My advice is don't scratch the itch. The odds of securing a decent paying airline job are massively against you. Save your money and enjoy flying on the weekends. You can even build yourself something and get a whole lot of enjoyment out of it. Plus you will be off each weekend and won't miss any important family events.

Thank you
 

Thank you all for your opinions... a lot for me to think about. I wish I could say no, logic says no, but my heart keeps saying yes.

Thanks
 

Cheers my friend. Sound advice. My only problem is that my heart sometimes overrules my brain... but you're 100 per cent right. I need to think!

How do you know if he will be off every weekend?

The rest I agree with. Little to no chance unfortunately. There are no decent contracts, flexi rubbish if you are lucky and you are just a whore to the industry then. Too old for Ryanair so its a turboprop with no chance to jet progression in todays market. If you do manage it you will be extremely fortunate and will be paid a paltry salary until you retire. Integrated will increase your chance by a small factor (hate to say it but true). Old FO's tend to get the hump sitting in the right seat for the rest of their careers. Buy a fast car instead.

how old is too old?
 

hi...

i am about to finish my ME-IR next month, and i have approx. 200 hours and of course CPL.

i am 28, and i have spent about 4 years in the special forces, and that is the reason that i started my flight training a little later than the rest of the guys in my school.

i know that this is a subjective question, but how old is too old?

i can see that some airlines have a max age which is 35 or 45 for FO, but i imagine that it gets harder with age to get into a company.

best regards.

I was 32 when I got my Comm, never held me back, I have not been unemployed for more than a month since that time (13 yrs). But then I went corporate and not airlines. Personal choice.

It really comes down to money. You can afford to do the training.

Can you afford to train without income for 2 years?

Are you prepared to work for ~£25k/year for a number of years? Lots of people say absolutely when they're at their nice but boring 9-5 job looking out the window, but the reality is when you're getting up at 4am for the 5th day on the trot knowing you've got tough, wintry wx ahead of you, it's a very different story.

Completely understand the heart over head point - it's the only reason anyone would embark on this career today.

Book yourself 4 sector flights a day for a week on EZY or something and see how the novelty wears off by day 5.

You will probably be unemployed for a very long time (over 2 years). This is an honest view and not sugar coated.

I would say go for it, market is not as bad as guys on here make it out to be! you could qualify as a CPL in less than a year, take a line training programe with TR and fly a medium transport category jet. that the way most modern day CPL are going if funds are sufficent.

there is a hiring boom comming next spring, so get going with it now so as to not miss out. :ok:

Don't know your personal circumstances re family etc ..you might consider

1 Do a class1 medical
2 Distance learning for the written exams
3 Do the flying bits
4 Don't give up the day job (this is the hard bit)
5 Find a flying job

Who knows what the employment market will be like in 1 or 2 years but if you have a fatpl you can at least apply for jobs.You may end up having to pay for a type rating,with no guarantee of employment.

As far as i know we only get one life ,if you want something just go for it!

Best of luck.

Not entirely clear from yr first post whether you currently fly yourself, or enjoy flying as pax. Suggest you do some GA to see if you A. enjoy moving planes around the sky and B. have any aptitude for it.

Should you consider aviation as a career, do nothing until you have a Class 1 medical and then read all the threads about lifestyle, Ts & Cs, careers and then think again. And again ..... And then consider the financial implications and the number of unemployed pilots.

Whatever you decide - good luck with it.

Commercial airlines in Australia and Asia: how old is too old?
 

Greetings.

First of all, I have not used this forum for more than four years, so I apologise in advance if I've committed a terrible sin like posting this thread in the wrong place.

I'm interested in hearing from anybody in the airline world who commenced professional pilot training between the ages of 30 and 35, and can tell me whether being over 30 puts one at a disadvantage in terms of securing decent jobs.

I'm almost 32 years old, have done about 14 hours of flying lessons in light aircraft and am completing a Law degree in about four months. I never did serious commercial pilot training in my 20s due to financial constraints, but for over ten years now it has been a persistent dream of mine to be a commercial airline pilot. Despite working for a number of years in a Government Department I loathe this world and want to leave to chase the dream.

