Expert: D. Norkus - 9/27/2005

Question
Hi Dottie: Thanks for providing yourself as a contact for questions. I am retired military and am needing to make a career change. I have concerns about my prospects because I am 41. What influences that you know of will impact my ability to fly professionally as I continue to age? Do you think hiring will accelerate in the future? Can you recommend flight schools with an accelerated course for someone able to dedicate 100% time to the task? What types and quantities of time (single vs. multi) should I consider preferable in my training? Thanks so much for any input you may have! Steve

Answer
>>>I am retired military and am needing to make a career change. I have concerns about my prospects because I am 41. What influences that you know of will impact my ability to fly professionally as I continue to age?

Your ability to tolerate working for food stamp wages and still suport yourself and your family for a few years! Seriously. (New hire pay is often about $18K.) You also need to be able to be away from home half the month and away for the holidays. If you can deal with that, you are only limited by your ability to get and keep a Class I aviation medical.


>>>Do you think hiring will accelerate in the future?
Hiring in the airline industry is always in flux. As soon as they declare another "pilot shortage" (which is a flight school gimick, BTW), then comes along a fuel crisis or 9/11 and everyone is laying off. The only constant is change. Nothing can be predicted with any certainty in the airlines. This business is going through pains that haven't been seen since deregulation. You can only make your choice and hope things go your way.


>>>Can you recommend flight schools with an accelerated course for someone able to dedicate 100% time to the task?

I personally have no experience with these type of programs. A fried of mine just did the Mesa PACE program and it worked for them and they were hired. Pretty much every accelerated promises and interview, but not a job. If you pass the interview- great. If not you are out the money and don't have enough flight experience to get hired elsewhere. To find out more about accelerated programs go to the message boards and read the hundreds of posts about them (or post your own) at http://forums.flightinfo.com and http://forums.jetcareers.com Those sites are the foremost boards on the net for US pilots and aspiring pilots. Jetcareers.com even has a career changers folder on their boards.

>>>What types and quantities of time (single vs. multi) should I consider preferable in my training?

The higher the multi-engine time the better. Some carriers will even interview you at a lower total time if a higher proportion of your time is ME. The average regional minimum requirements are 1,000 TT with 100 of that being ME.

Check out my page about flight training and pilot career FAQs as well as the link sat bottom. That should provide you with lots of insight and give you a better picture of the career:

www.geocities.com/av8trxx99/FAQ.html

There are also numerous links at bottom for further research. Hope this can get you started. There is so much to know, it is difficult to cover it in this fomat so I hope my page can help give you the "big picture".

Dottie