Originally Posted by rickair7777

Get a PPL, do some fun flying and go from there.

Be advised that if you wait eight years to start, you'll probably miss the retirement wave. You could still expect to be employed by a regional, but major jobs may not be as readily available after 2030. Growth could change that, and growth is projected by the industry, but that does not account for any additional burdens related to environmental political correctness. The extremists want to essentially ban air travel and even the moderate eco-fanatics want it seriously curtailed. The industry will have to jump through some challenging and costly technical hurdles to make a big (more than 50%) reduction in carbon emissions. The technology does exist, but it will be challenging to implement and may fundamentally alter the cost of flying.

I don't see airline capacity getting any smaller than it is today, but growth might be problematic. Because the carbon problem is a gross output problem, not a per-capita problem... if you reduce jet emissions by 40% but then double the size of the fleet, you're still putting out more carbon than before.

If you're interested in the big money, you need to get started now and probably forgo the civil service retirement. Military pilots do this when the airlines are hiring like crazy, right now some are leaving at 15 years, although they can still get a reduced retirement if they finish their 20 in the reserves.

Otherwise you could shoot to have all of your ratings and 1500 hours on the day you retire, so you can jump right in and maybe catch a little wave. That's achievable, you can train and then work as a CFI part-time around your day job.

If they extend the retirement age to 67, that will work in your favor.