Can I have a career with a crash
 

I have my private license and under 100 hrs, I was flying VFR and was not able to make it over a mountain after I departed. It is still under investigation but it will be my fault. I was not injured, my backseat passenger was not injured but my front seat passenger broke her arm. The plane was a complete loose as well. I was planning on going to school to finish my ratings and have a career in aviation, however with this accident will I ever be able to get a job.

What do you mean? Couldnt fly over the mountain? You were trying to climb above higher terrain and didnt have the performance to clear the obstacles? So you had a CFIT?

Congratulations. You are now a 91/135 lifer. Not kidding.

Yes the plane I was flying did not have the climb capabilities. I needed to circle the airport a few times before trying to climb out, but when I realized that I couldn't get turned around because it was to narrow of an area.

I hate to say it but this looks bad however at the same time you are a private pilot so you may get some mercy. I don't think you will be able to go to the airlines at least not anytime soon. You can still fly corporate or cargo and make a decent living. Good luck in whatever you do.

When he says "cargo" he doesn't mean fedex or UPS...

Absolutely. You can be an aeronautical engineer, manufacturing engineer, get a business or accounting degree and work those angles in an aviation/aerospace company. There's also aviation insurance, where you might be able to spin your accident in your favor down the road. ROTC program or commissioning program after college. Could be an aviation mechanic and eventually inspection authorized. You could get into computer science or electrical engineering and design avionics or analyze flight data.

Whether or not you can get a 121 airline pilot job is a question. You'd be competing with guys that can answer "no" to that question, which is a significant advantage. You could make up for that with a military flying career possibly (just one idea), but whatever it is, it's going to have to be a pretty good equalizer. Our society doesn't quite know how to handle situations like this in terms of giving someone a "fair shot" once they've learned their lesson, but that's a discussion for another day.

You can do the things in the first paragraph and many more, and in addition, you can still fly airplanes on the side. Don't get tunnel-vision so bad that you think flying a big airliner is the only way you can have fun flying airplanes and don't think that such a job is the only way you can experience aviation.

The answer is maybe. Let's assume that this was due to an "honest" preflight error where performance was miscalculated or mountain winds not adequately considered.

The good news...

You're a Private Pilot...you might not be a bad pilot, just lacking training and experience. You have many years and many checkrides ahead of you to prove how good you really are. Don't fail any checkrides or get any (more) violations. You have still a lot of water you can put under the bridge.

Objectively, any experienced pilot could see how thing kind of thing can happen at your experience level.

You managed the situation to avoid total catastrophe, that should count for something.

The bad news...

In a perfect world, an employer would look at the magnitude and nature of the error, and not consider the consequences. If you had made the same errors but barely cleared the terrain, there would be no record and this would be nothing but a good TMAAT learning experience at an airline interview.

In the real world, employers may consider how your crash history will make them look if you're involved in some sort of incident while working for them. Plaintiff's attorneys and media talking heads would have a field day with something like that, even though it would probably be totally irrelevant to the matter at hand.

I think you can have a career, you would not be the only airline pilot who had a GA crash in his history, in fact I can think of one chief pilot who crashed while moonlighting on his day off.

Your career might end up in the 91/135 world. Bottom-feeder 121 regionals are always an option, but I wouldn't call that a career. It is possible that one or more majors might turn you away, and you'll have to consider that risk in your game plan. That assumes this was an honest mistake and not something really dumb like high-performance maneuvers in a low-performance airplane in high-performance terrain.

I've gotten used to the shift in tone from PPW to APC, but can't figure out the root cause. Can a small subscription fee and a pilot database background check make that big of a difference?

OP, yes you can have a career with an accident. Interview prep companies can help you negotiate this issue. I'm sure Albie's outfit will give you the right guidance.

You are probably safer pilot today, then you were before the accident. Your mishap will most likely change your view of accident reports when you see them. No more, "That guy was dumb" and a lot more, "Wow, I could have made that same mistake."

Oh ok....gotcha....well at least you didn't kill yourself. Considering your just starting out....... By the time you even have enough hours to get to a 121 interview your going to be past this by several years. Don't make any more of these mistakes and keep a clean record....I'm sure you will be fine. I worked with guys some of which had 3 accidents on their records up in Alaska. I bent an airplane myself after a crash due to an engine failure...and guess what....I fly 121. (It wasn't pilot error however) So its possible to recover from such a thing. Regional Airlines are hiring guys with DUIs now.....so don't worry to much about it. Lol