Hi everyone,
Im about to take the leap into trying to carve out an aviation career. During the last week or so I have read pretty much every post on here back to late 2012, there is a wealth of information on here!!
Im a 28year old Engineer in the Oil Industry. My whole life I wanted to fly for a living, however as a youngster I met a girl and got married etc etc, so ended up not having the funds to pay for training. Over the last few years I have been really regretting not following my dreams and now I have the funds to pay for the training I have decided to take the plunge.
As a teenager I was a member of the Air Training Corps (British version of AF ROTC), so I have some flying and gliding experience, although several years ago and I no longer have the log books (approx 15hrs). I have told my instructor to teach me as if I had never flown before.
I do have some questions that I did not find an answer to.
-Do the airlines care if you are not a US citizen? I am British (US Green card Holder).
-Also, would companies look favourably on my previous Oil and Gas Career? Such as working in dangerous, highly regulated environments, 6weeks plus on an offshore platform etc. I have done this work for 8 years throughout the world. Im not sure if this would make the slightest bit of difference to an airline recruiter.
-Do airlines have weight restrictions on pilots? Or are they fine as long as they pass the medical? Im a big fella at 6ft4, 280lbs, I dont have a huge gut hanging over my pants, but Im no athlete either. Im working on it so hopefully by the time I get to 1500hrs I will be way below this (famous last words
)
-Hows the job market in Houston? Does living in a big city like Houston make it easier to get on with a regional? Or is it more of a problem as so many majors fly there?
I am working with The Flight School Inc in Houston, Tx, so far they seem very good, has anyone had any experience with them? I did originally contact DutchWings also but they did not reply to either of my 2 emails, where The Flight School replied within hours, even though it was a Sunday evening.
Sorry for the large amount of Text, I figured one large post was better than drip feeding over several!