Another old guy trying to fulfill his boyhood dreams

[toddnorrish]

Hey all,

Other than my first thread to say "Hi", this is my maiden voyage in this forum. I want too throw my hat into the ring by telling you my story.

Spent four years in the Marine Corp in the 80's. While in, picked up my Private and Instrument. Upon getting out, I continued my march to being a professional pilot by attaining my Commercial, SE and ME, with the instrument rating. My total time to date is right at 400 hours, with about 60 ME and 35 of that being good turbine PIC time. This time in a King Air strongly reinforced my desire to fly for a living. This was in the early 90's. I reflect back on those days, in my early and mid 20's and realized that I was my own worst enemy in my pursuit of an aviation career. I was immature and arrogant, and believed that I would never make it because I was and would always be a victim of reverse discrimination. I was also slightly more interested in the fairer sex, enough so to accidentally procreate. That being said, I knew that in starting a family my flying career had come to a screeching halt. Shortly there after, my wife who worked for SW Airlines and I decided to put in for a transfer to the Portland OR area. By this time I was 30 years old and did not know what I was going to do. I fortunately fell into the building trades and ultimately bought a small construction company. I begrudgingly made it work for over 10 years. The last two years however, I have seen the writing on the wall and stood somewhat idly by and watched my company crumble.

Now I am a man of Faith, and I believe that I have been Divinely led back to what I was meant to do. FLY Baby FLY. This is how it happend. I finally accepted that fact that my construction company was done and I needed to find somthing to support my family. My thoughts have been that I am not qualified to do anything beside swing a hammer, and to a lesser degree, fly. Flying was out of the question, I was sure.

I got a call from a retired Horizon pilot who we built a riding arena for. She is now an FAA flight examiner. We were discussing the dire straights that my company was in, and she asked what I was going to do. I told her that I didn't have the slightest idea. She then suggested that I get back into aviation. My initial thought is that she had fallen and hit her head, because there just couldn't be any merit to this suggestion. Upon getting home and doing a little research however I realized how wrong I was. The next day, we started a big roofing job for a younger couple. We got to talking and low and behold, both he and his wife are Horizon pilots. He told me that with my experience, it would take little time and money to find myself in the right seat of something soon. This has all come to be in the last 5 days. I am still reeling from all this exciting information. You can now see why I believe that this was meant to be.

My question to those of you who are still with me is this. Based on the above experience level, the fact that I am 43 years old and have not seen a cockpit for nearly 15 years, what are your opinions of how I should pursue this revisited career choice. My wife and I are fully prepared for the financial hit we will be taking, and have agreed that for the opportunity to fulfill this longtime dream, far outweighs finding my way into a job that I hated, and be miserable doing. I swore that I would never be able to work for anyone else unless I was doing what I love. Now, the opportunity has come and I am anxious to hear some feed back as to how you would do it.

God Speed
Todd

[Lead Sled]

I'm sure more helpful responses are on their way. Just wanted to say I think it's great. I'm in a similar boat, 32 and seriously considering spending the next year or so (and a ton of money) to start competing with 20 year olds for a shot at making a third of what I get now....but I'll go crazy if I spend much more time in an office building.

Good luck!

[aloft]

Hi Todd, welcome to JC! You're well situated to chase your dream; with all your ratings already bought and paid for, all that's necessary will be to get proficient again and gain a bit more experience. Horizon's hiring mins for pilots are 750 hrs total time plus 50 hrs multiengine, but they require 60 hrs logged within the past 6 months, as do some other companies. Here is a link to a list of hiring mins for other airlines. You'll certainly want to get your IFR chops back, which may prove challenging as the Pacific Northwest has entered icing season.

Making the jump to an airline career at 40 is certainly doable; several JC'ers have done it and I'm working on it myself, currently 40 and working in a timebuilding job.

Good luck!

[toddnorrish]

Thanks for the good info. I had found that link to hiring mins. previously. This was one of the resources that I found that absolutely shocked me. The hiring mins. and the ability to find them, pre internet were a lot higher 15 years ago. I would have never guessed that they would ever be this low. Thanks for your encouragement.

God Speed
Todd

[aloft]

Oh, wait...I just saw that you said you were 43, not 40. Forget the flying career, you're totally screwed.

[parmandjack]

Originally Posted by aloft

Oh, wait...I just saw that you said you were 43, not 40. Forget the flying career, you're totally screwed.

You do know he's kidding right ???

...FYI, I'm 44 going on 45, and I am just starting out too..everyone sez the age is not a problem...

BTW... Welcome.

Cheers.

[Lee D]

Get cracking on those hours. I'm sure there is a flight school nearby that might get you your CFI etc. If you have connections at Horizon, I would get yourself up to their mins and see if you can't get on over there. Still close to home and from what I hear, an overall a good place to work.

Get ready for a major lifestyle change.

[bigcat]

Toddnorrish:

Go for it! I am 42, tired of cubical life. And I too hope to throw my hat in the ring soon. Sometimes you just have to punt the ball and see if you can reposition yourself for a new day.

Sounds like a matter of getting back in the cockpit, preparing for interviews, etc. You have good experience and background that seem to make you marketable for a flying career starting with regionals or corporate. You owned your own business, military, good flying experience (especially King Air), best of all good attitude, and more. those are all good selling points.

Opportunity awaits you and your preparation. The other JCers are giving you great advice and encouragement.

Once you get your plans laid out, Go for it!

Hope to see you on the flight line one day.

[BillErvin]

Your never to old, well it might be a little tougher if you were 60

Heck, I'm 50 getting ready to retire out of Federal Law Enforcement, and thinking seriously about it. I'm a 600 hour PP with Inst. looking at going to one of the 90 day +/- wonder schools. With my retirement I could afford more than ramon noodles as a first year FO If nothing else I could do the CFI thing, and right now would probably make more than a first year FO.

At 43 you still have 22 years to fly with the new 65 rule

Bill

[bunghole]

Todd,

I was curious about the current biz you are in. What was the demise of you business slowing down so much? Lack of customers or lack of interest? Are you near Portland area still and how is the quality of life there?

Good luck on the possible career change!