Expert: David A. NewMyer - 7/13/2004

Question
I have been in the industrial safety and hygiene business for 12 years, haing worked for private and public entities.  I have a B.S. and an M.S. I am 40 years old.  I have always wanted to fly.  My office looks out onto an airport and I see planes land and takeoff all day.  Can I start over and develop a career as a pilot at this point in my life?  Is it too late?

Answer
Hi, Jerry:

It is good to hear from you....I will try to assist.

To be honest with you, you are not the first to ask me a question about making a career change into aviation at or about the age of 40.  A career change is something natural to consider at this age.  The practicalities of the career change process are what you have to carefully consider, especially when you are thinking of a flight career.  You will need to provide adequate time (and money) for:

1. Earning your flight certification from the Federal Aviation Administration....this is normally done via a local flight school or, perhaps, a national flight school located in the southern US (Flight Safety Academy, Delta Academy, Southeastern Flight Academy, Pan Am International Flight Academy, etc).  The national schools are listed in Flying Magazine, available at any large local bookstore.  The flight certification process includes earning the FAA Private Pilot Certificate, Commercial Pilot Certificate with Instrument and Multi Engine Ratings and the Flight Instructor (Airplane) Certificate...as a minimum.  The cost of these certificates can run from $30,000 to upwards of $80,000 if you do them at a flight school where you live in residence.  This process can take six months to 2.5 years, depending on how you approach it.  The faster you go, the more money you will need quickly to do it.

2.  After earning your cerficates and licenses you will need to build your flight experience.  The first job that many pilots get is a flight instructor position where you build flight time by teaching others to fly.  This is especially true for those pilots with less than 500 hours pilot in command flight time.  At 500+ hours of flight time, you will then begin to be qualified to be insured by aviation insurance companies to fly charter or air taxi missions in single engine aircraft.  At 750 to 1000 hours plus 100 to 300 hours multi engine time, you will begin to qualify to be interviewed by smaller, regional airlines.  At 1500 hours total time and 500 hours multi engine time, larger regional airlines will begin looking at your.  At 2500 hours+ total time and 500 hours multi engine TURBINE (or jet) Pilot in Command or Captain time, then, the major jet airlines will begin to look at you (or, corporate flight departments).  

At 300 to 500 hours of flight time accumulation per year, you can figure on 5 to 7 years after getting your experience up to where you will be qualifying for a good paying job in aviation.  Until then, you will be building for the future.

So, the question is back to you:  Does this process sound like something you are ready to go through at this point?  Or, put another way:  How badly do you want to make the transition to aviation?  One way to check on how much you want to do this is to take your Private Pilot certificate work locally, without quitting your current job.  Normally, a Private Certificate will cost anywhere from $4000 to $7500 depending on where you live.  So, not a huge investment.....This will help you decide/make sure that you LIKE it....then, if you do, GO FOR IT!

Good luck with your career choice and let me know if I can be of further assistance with another question via AllExperts.com

Sincerely,

David A. NewMyer, Ph.D., Professor and Chair
Aviation Management and Flight
Southern Illinois University Carbondale
http://www.aviation.siu.edu