I want to commence a CPL course during the next few months, however certain people over the years have tried to discourage me by telling me I'm too old to ever make it to a major airline. They tell me it's a waste of time, but I'm not convinced.

Is there anyone out there who has achieved success in their aviation career after starting serious training in their 30s?

What you need to ask is will an airline take a pilot with low hours commensurate with age in Australia and it's environs.

Best ask the respective airlines for their hiring trends. I doubt you'll get something specific re age as there's laws against it... But in reality, they won't tell you if it's an age v hours thing.

Why does it have to be a MAJOR airline? Not interested in regionals, RFDS, GA-flying, corporate? QANTAS is shrinking, I've been told. Everybody else is doing the opposite.

Got going that I was 29 and by all means I am not even closer to the ideal (?) experience/age-ratio, although I am not a 250-hrs guy.

Good luck, anyway

C1Melbourne
 

I flew with a Captain today who started his commercial training Integrated at 30 and went out into the right hand seat at 33. He got his command 2 months ago aged 38. This is on a Boeing 737-800 in Europe.

He started out with a plan and things worked out nicely. I have an iron in the fire elsewhere at the moment but if it doesn't come off, I'm hoping to have a shot at a potential upgrade at the end of the year. If it works out it will be from starting flight school(modular) to skipper just short of 7 years. I will be just shy of 31. Unfortunately I would envisage quick upgrades like this to come to a very abrupt halt in the not too distant future where I am.

It can work out quite nicely for some, but for others it can be a living nightmare both financially and emotionally.

If you are going to do it you MUST have a plan before you start out. I would imagine it being very difficult to get onto a Jet let alone any sort of major airline in Australia unless you have lots of hours. I have met a few Australians who have come over this neck of the woods to try and forge a career and it worked out, but as always with this profession there are stumbling blocks and inevitably casualties.

I wish you all the luck in this world if you decide to give the career change a shot.

Still time?
 

Hello.

Haven’t posted for a while, so pls bear with me.

Back between 1996 and 2006 I learned to fly. Didn’t have much money, or much time, so I’d go flying maybe once a month or so. Wanted desperately for it to be the start of a career in flying – PPL, then ATPL, then job – and I got as far as my QXL and five of the written exams but then in 2006, for a number of reasons, I stopped. Life got in the way. I didn’t get my licence.

As often happens, though, life has a habit of changing and now some 7 years later I have the chance to finish what I started. But now of course I’m a little bit older; I’m going to be 40 years old this year. Let’s assume that I get my PPL this year or perhaps next, and then rush headlong into commercial training. Let’s assume I’m in a position, say within the next 3 or 4 or 5 years, to start looking for a job as a commercial pilot.

Have I left it too late?

All thoughts, good or bad, gratefully received.

In the current climate anyone who leaves their job to become a pilot is utterly too late, no matter how old they are.

Here

As above, anyone trying to get in now, regardless of age, experience, or wealth, is on a path to financial ruin. It's just not worth the investment even if you do succeed, never mind the risk if you don't!

It can be done
 

If it's of any comfort, I'm in my 40s and I'm planning to leave a very well paid job in journalism to train as a pilot.

I've had to leave it this late because of problems regarding my vision and the Class 1 medical.

With me it's been a lifelong ambition but it all depends on your personal circumstances. If you can afford to take the (calculated) risk I would personally go for it. Once you're in your 50s I think it will be too late.

But you do need to think about it carefully -- have backup plans etc etc. For example, would you go and live in China or the ME if that's the only place you could get an FO job?

TizerTheAppetizer: I don't know about the other airlines in Asia and ME, but in mine in China basically 90% of the experienced ("foreigner") captains don't pass either the screening, either the CAAC sim check, either the medical. And that was for the pilots already "experienced captains".

That's not only a matter of "will you go and live in China", but a matter of "would they hire me" aswell: don't have the illusion this is automatic and only depends on you.