Thank you all for your time to read this thread and respond! This really means a lot to me at the moment!
So I am in the computing field presently and am also from Europe. I've been going through different forums and many people advise on visiting United States, especially Florida and California, for getting their pilot licenses. This is because, at least as per what I have read online, it is much cheaper than most of the world, including most of Europe. Of course there are minuses involved in terms of experience to fly within bad weather, mountain flying, etc., still the congested air space there predisposes to relatively good level of training compared to the same parameter by most of the flying schools in Europe.
First is how much time each week can you commit? Full time students who do not work, and live on campus are able to finish the entire program in 6-10 months. Keep in mind these students are full time flight students, do not work, and spend 6 days a week on campus either flying or in ground classes.
Part time students who have families or part time jobs and are able to commit to scheduling at least 3 flights per week on average finish in about 2 years or so. When a prospective student tells me he can schedule only 1 or even 2 lessons a week because he has a full time job and family, I usually tell them its not wise to start training until they are able to commit more time otherwise you will spend most of the flight each week trying to relearn what you learned the week or two before, and this gets very costly. It is possible, but it will cost you much more and take a very long time to complete.
As I said, I am currently working in the computing field but wish to devote to piloting for the rest of my life. I am however quite undecided as to what I should really do further so I can have this dream come true. My preliminary plans are for going to a decent flying school in California, Florida or another area offering intensive flying training at comparatively competitive prices, especially concerning PPL, night flying and IR. At the moment I don't have the money spared for the whole process on getting a CPL. I will need to find a job related to my previous working experience and match it somehow with my flight training. This is why my first question was related to age. I was in university by 25 and more, still had to gain some working experience and money to reach what I am now.
How will you fund your training?
If you are going for your commercial licence, this typically costs anywhere between 35-50k depending on the aircraft used and where you do the training. You should have a good portion of the total funds available upfront (and hopefully without paying interest). Ive seen so many students start training, but run out of money half way through their pvt license, and have a very hard time finishing because they cant get a student loan. They either slow down their training and spend 10+years to finish doing a flight only when they can save up alittle, or they start using credit cards which is the worst possible thing you can do. Remember that most commercial pilots usually only make less than 30k (some less than 20) for the first 3-5 years. If this is your only source of income, it its very difficult to pay back student loans and still afford to eat.
Thank you for the useful information. Unfortunately my options will be also relatively limited to my experience and job I am to have there. My aim is to presumably go back to Europe and land a co-pilot or a similar job, but this is a view from where I stand now. I definitely want to travel so if I have the option of having a pilot job in the USA or even North America or anywhere else, I would for sure consider it. My main target would be the PPL, night flying and IR as a beginning. I am also considering getting a helicopter license which according to many forums costs around EUR 22 - 24,000. However, let's put helicopters aside as I primarily want to be piloting airplanes.
After you get your commercial license?
Most employers need over 1000hrs of flight time. Depending on the training, most students come out of their commercial license with only about 250hrs. How are you planning on obtaining the rest of the time? The typical route is becoming a CFI. This requires more training and money.
Is there an option, if allowed and advisable at all, to get the initial licenses on an airplane/s and proceed on the path to CPL on simulators mostly? This shall save me a lot of costs for real-time hours of flying. For the moment I can't really answer how I will be compensating the extra hours. CFI is a good idea, but it needs to be harmonised with my general source of incomes throughout the process.
There is not really a maximum accepted age, it just depends on what your career expectations are. A 62 year old could start training for his ratings today and probably get a job as a regional FO for a couple of years if he really wanted to.
Note: Everything I said applies to the US airline industry, it might be very different on other countries.
Well, at this age I doubt if I will be ever able to fly a jet apart from being a co-pilot, still it will be a dream come true. My present concerns are mostly related to the balance of risk in terms of funds invested and practical gains after getting the relevant licences. This means that I am planning to entirely change my life and invest all that I have into my training. It will also be supplemented by my working incomes in the US and what I am really trying to figure out is if when looking back at 35 - 36 or more, it would have been worth doing. It's not only about costs, it is mostly about ability to land a job.
First is how much time each week can you commit?
I cannot say exactly but it should be at least full-time over the weekends.
So you now know where I stand, what my intentions are, and the situation I am considering at the moment. I have already gone through the Oxford's PPL CBT training DVDs and some other materials that will help me to pass the theoretical training tests. I also regularly do simulators although I know that without a trained instructor this kind of "flying" is a basic experience (despite of everything you follow as per the books/DVDs).
If you could advise further after reading the above, I would really appreciate it. What you shared so far was very useful!