career elsewhere, or to take the money and run in a possibly totally different direction! One of the later ideas which I'm increasingly giving thought to is to use this as an opportunity to jump into flying as a career but I'd appreciate honest advice as to how viable you think this is.

I turned 37 years of age in August and I currently have only a Silver C and a Glider Pilots Licence plus about 250 - 300 hours to my name. I was hoping to start an NPPL course (either SEP or TMG) early next year anyway but now I'm wondering whether to set my goals higher.

It's possible that with all my redundancy and all all my savings plus some donations from friends and family I may just be able to scrape together enough for an ATPL course in the states but I will have nothing to live on and its one hell of a gamble!

Alternatively the safer option is to take a couple of months out early next year and go for an NPPL / JAR PPL either in the UK or USA with the intention of building this up to a CPL. Realistically, how employable will this make me?

I've heard horror stories recently about guys having to finance their own type ratings and line training etc. so I'm realistic enough not to expect a basic licence to land me a prestigious job, but what is the market really like out there? Do you think I could expect to go from a relative ab-initio (as far as power flying is concerned) to some form of paying aviation job within say 6 months?

Any advice / guidance or horror stories gratefully received!

Cheers!

FA,

May be worth doing a search on this one, it has been discussed before.

Personally I don't have any first hand experience, however, I think it depends largely on your circumstances, financial, family etc. I have heard of people being successful in their late thirties and even early forties, so it can be done.

Good luck.

Yes. Age wise I too have heard of people getting a 'leg-over' (so to speak). The 6 months thing is a trifle optimistic though!

Don't go for the NPPL. It is not ICAO compliant, and as such will not allow you to do the JAA ground exams. You must do a full JAA PPL, or any other ICAO-compliant PPL.