22 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'll take off my flight sim hat and put my professional pilot hat.  I'll agree with Bob Scott with one exception.  Is it too late at 46 to become an airline pilot?  No, but don't expect to make way up the seniority list. 

Bob and I are probably contemporaries.  I began my professional flying career, outside of instruction, in 1987 with a regional.  I stayed 10 months and found business aviation flying a Westwind.  I've been in business aviation ever since.  In those intervening years, we have heard much talk about the so called "pilot shortage".  Well, guess what...that pilot shortage is here, and it is for real. No joke this time.  The airlines, both the regionals and majors cannot find enough pilots to fill their ranks, and they are taking from the part 135 charter operators, 91K fractional, and part 91 corporate operators.  And we have not seen the end of it.  We have at least 3 to 5 years of significant hiring.  We could see ebbs and flows should another COVID or "9/11" event happen, but it will continue. 

I had an acquaintance change career paths and at age 45, move into professional flying with a regional airline.  I'm not sure where she's at now, I've lost track of her and family.  It's not out of the realm of possibility.  

Here's my word to anyone looking to pursue professional flying.  Think hard about.  The lifestyle sacrifices Bob described are real.   Family events, crisis, birthdays, and holidays will come and go without you being there.  However, if you really want it, get off your backside and start working towards it.  This is the same advice my uncle gave me my senior year in high school (by the time summer vacation ended and I was on my way to college, I had my PPL and was on my way). Do not waste time.  The faster you work your way through your ratings the better.  There are many schools that can work you through these ratings in a matter of months, if you have the resources. If you have a college degree, even better, but not really required much anymore by the majors.   

So, would I say that it was impossible?  No, but you are behind the 8 ball.  You are also in the largest pilot shortage we've ever seen. If you are going to do this, do it right.  Find a good, reputable pilot training school. Get your ratings.  Find a way to build time to meet requirements of the airlines. There are opportunities to do that. 

Hope this was helpful.  Best of luck!  

Rich Boll

Wichita, KS 

 

5 hours ago, n4gix said:

In any event, at the ripe old age of 73.6 years

Youngster    🙂

24 minutes ago, rocketlaunch said:

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. 

Go to ATP flight school and then CFI for said school. You could have the required flight time within a year.

No, I would not.  

I loved recreational flying once or twice a month.  I got my commercial rating because the GI Bill was paying for most of it.  But once I had it I had no real desire to become a professional pilot.

When I was a fly fisherman I tied my own flies.  I enjoyed it as a pastime.  I showed some to our local fly fishing shop in Denver and he wanted to pay me to tie flies for him to sell.  I turned him down.

I was a pretty good nature photographer and I had stuff with a stock agency and made a bit of money at it.  The owner of the stock agency urged me to become a fulltime photographer because he said I was pretty good at it and he could sell my stuff.  I turned him down also.

Once you turn something you really enjoy as a pastime or hobby into a business or profession you lose a lot of the enjoyment.  It can become boring trying to meet a deadline or producing more or spending all your time doing it.

In my case I would never become a professional pilot because I enjoyed flying too much.  That applies to all my pastimes and hobbies.

We all enjoy flight simming but would you like to do it 6 or 8 hours a day?  Probably at first.  But in no time at all it would become a drudge.

The thing I loved about the Air Force was the opportunity to cross train into other specialties when you got bored with what you were doing.  I was an armament specialist, an electronic technician, a seismic technician and finally a weather forecaster.  I was never bored for long.

Noel

 

10 hours ago, jon b said:

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.

You thoughts on age…..I did forest fire suppression well into my 50s fixed wing for nine years. There were quite a few guys older. One guy flew into his mid 70s in the 215 and was still sharp. Several in their mid 60s. All had their manure together.

Here in Hawaii we have a lot of guys flying Shorts/Cessna freight dogs and various part 135 aircraft.  I don't know that there is money in it, but it might be an option.

 

scott s.

.

 

 

6 hours ago, dbw1 said:

You thoughts on age…..I did forest fire suppression well into my 50s fixed wing for nine years. There were quite a few guys older. One guy flew into his mid 70s in the 215 and was still sharp. Several in their mid 60s. All had their manure together.

