You want old? Try 59....
Yup. You heard it right kids. I'm 59 big ones. Re-entered aviation 6 months ago after a 16 year break. Broke out of the rest home and currently flying PIC single pilot piston Part 135. Besides all that, I possess all of those disgusting attributes already mentioned--financially secure, empty nest, old and.....drum roll please.....I am doing it for fun. Imagine.
I know this discussion is more directed towards the airline side but I thought I'd throw in. I have heard of 60 year olds being hired into the right seat of regionals but I dunno. I am not personally interested in doing that anyway but I see some great, good paying alternatives my late career change like medevac, bigger plane freight and maybe even corporate.
Kudos to the younger guys who have posted who understand the big picture and have posted here. They are probably guys who have actually had sh**ty jobs before their flying gig. There is nothing worse than having to listen to kids complain about their flying life who had a waiter job at Chilis for 8 months before Granny forked over 90k for their 141 ATP school.
As far as "drinking the koolaid," that can be a 20 year old or a 60 year old depending on how much you have experienced. Living in a hotel while you wait your turn to fly your 20 million dollar airplane is pretty nice if you were a dishwasher at a cafe in a former life. That being said, I don't condone management being greedy and not taking care of the help. Just keep it in perspective.
My background in order: Military enlisted flight engineer, CFI, own airplane, Part 135 freight, United Express FO until furloughed in 2001, currently back in the 135 bug smashers and....IM BACK!
I almost forgot. I said I do this for fun. If you have 1200 hours and want to fly freight, screw up your body clock while you fly at night, fly old equipment with steam gauges, pick your way through t-storms, shed ice with inflatable inner tube patches on the leading edge, fly cold in the winter and hot in the summer, stay hunched over cause you load/unload your own freight, send me a line. I'll hook you up. It's a high glamour job. And fun.
Bring on the hate mail but if it's too ugly I could get upset and die. Did I mention I'm old?