31 Years too old?

[CalixtoC]

Originally Posted by LoadMasterC141

I come from a long lineage of Military Pilots and always wanted to continue it. After High School, I joined the AF and became a C-141 Loadmaster. After 4 years, I left to get a degree and go back as an officer and pilot. During my tenure in college, my eyesight slowly driveled away to a horrible –3.00 Diopters(Corrected to 20/20 with Contacts). At the time, the military was not granting waivers for laser surgery, so I was out and miserable. To be honest, I would have stayed a Loadmaster had I known I could not fly.

Instead of playing it smart, I took my 3.94 community college GPA and got delusions of grandeur and got myself into Cornell University to study Psychology. Even with the GI bill, I found myself working long hours as a nighttime tractor trailer driver to pay for it all. I ended up graduating with a 1.96 GPA (Yes it hurts me too). After realizing Psychology was interesting but not satisfying enough to go to a doctorate level, I ended up in a career field that I started paying for my expensive school with.

So here I am today, a 31-year-old logistics analyst with a wife, no kids, a $200K Mortgage, and a $70K a year job I like simply for the $70K a year. All I have ever dreamed of is becoming a pilot. I left that dream kicking and screaming like a little kid not getting his way when the military option fell through.

My wife, being the wonderful supporting person she is, has said numerous times that I should go back and do what makes me happy, no matter the cost. So now I am considering it.

I have about 60 hours in single engines (Mostly 152, but some Tomahawk, Mooney, and 172) from years ago, and about a dozen or so takeoffs and landings in a 141 simulator . I know I have a knack for flying. My initial thought is to head to the local FBO here in Temple, TX and finish my private training, and maybe instrument too. This way I could keep my job and my house, for the time being.

From that point, I’ll need to nix the house I guess, and my Beemer tooL, suck up another large loan, and head to a big school like ATP to finish out.

Questions arise though…..

1) Am I too old? Will it hurt my chances walking up to a major airline 8 years or so from now, pushing 40, asking for a job? Has anyone been down this path at my age that can give personal feedback?
2) Even though it was a tough college, and I am personally proud I even made it through competing against rich kids with nothing better to do, how hard is that GPA going to hurt?
3) My eyesight is not even close to 20/20 uncorrected (Correct it is). In the military, this was my showstopper. How bad is it in civvy street?
4) Is it feasible to work slowly over a long period of time, keeping my current job, at local flight schools?
5) Should I look into alternative flight employment outside of the airlines? IE Corporate, Cargo, etc……..
6) Any other considerations I should take into account that I am missing?

I realize this is long-winded, but wanted to paint an accurate picture for those that want to respond. Thanks so much in advance for taking the time to do so.

[Mr.Maximus]

You're never to old to pursue a dream. Who wants to be old and wonder "If". The biggest things are to make sure your 1,000% sure about this and understand the wide variety of sacrifices to your current life-style you will have to make. Also, if not more importantly - does your significant other fully understand the sacrifices that will have to be made in order to make the dream come true? Paint the bleakest picture for her, and if she still gives her nod of approval - go for it.

Take a very calculated approach to it. Set goals that are attainable, but goals that will move you forward as rapidly as possible. For each year you don't have to sit at a regional making lousy pay is an added year at the end of your flying career making good pay. Stay with the security of your current job and money as long as you can, while pursuing all of your flight requirements as aggresively as possible. Be wary of taking out huge loans for training. Some of the first officers I fly with make 20-23K their first year and have massive monthly loan payments.

Consider purchasing an "inexpensive" aircraft to build time up as quickly as possible. I bought a Cherokee 180 for 30k, put 500 hours on it in about 12 months and turned around and sold it for 35k. Got my PPL and Instrument in it - then turned around and bought a Commanche 250 and put another 400 hours in that in 12 months. I sold that for the same price I bought it for, and got my Commercial on that. I then went and added a Multi to my commercial and got some multi time. I got on with a regional where I sat right seat on a turboprop for 1-1/2 years then upgraded to left seat. I currently have 2500tt, 1500 Part 121 multi turbine with 750 of that being 121 multi turbine PIC. Once I cross my 1,000 ME Turbine PIC, I will have the required numbers to allow me to begin applying for the decent flying jobs. My biggest expense during all of the above was all of the fuel I burned (alot) and aircraft mx, ins, and a couple of annuals. This was by far cheaper, and significantly more expeditious in moving the flying career forward. Oh, and I have NO loans to repay, unlike the bulk of the regional guys that have 50k to 100k staring them in the face to be repaid to Key or Fannie Mae or whomever.

To tie this all together, my first flight in an aircraft was January 20, 2002 at the advanced age of 37. In the next couple of months I'll be shooting for and should get a good paying, QOL flying job.

At 31, as long as you and your wife are in agreement and understand the committment and sacrifices that are required - you too can achieve your dream.

Just my .02

[Stone Cold]

Originally Posted by texas_pilot

I became Texas_Pilot long before I found this forum.

I've used the e-mail address "txpilot" since 1993, so I've been using it for a long time also...and as far as I've determined, I was the first to use any version of txpilot/texas_pilot/texaspilot/txav8r/whatever names are out there on JC.