Would you train as a commercial pilot at 46?

[rocketlaunch 614]

Pretty much as the title says, if you had the money at what age would you rule out possibly becoming a commercial pilot assuming you are starting from scratch? 

[tamsini 278]

If money was not an issue, I certainly would - up to retirement age, I suppose. If I had to make ends meet and had to support a family, whole different ballgame (100K is a lot of money) so no go at anything over 30-35. IMHO.

[n4gix 4,947]

No, I would not. It could take up to 10 years just to have enough flight hours to even begin to seek out employment as a commercial pilot.

[W2DR 1,860]

I wouldn't either...  https://pilotinstitute.com/airline-pilot-age/  .

[antney79 18]

45 minutes ago, n4gix said:

No, I would not. It could take up to 10 years just to have enough flight hours to even begin to seek out employment as a commercial pilot.

That’s not true at all.  Not sure your situation and if you can flight train full time or have to work full time and do this on the side.   If you can take the cut in pay it would take 12-18 months to get from zero time to your flight instructor license.  This is all dependent on how much time you can put in each week.  If you could do 4/5 lessons a week is ideal.  If you do one a week every lesson you would be spending over half the time relearning from the lesson previous, which in return will take you longer to get your license. 

After that it would take a year of time building either by fight instructor or other options to get enough time to get on with a regional.  Not sure what your career goals would be but I say this is all possible within 5 years.  That gives your 15 years at an airline.  Plenty of time to enjoy a career and upgrade to captain.   

Just depends your situation and what you want to accomplish.  I would strongly suggest getting your medical first to see if you can even obtain a first class medical.  Then get your private pilot license to make sure you even like this.   If then you decide you want to go for it then dive full in and don’t let anyone discourage you.  If you let other people decide your fate you will never get where you want to be.  

Edited August 7, 2022 by antney79

[dbw1 445]

Yes.

I made the switch from rotary wing to fixed wing on the high side of 40 and was fortunate to get my first fixed wing job in a 19 passenger  turbo prop, sked service, with 300 fixed wing hours. i had approx 5000 hours rotary. 5 years later I was left seat in a SF340. I had some excellent captains along the way who were great teachers. Got lucky. Right time, right place, right coworkers. In Canada at the time I could get credit for 600 hours of my rotary time to apply to the atpl time requirement and a year later I had the atpl.

I've known a couple other guys made the move after 40 but usually you have to have something else to bring to the table. In my case it was a lot of arctic time and the company was expanding north. Retired now.

With the pilot shortage today i think you could do fine.

[jcomm 5,939]

I become one each time I loasd my preferred Airbus in one of the flight simulation platforms....

Ah!  A good 737 will do as well....

Other than that I sometimes imagine landing an A340 when on final approach with my glider 🙂

[SAS443 1,723]

I'd suggest starting with the PPL first as a separate project,  Before committing to the whole commercial journey. 

CPL/ATPL theoretical syllabus is quite extensive and progress is expected to be rather hasty.  It can be quite a rude awakening if you are not ready at the get go.

PPL theory on the other hand is not that hard to grasp, anyone can do it, basically.

But expect to have a few dog years once graduation - in order to build time, there is no silver lining in this business. 

Edited August 7, 2022 by SAS443

[vadriver 248]

12 hours ago, rocketlaunch said:

a commercial pilot

flying / doing what /where would be the first question ..... many rewarding jobs for CPL's vs ATPL's at an age.

[DD_Arthur 1,050]

13 hours ago, rocketlaunch said:

Pretty much as the title says, if you had the money at what age would you rule out possibly becoming a commercial pilot assuming you are starting from scratch? 

I don’t know the answer to this but on the combat flight sim forum I’m a member of we’ve all been following the career of a guy who had his first flying lesson in a Cessna 172 ack in the spring of 2015 with the intent of making it a career.

He was in his late twenties when he started and has had to finance this himself through his and his wife’s full time jobs.

Covid has certainly not helped but in May he became a FO with American Airlines.

I’d better check whether he’s flying 737’s or A320’s….

[jon b 2,050]

If you want to make a living from your hobby and passion then yes, go for it , it’s possible.

It’s important to have realistic expectations of where you’ll end up, it’s quite unlikely you’ll see the right hand seat of a wide body, but not impossible, never mind the left seat.

But if you’re happy with the Regional airlines or doing air work you’ll find employment there I’m sure, and that’s where the fun flying is anyway, if perhaps not the big salary.

Regardless of what the job market thinks of you in your  mid to late 40 you also have to be aware the old brain starts to fog a little and be aware of your own limitations.

I’ve just turned 50 and personally can’t imagine buzzing around in a light twin with a simulated engine out in IMC doing a multi engine IR now, I was a teenager when I had to deal with all that nonsense.

I’ve flown with lots of people who have started later in life , invariably their earlier careers do show through as it is apparent from a CRM / human factors point of view they’ve not been moulded  into lifelong career pilots. It’s hard to put a finger on but you can always tell, nothing detrimental to their flying, just a slightly out of alignment attitude to everyone else.

But on the whole, yes if you’re passionate about it then go for it, you’ll enjoy it, and that’s the key to getting through the training, having passion.

Edited August 7, 2022 by jon b

[Bob Scott 7,721]

If you really mean commercial pilot and not airline pilot, it's late but not too late.  A career in corporate aviation is still a possibility, and flying a Gulfstream 800 to the four corners of the world is just as interesting as flying a widebody airliner--but it's a considerably different lifestyle.  And there's no 65-year-old age limit there, so flying into your 70s is possible, barring development of a grounding medical problem that's more likely later in life.

But be aware that you're not just signing up for the job--you're signing up to the life.  If spending much of your time away from home/family, living out of a suitcase, and waking up each morning in a different hotel de jure for years on-end would be a problem for you and yours, you may well find yourself unhappy and faced with the dilemma of cutting your losses or continuing to do it in a state of misery to justify the huge investment in time and money to get there.  In that regard, making that kind of a change in your/your family's life at age 46 poses a much different set of risks to your happiness and well-being than doing it as a fancy-free single at age 25.

[Jeffg817 26]

I started my airline career at age 63 With Commutair in January 2018. I will tell you its tough but fun. I had 3000 hours mainly from teaching as a CFI. I was going to fly the ERJ 145. I was in the sims at kcvg from 12 midnight to 8am and after the 4th straight night I made up my mind I am too old for this. I was about to turn 64 and would have been flying out of kewr for 1 year and then have to retire at 65. I would do it again if I was younger and Commutair is a great airline with very good personal.

 

JeffG

[n4gix 4,947]

14 hours ago, antney79 said:

After that it would take a year of time building either by fight instructor or other options to get enough time to get on with a regional.  Not sure what your career goals would be but I say this is all possible within 5 years.  That gives your 15 years at an airline.  Plenty of time to enjoy a career and upgrade to captain.

I'm not sure why you quoted my reply, since the entirety of your response is clearly directed at the OP's question. Nonetheless, I stated "up to 10 years" to reach the magic number of flight hours needed, which clearly falls within your "possible within 5 years" opinion.

In any event, at the ripe old age of 73.6 years, I'm certainly not a player in this race!  😉

[rocketlaunch 614]

Thanks for the advice, I really appreciate it. I am seriously considering it. Until now it has been an expensive hobby but I do have 30 hours under my belt and am not far from completing my PPL. Would love to fly a turbo prop or small jet for a living. I have even considering going for a helicopter license.