Airline Pilot Central Forums - Mid-life Career Change

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Thank you for the perspectives.

I was initially planning on retiring at age 58 and return to school to become a professional writer. I've published two books already, and I am working on a historical fiction.

Then aviation caught my attention, and I simply cannot put it out of my mind. Every time I see a plane in the sky, I wish to be piloting it and wondering what the view must be like up there.

I feel that I have seen everything there is to see and experience as a doctor, and I feel energized every time I imagine myself doing something completely different and challenging.

When I interviewed with United, I was asked three questions:

1. Have you worked hard toward a goal and achieving it?
2. Can you solve problem under pressure while staying calm?
3. Do you dedicate your life to serve others?

These are the same qualities that make me a good doctor.

I am not doing it for the money and I am not doing it for the glamour. I want to live a life without regret.

I don't want to be on my death bed, wishing that I had been a pilot.

Quote:

Originally Posted by youngmd (Post 3458494)

When I interviewed with United, I was asked three questions:

1. Have you worked hard toward a goal and achieving it?
2. Can you solve problem under pressure while staying calm?
3. Do you dedicate your life to serve others?

These are the same qualities that make me a good doctor.

Despite the altruism, those things, or some of them, have little to do with being a pilot.

More accurate questions might be:

Will you go out of your way to do as little as possible, while appearing to actually be doing something?

Have you started on your second or third alimony yet, and for how many women have you bought a house?

What is your favorite flavor of instant ramen noodles, and can you make them using a hotel room coffee machine?

Whether you want to help others doesn't have much to do with being a pilot. Whether you really want it, does.

So far as calm under pressure, the old saying is that, "When I go, I want to die peacefully in my sleep, like my grandpa; not screaming to my death in a fiery descent, like his passengers."

Based on your comments and directions, being a pilot won't be any trouble for you at all. Just remember to start every conversation with, "Be nice to me, or you'll wind up in my next novel."

Quote:

Originally Posted by youngmd (Post 3458494)

I don't want to be on my death bed, wishing that I had been a pilot.

The corollary to that view is that, while it's better to be on the ground wishing you were in the air, than in the air wishing you were on the ground, you don't want to be on the rapid descent to your deathbed, thinking you might have been better off not being a pilot.

Perhaps the salient part is, "I don't want to be on my deathbed." That's a good starting point, pilot or not. Few of us have any choice in that; we all get there sooner or later. We do have some elemental control in how, and when. Sometimes our life choices also choose the conclusion; pick up one end of the stick, pick up the other. Few things are inevitable. Aviation no more so than anything else, but it does present ample opportunity.

Stay off the deathbed, go train and fly, and have fun. And remember, that the wife is always better the third time around...

Quote:

Originally Posted by youngmd (Post 3457888)

I am making a career change even later in my life.

I am 49, turning 50 in three months. I have been a pediatrician for the past 23 years. I have a good job, but my work environment is getting worse over the decades. The pandemic has a lot to do with it. We all thought it would be over in a few months when it started in 2020, but obviously that's not what happened. Doctors are leaving the practice in droves, and I may be next.

When I heard a story on NPR that there will be a 15,000 pilot shortage in the US annually for the next ten years, I decided to sign up. My grandfather was in the first Chinese naval air force (he was a bomber), and both of my uncles flew fighter jets in Taiwan. It's literally in my blood to fly.

I visited the Tokyo aeronautical museum in 1995 with my dad, and I was the only visitor in the group who landed the plane in the simulator. Granted, I veered off to the lawn from the runway, but it was in the airport. All the other pilots landed in the ocean. Of course, none of us had any flight training.

I plan to start my training in 2023, as I wrap up my medical practice. My class 1 physical is scheduled in two weeks, but I can run a mile in less than 7 minutes and I can do 20 pull-ups. I think I'll pass.

Have you considered becoming an AME and keeping that as a part time gig while you work your way through your certificates and ratings?

I am fortunate to have enough savings to pay my way through training (unlike what I had to do for medical school). I ate in the hospital cafeteria during residency so I paid off all my student loans before I started my career as a doctor. I often ate breakfast cereal for dinner, but it's worth the sacrifice.