Oh yes absolutely. I was really only  talking about my own experience, when I did the 787 type rating last year I noticed I wasn’t as quick at learning new things as I used to be. 
I remember the multi engine instrument rating being one of the hardest things I’ve ever done, and I wouldn’t like to have to do that again now, it was much easier when I was younger, that’s all I’m saying.

I suppose to sum up all I was trying to say is the training is hard whatever age you are, it just seems to get harder the later in life you leave it, and to be aware of that.

5 hours ago, jon b said:

Oh yes absolutely. I was really only  talking about my own experience, when I did the 787 type rating last year I noticed I wasn’t as quick at learning new things as I used to be. 
I remember the multi engine instrument rating being one of the hardest things I’ve ever done, and I wouldn’t like to have to do that again now, it was much easier when I was younger, that’s all I’m saying.

I suppose to sum up all I was trying to say is the training is hard whatever age you are, it just seems to get harder the later in life you leave it, and to be aware of that.

I can only imagine trying to stay sharp on that machine from an academic perspective.... I was lucky in that my last 7 years of my career were as a fed aviation inspector and I flew a gov't king air with the analog panel (upgraded to a G1000 a couple years before i left)  which i was quite happy with. i always thought the king air was like a big 172 in that you really had to work at it to hurt yourself. We got less than 100 hours a year, including about 25hours in a level C/D sim, so staying sharp i found I did have to work at it. I still enjoyed the flying so much that i enjoyed the working at it. When I retired in my early 60s for me I knew I was approaching my best before date so to speak, lol. Everyone's is different. Besides after 40 years i was ready to close that door and go ride my motorcycle. That said i still really enjoy the flight sims.

Edited August 8, 20223 yr by dbw1
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33 minutes ago, dbw1 said:

Besides after 40 years i was ready to close that door and go ride my motorcycle. That said i still really enjoy the flight sims.

That’s exactly where I am, still a few years to go to retirement but I’ve taken 65% part time, enjoying riding my motorcycles during the summer and will get back into the VR flight simming as winter approaches and the bikes go away. 

jon b, 24 years on the 747-400.  Did you ever get bored with it?  The reason I ask is I have a friend whose husband just retired from American Airlines.  He was also a 787 captain at the end.

He said by the end of his career he got bored with it.  He flew out of DFW his entire career and said he knew almost every route by heart.  By the end of his career he said he could fly some of the routes under the hood except for takeoff and landing. 

How did you feel after 24 years on the 747?

I also asked him if he preferred flying a Boeing or an airbus.  He said he preferred the Boeing because there was no feedback on the airbus sidestick.  If you ever flew an airbus was that your experience too?

Before he joined up with American Airlines he flew C-130s in the Air Force.  He said that was the most fun he ever had flying.  He said he never what was going to some up next...flying airborne troops to a drop zone or delivering a couple of trucks to another Army Base.  Or a training flight to an Air Force Base he'd never flew into before.

Noel

2 hours ago, jon b said:

That’s exactly where I am, still a few years to go to retirement but I’ve taken 65% part time, enjoying riding my motorcycles during the summer and will get back into the VR flight simming as winter approaches and the bikes go away. 

Yes, Ride in the summer and sim more in the winter. I’ve got an Indian Challenger. What do you ride? 

1 hour ago, dbw1 said:

What do you ride? 

I have a collection of BMWs

As we have seen recently with the MAX , depending on what part of the world you live in you can be right seat on an airliner in as little as 100 hrs, so even an airline carrer is not out of the question. Never to old start a new career especially if its something you are passionate about.

I live under a flightpath and it`s still not back to pre pandemic flights and I suspect the need for pilots is not that great. And with the possible downturn in the economy and the tech industry starting to layoff staff. The oil prices falling over fears of a recession.   

3 hours ago, jon b said:

I have a collection of BMWs

I had a 2005 K1200s bought new for 7 years. Had the only one in the province for over a year. Just got another Indian Challenger about 6 weeks ago. Fun machine. I flew round engines for awhile so it sort of compliments the flying. Love the sound of both.