Quote: Aviation makes for a great retirement job after the kids are grown and gone and the money is in the bank.

At one of those career fairs last year a regional guy said they are encouraging older (inactive) pilots to come back to to the profession. How else will they get around the 1,500 hour ATP rule?

I figured as much.
 

Th a few years sidelined old timers will be receiving unsolicited letters in the mail from regionals asking them to come to work. In ten years the letters will be from the majors.

Skyhigh

This post
 

This post is a good summery of what it means to be an airline pilot career today. The path is difficult, long and full of risk. Even a job at the very top is a hardship.

Skyhigh

my advice is to do both careers. I was in the AF for 10 years as a naviguesser (WSO) on B-1Bs. got my masters in public admin and moved back to California and work as one of those state workers with an awesome retirement and benefits but the office life sucks and is so routine. Ego isnt the issue because i have a position where i get to go to all the important boring meetings and eat the free fruit. I plan on retiring early with a smaller pension and some VA money and going back to flying. i can do this because i already have the big house, my son's education is covered, my wife's job actually pays a little more than mine, and over time got the certs except for my multi, and so i wont be stressed with lower FO income. i will actually make more when i combine the early retirement, VA and FO pay than what I make as a net income right now. the downside is that at my age i will stay put at only one regional airline. right now i think i am OK with that. i am lucky enough to fly some really nice rental aircraft at the Travis AFB aero club in Rio Vista, glass panels, fairly new, well maintained, leather, turbo charged, excellent prices, but it is not like flying at .72 Mach at 30,000. wish it was but the thrill is not the same.

as a side note, i also need avice about getting a CFI. i dont need it for the 1500 PIC total time but i will use it to help pay for my multi hours. other instructors, friends at southwest, delta and former UPS pilot claim i dont need it but it makes fiscal sense my concern is about getting a pink slip. i am about 30 months out from this airline plan and I know the initial CFI has a high bust rate. that has me worried about how it would look. not doing the CFI will delay me about a year to come up with the extra cash to buy the multi time. what do ya think?

So what's wrong with helicopters? I got a Comm RW addon 11 years ago and I had the time of my life flying helicopters.

Check out Air Methods website for hiring requirements for pilots, nurses and paramedics. It sounds like you are on the paramedic track.


BTW- avation isn't the only profession that has gotten beaten down. There are investment bankers, lawyers, bankers that are out of work or getting no bonuses. Even in my state of CT million doillar homes are now selling at a discount.[/QUOTE]


Having a paramedic background doesn't matter when flying EMS. Also, a huge thing to consider is the amount of flight time, in helicopters with turbine engines you will need just to meet the mins for the various EMS companies.

I worked in industry for 20+ years before beginning flying for a living, and I found that the demands placed on me by my first career caused me to miss a good deal of my kids' growing up. And at times my wife was essentially a single parent. Please don't let Nightrider's post leave you with the incorrect impression that flying is the only career path that will cause you to make uncomfortable compromises in your personal and family life. Bottom line: unless you are born into money or you marry into money you are going to have to take some kind of job that is going to force you to miss things you'd rather not miss.

That being said, the doubts you have articulated suggest that flying might not be the right thing for you at this stage in your life. There is no reason you can't get your PPL now and fly GA while you pursue your first career, and then later make flying your second or third career. This approach might let you concentrate on things that are more important to you now, and you might get greater satisfaction from a flying career later in life.

Only because you didn't make it and want everyone to be miserable....

In the meantime, I've been gone maybe 20 nights this year with no end in sight of that changing. My wife is preggo and I will be around A LOT for our first child.