ski04103934

Hi,

I am currently a 27 year old male from Belfast, UK, My interest in aviation started from a very young age and i remember when i was 11 years of age being on my first commercial flight on my own was the point when i knew this is what i want to do as a career. At the age of 17 i took some flying lessons to work towards a ppl, however i did not pursue this for long since then i have been in various types of jobs in different industries and i am now a Bank Manager for a major banking name, however i have now found a passion again to fly so i therefore took a trial flight lesson at my local flying school and i absolutely loved it i automatically got the flying bug and all i can think about it flying again.

What my question is would it be too late to consider a career as a professional pilot, i was thinking of completing my EASA PPL and then hopefully training for an ATPL which is the biggest goal i have in life, but at the age of 27 would it be too late for me to consider training for this type of career, as i have had a look at different FTO and notice there are a lot of young women/men that airlines are taking on which i think is fantastic but worrying for me?

Any feedback or help on this would be much appreciated.

Thanks

Matthew

rickair7777

Certainly not too late in the US, if you have or can obtain right to work here. In the US you have to pay for your own training ($50K-$80K) and will also need a college degree.

If you're asking about EU, I'd also check out pprune.org...more Euros over there than this forum.

CFI Guy

I also agree, check out pprune. I do have a few buddies in the EU and have been told that unless you are under 25 the airlines don't want you. Also, unless you go through one of the programs at the larger academies (Oxford) your chances are slim to get picked up.

uavking

On Pprune you'll find threads discussing the BA and EI cadet programs. Keep an eye on the open dates for those because they'll give you a defined career path at a major carrier.

ski04103934

Hi,

First of all thank you for your replies,

I have spoke to Oxford academy and CTC two of the biggest main Aviation schools based in the uk they have both confirmed that age is not a matter but of course you need to pass your class 1 medical, British airways future airline programme for example lets people apply up to the age of 55! I was told this is because airlines in Europe/uk are not looking for how long they can employ they want to make sure they take on quality pilots.

Another example I have been given was a 35 year old student at oxford aviation who graduated and joined BA on the B777 fleet.

Oxford also told me that when it comes to airline my life experience will give me an outstanding chance as a mature individual also.

Don't know what way it works in the USA however I plan to do all my training in Britain.

Thanks

Matthew