40yrOldRookie

First of all, apologies because I'm sure this is not the first "Am I too old..." question here, but please, hear me out, I have a very specific reason why I am asking this, and hoping to get beyond the expected answer of "you're never too old to learn to fly"

Sorry for the long ramble, I am trying to be as specific as possible.

I'm currently 44, will be 45 close to EOY. I know nothing about being a pilot and my current college degree has nothing to do with aviation, engineering, physics, or anything remotely useful for aviation.

I have had a reasonably successful career for the last 23 years in my field, last year was my best and I made a little over $200K but had to work 50-60 hours per week.
This year in comparison I have made a little over $15K and it doesn't look like it's going to improve, my field is being impacted greatly by the advent of AIs and also loads of younger people joining each year fresh from college, willing to work longer and faster for less money. It is an industry in which a college degree is not really needed, doesn't hurt, but it's not indispensable and the job itself is not very meaningful, if you have a major screw up you will get fired but nobody will die or lives will be ruined. Overall is an ungrateful industry that does not really value experience but rather being "cool and hip" and at 44, and with a high day rate, I'm slowly starting to feel the effects of that.

I figured if I start now I will probably be ready to start flying and make a living out of it by the time I'm 47-50.

Now this is my specific question:
While I'm aware that technically the FAA has no age limit for becoming a pilot, I wonder how realistic would be that an airline would hire me "fresh out of school" at 50 years old. I don't care so much about the potentially better money a major airline could pay (in fact I'm not even sure that's the case or if smaller airlines pay well too) but in my mind, a larger airline is probably going to take better care of their airplanes and hence it would be safer to fly for one (feel free to flame me if I'm talking nonsense, again, I literally know nothing about the subject).

In any case, I am becoming more frustrated day after day that I remain in my current field that no longer fulfills my ambitions, and I am thinking of maybe taking a HELOC loan to pay for my training. But since ageism is a very real thing in my current career, I just don't want to acquire major debt only to find years later that it also happens in airlines and nobody will hire me.

Pros:
• My house is fully paid for.
• I'm very stubborn, to the point that it has been a hindrance in almost everything else in my life, but somehow feel it would be an asset here.
• I'm a normal smart person and can learn fast, especially if I am motivated.
• I am healthy (moderately high cholesterol and I had an arrhythmia two years ago, but well under control now, I wear glasses).
• It would not be my first career change, I went through one about 11 years ago, however, my current job is pretty close to my previous one, and had no kids at the time.
• I really don't want to keep doing what I'm doing right now, it just doesn't inspire me anymore.

Cons:
• I'm 44 (lol).
• I don't have a lot of money, hence the HELOC or 2nd mortgage.
• My wife does not work and is having a lot of trouble getting back in the market after several years of raising our still-young kids, so doing this will probably add a lot of stress to our marriage, both financially and mentally.
• I'm not sure if ageism is a thing in airlines or not so I am worried about going through all the hoops and massive expenses to get a commercial pilot license only to find out that I am un-hirable based on age only.

I figured if I manage to get a job as a pilot I would still get some good 15 years before I have to retire and ask again for career change advice in another forum ;-)

Thanks for reading all the way!

jetlaggy

UPS hires age 60+ pilots…don’t let age discourage you

kellendeming

I am so glad I am not the only one here that old and just wanting to start out. I am pretty much in the same boat as you . I am 47 and just started looking into applying for my PPL.

If everything goes right I should be able to gain my 1500 when I turn 50. That will give me 15 good years. I am very realistic in my choices that I will not fly for a Major which is fine by me. I just be very happy to be able to fly.

Danny Noonan

As someone who got on with a regional at 51 and now heading to a major I can attest that age won’t be a barrier on its own. I made switch from technical side of advertising/marketing so your backstory sounds familiar.
Your additional details probably require some prep. Go get a first class medical initially to make sure there’s no gotchas. You can let it lapse into 2nd and 3rd class as you go through training. Taking loan for this career switch is a big gamble. There isn’t a guarantee that high regional paydays or hiring wave will be there by the time you have the qualifications. Make a 3-5 year financial plan with exit ramps in case you have any issues including deciding the hoop jumping for ratings and hours isn’t for you. Finally talk to as many pro pilots as you can find locally. The pro pilot schedule is very different than 9-5 M-F slog. Pluses are you don’t take work home with you. Minuses are much less control of week to week schedule and irregular hours.

FliesInSoup

Ageism becomes at thing at age 65 for Part 121 ops. Definitely zero issues getting hired in your 50's. Your 1st Class Medical is the very first thing you need to acquire. It's a total deal breaker if you can't get it.

40yrOldRookie

That's funny, I was in advertising at the beginning of my career too, then moved to post-production, still advertising but one step lower, ha! Surely you get why I just don't feel excited about it anymore, it's a very ungrateful job.
Thanks for the heads up on the hours, I've been reading up on that and watching a bunch of YT channels on the subject. While I mostly work M-F, it is fairly common that projects bleed into the late hours and weekends, so I end up working 14-15 hours a day and on stuff that was very avoidable.

I need to continue planning how will I finance this, but each day I'm more convinced that this is the way to go.

QRH Bingo

Oh lord there is a lot to unpack here. First, you will generally find helpful folks here with all sorts of questions, even if already asked so, welcome.

