Just an outsider's viewpoint here, but...

OP: If you have a successful business, financial security, and a good home life - why would you want to jeopardise it all to join the current airline rat race?

I only say this because I had a mate who was a very successful plumber who loved skiing.
His ambition was to jack it in and go off to the mountains to be a professional ski instructor.
He did it. He regretted it. he spent all day paddling about in the slush taking beginner groups when what he should have done was what we all said in the first place, which was to work damn hard all summer and take the winter off, rent a flat in France and ski for fun!

You love flying. I don't blame you! How about keeping your current business and proceed on to aerobatics for a hobby, or become an instructor?

When you start doing something you love for a living that's when the fun can start to go out of it.

Good luck with whatever you choose to do though. :ok:

Not for me it hasn't. Or for any other pilot I know. I miss my job when I go on holiday - how sad is that? Yes, I know I've only been doing it a year and am still full of the joys of spring, but I fly regularly with a couple of skippers who started out when I was in nappies, and they still love it as well.

It gets under your skin, this game.

DB777
Very good friend of mine left IT at 42 and started flying today he has a good corporate job and loves it . He will never return to a 9 to 5 job good luck .

DB777,

Well done for starting a positive thread - I salute you.:ok:

Good luck to you mate. I'm pretty much in the same postion as you (have just passed my GFPT taking my first passenger up on Saturday!).

I think its a good idea to take the advice of some of the seasoned guys on here and take your time - 30(ish) isn't that old!

willisp

I can't believe this thread - it's so refreshing!!!!

I'm in a very similar position, 34, good job but not my passion, already have a PPL gained in south africa. I regularly pop into PPRUNE and read lots of negative stuff about the older wanabees and the current climate.

It makes me question what I'm doing but this thread has given me the reassurance that I am doing the right thing!!

I've just begaun distance learning with Bristol GS - my target is completion by Jan 2011. I think this is reasonable given the job situation and balancing full time work, commute, life, etc.

Also just had first flight in over a year with Aeros at Filton (can highly recommend them). Plan to fly 3 hours every month. By Jan 2011 will have the required 150 hours to start CPL, etc.

Also, this period will allow me to save about 3/4 of the money to complete the training.

I think with a positive attitude and commitment it certainly can be done (as many before have proved) and I think us older wanabees can offer other softer skills that perhaps the younger whipper snappers may not possess.

Good luck to you all

Llen

DB777,

It's not a bad idea going to sit the aptitude tests. Personally, I did not, but looks as of G-SXTY is providing sound advice on it. From a personal view, I think if you have a reasonable understanding of mathematics and physics at a GCSE level and are willing to work you ass off while doing the ground school and flying you will be fine. There are obviously some personality attributes required as well, which most people will have.

G-SXTY comments are so true, in the respect of getting to work, if you can call it that, printing off the journey log, and knowing you are flying with a sound Captain, it really is a day out flying with a £50 million pound toy to play with, in the most professional way of course. It still makes me laugh, when you are briefing and skipper says 'do you want to drive to Amsterdam, or bring it back?' :). It's great.

Anyway, I digress, once again all the best with it, enjoy your PPL.

...if I can train to fly as well as I can write a positive spread i'll be ok ;)

Ten West, good question; like Llen said, my current job/business is good but not my passion. From my early teens I was told i'd never fly because of a (once) bad astigmatism, 3yrs ago the caa changed the regs regarding refractive surgery. Long story short, I had it... i'm having the final surgery for that tomorrow infact!
Slowly, the motivation for what I do is being overtaken by the motivation to fly (in whatever capacity), now that I can pursue it I am feeling a new wave of excitement & energy has come over me which I haven't felt since I left college!

I don't know for certain yet if i'm going to want to follow this as a career, all I know is to keep learning until I feel content. i'm certainly ready for a career change.
By all accounts, some of the threads i've read on here really don't promote passion, and maybe i'm naive, but doing a walkaround @ 5am in a blizzard DOES actually sound appealing to me at the moment!

I like to believe the the sheer cost and time commitment of training to be a pilot filters out the individuals who pursue it for wrong or misguided reasons – who knows, I could be one of them.
I know, and people close to me know, that i need to give it a good shot – I've either got to feed or phase out this obsession!

willisp; The advice on here is golden. People can say want they want about the negativity, but at least posters are guaranteed some honest feedback from a broad range of individuals.
Not sure about other students on here, but being able to find an actual qualified or commercial pilot who wants to chat about it out of work hours is very difficult!

I've had some great feedback from this thread, and got the answer that, let's face it - I wanted! Thanks for everyones input. Good luck with your endeavors.

DB

DB777

I would say that your mature and well-balanced attitude to changing career and the pros and cons of commercial training is one of the keys to success. It will stand you in good stead.

