The Ugly Truth
 

There's lots of ugly truth out there, and here's mine: 727 Flight Engineer ~3k hrs., A&P Mechanic~25+ yrs., Private Pilot currently working on my Instrument rating. Yeah, it's that ugly. Too old for FedEx or the majors, and too many bills to live on 24k a year at a commuter (if they'd even hire me- eventually). Bottom line- love to fly, starting way late, looking for advice. I'm thinking maybe a cargo carrier or a VIP three-holer operation that will upgrade me to a window seat. Any suggestions?

Not many FE positions left.

Look for a few pilot/A&P mechanic positions once you get your commercial.

You sound like a pretty competitive FE to me. Are there no jobs to be had? If you switch to piloting full time you are going straight to the bottom of a large pile of pilots who all have more energy than you do, less bills, less baggage, and more tolerance for crappy working conditions. Unless you are fairly wealthy there is no way to justify a move to pro aviation at a late age. If there are no FE jobs and you really want to fly, I think I would work as an A&P and build flight ratings on the side. That would keep you enlivened and in (much) time it might work into a long term gig such as Chief CFI at a flight school, or something like that. Bear in mind there is no money in teaching, but at least you could keep your passion alive and get by.

Hey storm,
Check out Caesar's aviation out in Vegas. At the moment they are looking for an A&P, but could be a great in for something down the road.... Thought that might help... Best of luck!

Everts Air Cargo is hiring for an FE in Fairbanks AK. DC-6 maybe. Good Luck

Just to let you know, there were two 52 year old pilots in my new hire class at UPS.

Older Pilots
 

That sounds very encouraging! Were these 52 year old pilots extremely high time guys, or more average? Lots of heavy time etc?
High time at other airlines or what was it?

They were from a legacy airline. Biggest thing flown was a 757/767.

As far as time, I'm not sure what is considered high or average. I had about 10k when I got hired but have averaged only 300 hours or so a year since. If you look at how much legacy pilots have traditionally flown, I'm not sure they would have an exorbitant amount.

I'm betting they weren't private pilots working on a instrument rating though. :)
The professional flight engineer position is a dying field. Currently there is a glut of qualified PFE's in the workforce with nowhere to go. Don't ask me how I know that:(
A friend in ANC told me Lynden Cargo is hiring for their L-382's.

The OP is probably too old for FDX/UPS..they don't hire PFE's, and since he is a VFR PPL he has many years of training, instructing, and dues paying ahead of him before he would even be eligible to apply.