Getting a 1st class medical will be your first stop; you mention a few medical issues but otherwise state you are healthy. Getting this, (or being denied) will be the first step in finding an answer because if you do not get it, then everything else becomes moot. You will have to complete an initial application which will ask you all sorts of questions and it is highly advisable to be truthful. If you come across a question that you are unsure how to answer, pause the application and seek out advice from someone who specializes in FAA Medicals. Also, check out the FAA's page about automatic disqualifiers: https://www.faa.gov/faq/what-medical...isqualifying-0

You mention knowing nothing about aviation so my question to you is why are you so interested in aviation as a career? Being older is not bad, but generally older folks wish to improve their quality of life without having to start over to climb that ladder (Aviation is two steps forward and one step backward). Be honest with yourself here, do you just love airplanes, or find the idea of travel inspiring, etc? There is no "typical" schedule as you can be home every night to gone 18 days and everything in between. You mention putting in long hours, currently, but days on the road can be just as long. A nice 5-6hr day can easily turn into 14+ hours followed by a "min-rest" night (10 hours from parking the plane to being back at the gate).

Continuing with knowing nothing, you need to get up to speed, and quickly if you are to make an informed decision. Start reading up and researching what pilot certificates are required, the training (and estimated cost) involved in obtaining them, and the typical progression: Private pilot, instrument rating, commercial pilot (single enine), flight instructor, Multi-engine and then comes the time building. Look at how the airlines are structured, typical entry is at the regional airlines (if you don't know what they are, start googling), then progress to a LCC or other major airline. Then there are the legacies, where do you want to be? Where do you want to live, and who has a base there? Are you willing to commute? (What does commute mean?). What are the pathways to get to the airlines? flight instruct to 1500 hours (why 1500 hours?) or maybe try to gain experience at a part 135 carrier. I hope you see where I'm going with this.

This will take some time, and effort, to learn. Browsing on here helps but can be difficult to wade through the non-sense and sarcasim before you have a solid foundation of knowledge. Check out AOPA and their "flight training" magazine, I have found it to be quite informative and it typically covers several topics. Google will likely be your frind in asking questions.

Find a local flight school, take a "discovery" flight and see if you even enjoy being in a small GA training plane. Do not get tempted into any "sign now" deals or offers to complete your training in "x" days for "y" dollars and never give a flight school large amounts of money upfront (plenty of discussions on this topc).

I wish you the best of luck. But seriously, find an answer to the "why"?

rickair7777

Assuming you get on with a major airline, which in today's climate is highly probable for most folks who successfully fly for a regional, you'll make $100k+ first year, $150-250K second year, $200-300K after several years as an FO. Once you upgrade to CA, you'll make $300-500K. These are rough numbers, for narrowbody aircraft, such as B-737 and A-320.

This is reasonable. But since legacy retirements will peak in a couple years and start to slow down going into the next decade, it would behoove you to get on with it as quickly as possible if you're going to do it.

If you read old info on the subject you'll find that airlines used to only hire folks under 30. They gradually widened their aperture on that, and today any US airline will hire pilots up to early 60's.

So basically age is not a factor if you're under about 63... mandatory airline pilot retirement is 65, so understandably they want to get some useful work out of you since the training is costly.

Perseverance is good in aviation. Stubborn to the point of recalcitrance is bad... friction with instructors and captains will not be career enhancing.

First thing you should do is get an FAA 1C medical, so you know you can hold one.

High but controlled cholesterol is probably not an issue, but it depends on the numbers. Some meds are OK, statins IIRC.

Arrhythmia is probably OK, but it depends on the specific type. You can get a medical with beta-blockers and even a pacemaker, depending on the specifics.

Glasses are fine, you need distance vision which is corrected to at least 20/20 in each eye separately. There are also near/intermediate requirements but those are not as tight as distance vision, 20/40 IIRC.



Non-issue as far as getting the job. It does slightly limit your timeline to get an ROI on the effort and investment but given all the retirements you can probably still get a good ten years as a major airline CA. Major FO pay is pretty good too these days.

Also you won't learn as fast as the kids... that's just a fact of life in aviation but if you're smart and disciplined you can make up for it by working harder.

There's some risk here, only you can really evaluate it though. If you have the flexibility to relocate to airline bases, vice commuting, that helps a lot with QOL and the family.

Also how's the family going to be when you're on the road 20 days/month? It will get better with seniority, but for your first 1-2 years at a regional especially you're likely to be gone a lot between training and reserve.

Before you make any big decisions definitely get a 1C medical. I'd also strongly recommend that you get a PPL or at least solo so that you can find out if you actually like it, and verify you don't get bad airsickness or something.

40yrOldRookie

This is extremely helpful, thank you so much.

40yrOldRookie

Thank you!

Cool, thanks for the tip, I'll look into it asap.

I don't know exactly, it just appeals to me. I feel attracted to be doing a completely different job that will take me to different places and will teach me a new skill. I enjoyed my current job a lot for a while, in fact I still do, what I don't like is dealing with clients and their absurd or unreasonable demands and then even giving me an attitude when I question or push back on something they want that is clearly wrong or wasteful. It just ran its course. I'm ready to try something new and flying an airplane is the one thing that appeals to me the most.

I hear you loud and clear and I already started to get immersed in the subject, something I tend to do (probably everyone does) when I'm interested in something. I already know that commuting does not look like much fun but most likely will be my first step once I get hired by a regional, by then my oldest will be around 15-16 (assuming I start now) and likely won't want to do anything with me for a few years (teenagers, right) so it might make the situation less bad. My younger kid and my wife won't be too thrilled I'm sure. I'm seeing this as a long term plan, in which I will sacrifice earnings and comfort for maybe 5-7 years and then I can move to a better position so by the time I'm roughly 55, 11 years from now I am already making decent money again and not commuting. [/QUOTE]

Awesome, thanks a lot for this tip!

Find a local flight school, take a "discovery" flight and see if you even enjoy being in a small GA training plane. Do not get tempted into any "sign now" deals or offers to complete your training in "x" days for "y" dollars and never give a flight school large amounts of money upfront (plenty of discussions on this topc).

thanks a lot