I'm sure you don't need telling, but making it to the airline world can be an extremely tough game, and one at which many people fail - for all sorts of reasons. I wasn't born wanting to fly, and it was always a finely balanced decision whether to carry on with training or stick to the safe, boring comfort zone which I knew so well. Several times I came close to giving up, and I'm sure you'll face similar challenges as you progress - it's perfectly normal.

All I can say is that I'm so glad I followed my heart (with my head in sometimes reluctant agreement!) and stuck with it. With a lot of commitment and not a little luck, I landed a dream job. If the dice had rolled differently, it might not have happened and I could be just another out of work 200hr CPL, with no realistic prospect of a job for several years. Would my advice be the same then? Frankly I doubt it.

What I'm trying to get across is that the ability to stand back and look objectively at your situation is very important. To understand where you are, where you want to be, how you plan to get there, and what you will do if it all goes pear-shaped. I suspect you have that ability.

Best of luck.

P.S. The novelty of O'dark hundred walkrounds in the snow quickly wears off!

Having been through all the emotions, pros/cons and worrying about my age etc. for me it came down to the fact that if I did not start training towards being a commercial pilot I could guarantee that I wouldn't ever have a chance of becoming one.

If I do get my fATPL I will have a chance to become a commercial pilot however small that may be depending on the economic conditions at the time. The great thing about the GAPAN assessment day was that I was told by a real life training Captain that my chance could be better than I thought...

Thanks again to the actual commercial pliots on here that willingly give up their time to help us older wannabees - I really appreciate it:)

All the best to everyone.

Personally I think he's too old and with the state of thhe economy the way it is its going to be a looooooooooong time befor any jobs come along and also integrated is better than modular and training in Spain is better than UK or USA and don't even start unless you have Ray-ban aviators and a breitling 420c :O:D;)

Oh come on someone had to put a spanner in the works it was all far too positive for pprune ha ha

My take on the man's story is he needs to relax and enjoy (which he is) to see where it leads to, no point in looking down the road or thinking what might have being, and even if you don't make it soo what atleast you can boast that you hold a PPL/ATPL (whatever the case may be) license surely many a people whom you probably know would never dream of YET still achievable. I find myself in a similiar sort of position (27) and also set to take the plunge into flying and I am already in a good financial position, single, living at home, little or no bills, don't smoke or barely drink and can save guts of atleast 5K a year on my wage yet I still get negative thoughts because of the the way the industry is going and the fact I work in a factory which is never a lifetime job in most cases, I plan in taking a trial flight at the start of summer and I will know if its something I really want to do. But if you ask me you sound like your very enthusiastic about your flying at running a business and being a family man at the same time says alot for ambition. Best of luck

Well, I have a bonkers idea that I might have a second career in a RH seat of something (anything) once I've retired. I'm a police officer, so I'll have a jolly nice 2/3 final salary pension aged 52. I have a PPL and c150 hours at the moment. If I can still pass a Class 1 medical, I might just do the CPL/ME/IR & MCC and go for it. Plan B would be to instruct, and so if I didn't get a RH seat (because every company thought I was a grey haired old fart) then it wouldn't bother me, I'm sure I'd enjoy the experience of the courses and I'd still be perfectly happy.

Similar situation here. I am a cop, but after 10 years of security and decent pay I got my NPPL (fixed wing microlights) last September. I don't think I can hack another 20 years of frustration and disillusionment in the justice system.
I found true contentment flying for pleasure in my Thruster. Now, just having to save every spare penny in this recession to put towards the start of an PPL.

Anyone else been in the same situation?

Just remember that you MUST be professional enough to accept that your captain may well be quite a bit younger than you on the flight deck.

You are NOT too old, buddy!
I started with 20 my PPL, but stopped there. At 27 could finally 'continue', and did everything, incl. instructor, etc., even seaplane! Now I am a full ATP, and flying B737, and I am becoming 31 this year. Most of the time, nobody cares if you are around the 30s. A friend of mine, he got the same job as I do, and he is 42! And we are with our current 737 job since Sept. '08. And seriously, nobody ever gave us negative points because of our age. So, don't worry too much. Even if there will be some 'smart' guys/companies, saying you are too old, ... but life wise, correct decision making, etc., comes with maturity, something that most companies really want, you are better off then a 17 year old boy (And no offense against those young teens, ...)
And that is not my opinion, but what I have seen. Then, some companies just want some kids, to push them around.
And if you are F/O, and your Captain is 10 years younger, don't worry; he is a captain because he deserved it, because he knows his stuff, etc., forget the age thing.
Don't worry, you are at good age!

it sounds like you know at u are doing m8.
im 22 and have just started my ppl in the midlands, the weather being much better than in my native leeds. i was bord in my ales job and decided to do the ppl full time at my old mans so to keep costs low.
aim to go to oxford at end of year or early next, wanting a tatse of wat is to come by doing the ppl.
hoping by time im 25 to have complted the 18 month course and see what the market is like.
best of luck:ok: