Career change question.

[chaser]

Hello,
I am 36 years old holder of CPL with a young family currently working 9-5 office job. I opted for CPL license few years ago instead of PPL so I could be a safer pilot and I had a financial opportunity to do so...Recently I started thinking about career change since I enjoy flying and I see many of my former instructors and club members flying for airlines. I mean every time I hear about someone I know making it to Jazz or Air Canada makes me miserable and I start asking myself why didn't I continue to MIFR and keep going at it...
I make $60K at my current job and as far as I know it won't go higher than$70K at the end. I am aware of low pay at the beginning stages of pilot career...
Any of you were in this situation? I wonder if at my age I can still make it happen and get to a comfortable job flying (airline or corporate)?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
THANKS

[North Shore]

I think you've picked a tough row to hoe...

Depending upon how the industry goes, you are ~ 5 to 7 years, perhaps more, away from getting to your goal. Will your spouse put up with that? Will you put up with that. It's one thing to live in a place where you are comfortable, with friends and family around, but in a reasonably paid job that you hate, and another to move away from all that, and take a ~ 50% pay cut to do so. Perhaps your spouse has a portable job (Teacher? Nurse? Exotic dancer? ) that will enable you to fill the salary gap?

On the bright side, I'd like to think that employers would look at you a little more favourably than the 'average' 25 year old CPL/MIFR job searcher. You're a little more stable, and probably less prone to making rash decisions...

That all being said, I worked a few years back with a guy who was in his early 40s, who had done what you are thinking of - chucked in the towel at a different, unsatisfiying career, and gone flying. His first job was on a 1900, the second was a 737...

Proceed carefully, and good luck!

[floatingbeaver]

As previously mentioned yes it can be done. I got my commercial at 33 yrs old, left a job making 100k worked the first season on dock andflew empty legs, second season started on 185 and beaver third season was chief pilot. Did a total of 6 seasons on floats and skis and loved every minute of it. Switched to wheels after 6th season as there was a great opportunity for me, work year round for better money. Lucky I did as my previous company ended up folding 2 years later. After 12 years I am almost back to my 100k a year and doing something I love. I did it as a single dad of a 3year old. So if your wife is supportive and you guys don't mind moving it can be done. I got no regrets it was a bit of a tough road but at least you already have a commercial. Best of luck!

FB

[Canadian Skyhawk]

Chaser,

It's definitely doable. And you're still very young........relatively (I'm over 50). There are only three things you need to be 100% positive about before taking the plunge:

1. Money: It will cost you $$$ to get your MIFR. Can you afford it? You will eventually get your first gig working the ramp, flying parachute drops or perhaps even instructing. Can you afford the lower (read "ridiculously low") salary you will receive compared to your current job?

2. Wife / Family: Will they support you? Will your wife tolerate you living the financial life of a starving university student? Will she put up with either moving to Big Teepee, Saskatchewan for your first Navajo flying job or put up with your 20 on / 10 off schedule where she'll only see you eight days a month for a year or more?

3. Perseverance: You know yourself best, so be honest with yourself: Do you have the perseverance to stick with it for the next 3 to 5 years or longer until the first "tolerable" flying job comes up? This means that you are prepared to stick it out in crappy crew houses, away from your wife and family, flying often poorly maintained aircraft that are older than you, and living in Middle-Of-Nowhere, NWT ?

If you said yes to ALL of the above, then you may have a chance to make it. Pilot salaries are actually coming down in Canada over the coming years (Sky Reg taking over from Jazz, Georgian taking on some mainline AC routes and equipment, etc.), so it may be a LONG while before you make more than the 70K that your current job should provide you.

I quit my "other" career four and one half years ago at age 46 and began taking flying lessons full time. Within one year, I got my CPL / MIFR, within two I was flying right seat in a Navajo, within three got hired by an all-turbine 703 carrier. Today I am a King Air captain and am based in the city of my choosing. To say that I've been through a meat grinder would be an understatement, however the satisfaction I receive each day I fly my passengers is priceless. But I think you already know that, otherwise you wouldn't be asking your question.

Talk to as many pilots as you can and be honest with yourself: Will you make it through the sausage grinder that is the Canadian pilot training machine over the next few years? Only you can answer that. But it is entirely doable.

Happy Flying!

[radarbeam]

Hey Chaser,

At least there's two of us in the same boat! At age 34 I am making an descent living working ground ops for a big cargo airline, I stopped flying 10 years ago after 150 hrs and just shy of the CPL written and flight test. Most of my buddies from the flight training days are now flying regional/main line.

I'm back in it now, studying hard for the written and the MIFR. I still work part time at my job and study the rest of the time. The route I will take after that is still undecided (CFI or try to get up North) but time will tell.

With the support of your family, your finances lined up and a good dose of perseverance, I think your odds at success are very good! Hey, at least that's what I keep telling myself!

Best of luck!
Radar

[dave_091]

I am in the same boat. 32 years old making just shy of 80k a year and I love flying! I own a piper cherokee and I can't get in the air enough. I should have my cpl this summer.

I'm very comfortable in my current job and my pension (military) is unbeatable. I won't be able to become a pilot and put together retirement savings that will come anywhere near matching my current pension entitlement.

So for me the choices are: stay in the military and keep flying privately gaining hours relatively slowly. Retire from the military at 47 with a 50% pension and try to get a job in aviation as a pilot then; or

Get out of the military now, collect a 110k severance (before taxes) finish off my MIFR CPL and Work my ass off to get a flying job somewhere.

I am very hesitant about choice two because obviously it's riskier, but at the same time if I manage to pull it off successfully I will be a much happier more fulfilled person.

So, play it safe and fly for fun until the age of 47 and begin a "second career" in aviation with a 40 k pension as a back up OR risk everything and go get a pilot job now. It's a very hard decision for me to make. Obviously the longer I wait the more appealing the first choice is.

[Meecka]

Go with option one.

I don't fly, I fix. But if I had had the option to pay into a pension earlier in my career, I would have ripped my own arm off and beaten the line out of my way to do so. Many people forget about when you get sick of working, focus on immediate gratification. You will want to retire, and believe me, putting the money asside on your own, while working in aviation is one hell of a hard row.

[Diadem]

...if I manage to pull it off successfully I will be a much happier more fulfilled person.

You might think that now, but eventually it'll lose its luster. It becomes just another job, and dragging your ass out of bed at five a.m. to fly to Buttlick Falls for the tenth time in a week gets old. It can certainly be better than most jobs, and I'd rather be looking out a cockpit window than sitting in a cubicle, but don't think that your present enthusiasm for getting in the plane will continue when you're not in charge of when and where you fly; once you start to see it as a job rather than a passion, those low pay cheques might get you second-guessing your career decisions. I'm quite envious of the guys who get to go out and buzz around wherever they want because they have the money to do it, and more than once I've wondered if I wouldn't be better off in another profession with the money to do the things I want to do instead of spending most of my time doing paperwork and handling cargo.

[Outlaw58]

...if I manage to pull it off successfully I will be a much happier more fulfilled person.

You might think that now, but eventually it'll lose its luster. It becomes just another job, and dragging your ass out of bed at five a.m. to fly to Buttlick Falls for the tenth time in a week gets old. It can certainly be better than most jobs, and I'd rather be looking out a cockpit window than sitting in a cubicle, but don't think that your present enthusiasm for getting in the plane will continue when you're not in charge of when and where you fly; once you start to see it as a job rather than a passion, those low pay cheques might get you second-guessing your career decisions. I'm quite envious of the guys who get to go out and buzz around wherever they want because they have the money to do it, and more than once I've wondered if I wouldn't be better off in another profession with the money to do the things I want to do instead of spending most of my time doing paperwork and handling cargo.

Well I can't say that`s reflective of the whole profession. A very wise friend of mine once said to me: "If you're not having fun flying, then you're doing it wrong!" I started flying 29 years ago and enjoyed every bit of it except for the foolish 5 years when I tried something different (which prompted my wise friend to say those words to me).

There is a wide variety of types of flying and not one best type of flying. Airlines is not the end all be all of flying. It certainly afford those who stuck with it long enough with a lifestyle, salary and quality of life that will make most other pilot drool at the prospect. But one has to also recognize that once you start looking at the profession in its entirety and not just in ways to get to the top of the airline food chain, your "enjoyable" career path options open quite a bit.

That being said, the pilot lifestyle is not for everyone and for some, flying will never be fun no matter how you do it.

My 2 cents,

JP

[Diadem]

Well I can't say that`s reflective of the whole profession. A very wise friend of mine once said to me: "If you're not having fun flying, then you're doing it wrong!" I started flying 29 years ago and enjoyed every bit of it except for the foolish 5 years when I tried something different (which prompted my wise friend to say those words to me).

There is a wide variety of types of flying and not one best type of flying. Airlines is not the end all be all of flying. It certainly afford those who stuck with it long enough with a lifestyle, salary and quality of life that will make most other pilot drool at the prospect. But one has to also recognize that once you start looking at the profession in its entirety and not just in ways to get to the top of the airline food chain, your "enjoyable" career path options open quite a bit.

That being said, the pilot lifestyle is not for everyone and for some, flying will never be fun no matter how you do it.

My 2 cents,

JP

That's certainly true, and I'm not aiming for an airline job; I'd be happy in a 172 if the flying was interesting and the lifestyle was good. More and more, though, I'm finding that I'd rather be home with my family than flying someone else's airplane, and I look forward to the weekend as much as everyone else. I still enjoy the flying, although always going to the same destinations gets tiresome, but all of the paperwork, towing, washing, loading, and dealing with belligerent passengers can negate the pleasure I get from being in the air. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing else I've ever wanted to do, but sometimes turning a passion into a career can wear the gloss off of that passion. If you want to be a pilot because you like the technical aspects of the job, you have a realistic expectation of working conditions and pay, and you know it's not all sunshine and roses, then go for it; on the other hand, if you're doing it because when you're at work you dream about getting into the air and you think it'll be like that when you work as a pilot, you might be quite disappointed. When I'm at work, I dream about going camping or fishing, but that doesn't mean that those would be good careers for me.