Hi everyone,

Do you think that as a 32 year old, it is too late for me to pursue a career flying? I have always been interested in taking the plunge and pursuing the necessary ratings to make a career switch but life has gotten in the way.

On the plus side:

-No wife/kids to support
-Have the 4-year degree requirement
-Could pay for my entire flight training out of pocket without incurring any debt
-Personality type is such where I do not have a status driven personality (ego would be okay with never making it to the left seat of an international wide-body)
-If I didn't do this I'd likely go to grad-school, so further education is already on the horizon anyway

On the negative side:

-I'm 32
-Have 3 hours of total logged flight time
-Would like to be able to financially support a family in my 40s (which I have heard is very difficult to do as a junior professional pilot)

Would like to hear other's thoughts as to the feasibility of this idea.

32 is not too late to get started. If you drop everything and knock out your training, you could be in a paying flying job in 7-9 months from now. Depending where you go and how fast your first job is, you could be at a regional airline 12-24 months after you finish your commercial certificate/instructor rating.

In my new hire class at a regional, the age range was from 22 years old to 52. Lots of guys in their 30s who were at their first airline job, and even guys in their 40s and 50s starting their first airline job. Most of the guys who were in their 30s were there because it took them that long in life to build up the money to get their training done (including myself).

By the way, depending on where you go, it is possible to make decent money a couple years into this. I'm not saying get rich, but enough to sustain a family.

These three bullets say it all...

You're actually the perfect candidate to do this. I'd say knock out your private certificate locally while keeping you day job. Then, take a leave of absence (if you can) and do a wham bam thank you ma'am course and start building hours as quickly as possible.

If you were three years younger, I'd say go Air Firce Reserve or Gaurd.

Good luck

31 here in a few months, very similar situation, I work in software and I'm actively training to get instrument/commercial/cfi, etc. I wouldn't worry about it at all, many of my instructors were in their mid to late 30s, early 40s.. Never had one younger than 24 (I was only 24 at that time also). All of them are working at airlines now. I'm taking it slow with training to keep out of debt. No debt is a very smart way to go.. I think we will be able to relax and enjoy the career much more this way, and honestly, the pressures of training are hard enough.. No need to add financial pressure to that.
Expect to start out at 15k to 30k as an instructor, 30k- 35k as a Regional FO. Hopefully 65k and up from there within 5 yrs. (Hopefully these numbers increase before we get there) I don't know how anyone else does it any other way (going into crazy debt) without well heeled parents paying their rent and bills, etc. Sounds like you also have a backup career which is also highly recommended in this field. This time in a year or 2, maybe we'll both be instructors!
Get your first class medical and keep it before training to check that box off as well.
Go for it and Good luck!

Retired military, 41 and I am just starting out. There is another Vet at my school that is just starting out and he is 44.

So no, 32 is not too old. Actually, age and maturity may give you an advantage in some of the interviews over some guy in his low to mid 20s.

Got my first job as a 32 yr old FO at a 135 in AK. Making 2400 a month. Don't have CFI. There are options and you should be fine.


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