Expert: D. Norkus - 8/21/2006

Question
I am 38 yrs old. Am I too old to start a career as a pilot with 0 hrs?

Answer
Frederick

While you certainly could make a career change at 38, it will not be easy and you may not get out of it what you expect. With zero flight time, it would be wise to get at least your Private Pilot license first to see how you really feel about being a pilot before you commit grand sums of cash to a career you only think you will like at this point.

Starting from zero hours to airline pilot has been done by people your age, and older, but you have to be realistic about what to expect and what the career entails. Often people say they have always dreamt about being an airline pilot but their perception and the reality of the daily job are two different things. The sacrifices you will have to make personally and financially cannot be underestimated.

What are your career expectations? Lifestyle? Income? You could easily make regional jet captain making $80K but major airline widebody captain making $200K will probably never happen. Please check out my website about training and airline pilot careers at

http://www.geocities.com/av8trxx99/FAQ.html

It will give you a good basic idea of what it's like getting started in the industry so you can see how realistic your 'ideas" about the career are. There are also informative links at the bottom for other career info sites.

At your age, I think you may find the ATP Career Track program of interest. Check it out at

http://www.atpflightschool.com

While there are no guarantees, it may be your quickest route to a job for less than $45,000. The ATP website also has message boards where you can ask questions from "mentors" who have gone through the program. A few are your age, so their perspective would be very valuable to you.

Additionally, try the message forums at http://www.jetcareers.com as they have a career changers folder on their boards. You will also get a lot of input and personal experiences there.

I did my career change at age 33, and without a substantial savings and very little debt it would be extremely difficult to get by. New hire pay is about $20K and it will take several years to get back up to the $40K range. (My website explains pilot pay too.)

I hope these resources can help you in your decision.

Dottie

PS Sorry I didn't answer the same day, but I have been flying and on this trip my internet access was down for 3 days.