Now I have no mortgage and several rental properties to add to my income, plus my wife is the head of IT for her company.

I am definitely not flying for the money. It's for the love of flying.

And this is a cinematic portrayal of calm under pressure: https://youtu.be/SoqXjGs8ajw

Here is the YouTube video I made narrating the same journey I announced in this thread: https://youtu.be/Xfrwp9GXO0k

I am also a gamer, if any like-minded pilots share this interest. I design games and puzzles on my spare time with my son.

Quote:

Originally Posted by youngmd (Post 3458557)

And this is a cinematic portrayal of calm under pressure: https://youtu.be/SoqXjGs8ajw

It's a darn good thing that you posted a hollywood video of a man having a dream, to explain to a professional pilot board the concept of "calm under pressure," while assuring the professional board that you meet the all-too-critical pilot attribute of "calm under pressure." If someone drops a drink cart on me while I'm ignoring a screaming baby, I'll focus on adjusting my air vent and hallucinating about a telephone in place of the drop-down oxygen panel. Good call.

I thought calm under pressure meant not freaking out when the mother in law stopped by, but fortunately you straightened that out, and it's clear, now. Thank you.

Yeah doctor pressure means calm when the fit hits the shan and someone else's life is at stake. Patient can die horribly, and the doc still goes home early to take the kids to soccer and then out to dinner for date night with the wife later that evening.

That does not always translate to performing complicated time-sensitive tasks while YOUR life is at stake. Lots of doctors die in GA.

No reason a doctor can't be a good pilot and perform under pressure, but it seems to be a common fallacy that they don't understand that it's different when it's your butt on the line. Might want to think hard about that. Airline pilots (in the US) have already run a professional gauntlet where they got probably scared and learned something about themselves. Some get scared away from flying. Some just die.

Spray a few seasons. Under powerlines. Steep turns close to the ground. Night.

Sorts all that out.

Quote:

Originally Posted by JayMahon (Post 2757174)

Hey all. I'm a 38 y/o who has spent the last 20 years managing supply chain and financial companies. I flew a lot back in high school (pre-9/11). Loved it. Sat in a flight simulator at a virtual reality store and the itch came back. Went up in a Piper Cherokee (low wing) and the addiction is strong, also the GPS technology feels like cheating.

I just drew the short straw and my branch is being closed due to lease conflict with the landlord. The financial industry is shrinking as more and more content is being offered online and my company has no open positions for me to fill.

So I had been wrestling with the thought of dropping $$ into my flight training to cert up and really do flying full time. I've got a local flight school that can get me up through MEI and there is a large college nearby with a large aviation program looking for CFIs. I'm thinking this could be a great launch pad to a regional.

I've got no illusions that I'm coming at this a bit late in life. I don't need to fly a wide body as a captain making the big bucks. I'm in fantastic health, so no issues getting a 1st class medical. I know money will be tight, but the hiring environment is so much different than what I remember from the late 90s. CFIs make more than fast food wages. Regionals pay their captains 6 figures. Many regionals can promote you from FO to Captain in just a year or two.

So for those currently training and those who are living the life, what's the weather like? What things might I be missing? You're advice and feedback are welcome.

It's actually been reading over these forums for the past month and doing a metric TON of research in challenging my assumptions that has gotten me to this point. So, thank you all for the information you post on this forum and website. It's been extremely helpful.

Thank you for this post. I also am 38 and looking to make a change. I am starting from zero though. Question for the group though. I live in Orlando and have a 141 school near me with an accelerated program. Am I in dreamland in setting a goal to make it to SWA and Capt someday, or do you think its achievable even with starting from zero now? SWA is my goal because I can stay here in Orlando as my whole family resides here. Just curious if its possible or if Im aiming to high. Also thanks for all the pitfalls listed throughout this thread to help keep things real with this decision.

Quote:

Originally Posted by JohnBurke (Post 3459153)

That must have been a bad joke, because no one is laughing.

Garden State still has the best soundtrack though.