Formerbuspilot

As mentioned by others, get the ratings using your own plane. Keep working until minimum time to retirement. During that time log as much flying as possible. Upon reaching a time where you can draw retirement, go after the fractionals (are they subject to the age 60/65 rule?). Within a couple years you should be close to the 100K level combining salary and retirement income.


FBP

BurntOut

You say "go after the fractionals". As I understand them "fractionals" are where companies own an undivided share of an aircraft. Does the crew work the aircraft for all the [partial] owners or does each owner have their own crew? How flexible are they and all the "usual questions".

shackone

From Wiki...

The term fractional ownership originally became popular for business jets. Richard Santulli of NetJets pioneered the concept of allowing businesses to purchase shares in a jet to reduce costs — other companies such as Citation Shares, Flight Options and FlexJet soon followed. With a fractional jet plan, members will typically fly in any jet available, not necessarily the one in which they own shares. The management company will reposition jets as necessary and provide flight crews. Companies with greater needs purchase larger shares to get access to more time.

The fractional-ownership concept has since been extended to smaller aircraft and has now become common for single-engine piston aircraft like the Cirrus SR22, which are beyond the financial means of many private pilots. The same concepts apply, except that the management company may not provide flight crews nor reposition the aircraft.

Fractional ownership has played a significant role in revitalizing the general aviation manufacturing industry since the late 1990s, and most manufacturers actively support fractional ownership programs.

Oldfreightdawg

And yes, most fractional companies have crews on staff (no age limit on retirement). Go to this link for more info: http://www.airlinepilotcentral.info/...ractional.html