Am I mental ?

ToneControl

Glorified coach drivers

Looks very boring to me

equalsql

blobb said:

...or even better, get DCS and the mig15 module.

I'm looking forward to the F18  

blobb

Love DCS, I always wanted to fly Sea Harrier, in fact I got through recruitment to the point where they actually wanted me to sign a bit of paper...but I just couldn't do it. I couldn't sign up to the military. Funny you think you are ok with that aspect esp. if you get to play with expensive toys, but when the moment came I couldn't do it. No criticism of others that do, just not for me, killing people for a living.

I may well be investing in the AV-8B module . . . . .  seeing as there is a sale on.

Blackjack

The aviation world is one that I am lucky enough to know a reasonable bit about. I would say get your medical under your belt first so you know what you can or cannot do. I would then start doing some serious research as the job situation out there is still not great. One guy who flies from my club is in his 30’s, has got a frozen ATPL/IR but cannot get a job.  Another friend of mine tried for ages and has eventually got a job but only with a charter operation flying twin piston engines aircraft.  Having said that, he loves it. Considering I am in my 50’s myself, I would not be ageist however I do think that you might struggle to get into one of the airlines with no experience at your age. So often now they want people with type ratings and jet time. However you could well find a job with a freight operator, pleasure flying or charter work.   Having said that, I really don’t want to shatter your dreams.  Have you considered doing an instructors rating and teaching? There are always vacancies for instructors come up and it’s incredibly rewarding. 
I have a friend who flies for BA and my uncle has just retired after a long career as a pilot and believe you me, it’s not a glamorous lifestyle. He is literally an airborne bus driver come computer operator.
If you would like to chat more please feel free to message me.  Aviation has been my life since I was 3 so I might be able to help. Good luck with the medical, and don’t give up on your dream. It’s just finding the right way for you to live the dream! 

p90fool

Whenever I fly I look at the crew and think it must be the job from hell. Apart from about 20 minutes at each end it's no different to being on a submarine, except with hundreds of annoyed/annoying people. 

Do some long haul flight sims in real time in a doctor's waiting room for the full effect. 

Good luck though.

BRISTOL86

In all honesty at this stage in your working life I’d say move on. Realistically by the time you’re fit to be at the pointy end you’re going to be pushing 60. How employable would you really be?

Whilst there are legally no barriers for you, will an airline choose you over a batch of 20-30 something’s with the same skills? 

Personally if you’re sat on enough money to make this a reality then look at a PPL and doing it for your enjoyment not as a career (I know that a Cessna isn’t the same as an A320, alas)

I feel your pain though. By the time I realised being a pilot was all I wanted to do, I was balls deep in debt and my life had taken a different turn. I still wish I’d realised it was what I wanted 5 years earlier and things maybe could have been different. I filled the gap with full blown PC simming for a few years.  

But I'm also well aware that the gruelling reality of the job is a long way from the idea of it, now more than ever. 

Having said all that, if it’s what you want to do and you have the means to try to make it a reality (accepting it could be a lot of money spent for not much result) bloody well go for it. 

Emp_Fab

Danny1969 said:

Much as I like you .... a former heart attack victim who battles with depression wouldn't be my first choice of pilot if I'm honest  

@Danny1969 Nor mine if I'm honest!

I think that is going to be the largest hurdle by far, of a list of seriously big hurdles.  I might manage to get all my licences and certificates but if nobody will give me a job at the end of it then it will all have been for nothing.

The question I have to ask myself is this; Why would an airline employ me over another candidate who is almost certainly going to be younger, with no colour vision issues and no history of a heart attack or depression?  If potential employers only get to see whether I have a Class 1 medical certificate or not and not the actual detail of my entire medical history then it is a level playing field and the only thing going against me is my age.  If however they do get to see your entire medical history then the only way I could see them choosing me over other candidates would be if the rest of them were suicidal epileptics.

In other words - if they were desperate and demand for pilots was outstripping supply.  I'm not sure the market is at that stage yet though if the predictions are correct then that time is definitely coming.  

west

VimFuego

whilst I am someone who is kinda living the just do it, change your career lifestyle, my words of warning would be similar to many above; your age. I had to go self employed as, despite it being against the law, I found a lot of age discrimination. Jobs that I was eminently qualified and experienced for and I was getting the impression I was only getting interviews because the organisation were trying to tick some HR boxes.
Now, I can go what I do self employed, are there many opportunities to play self employed? 

p90fool

A young friend of mine has been battling depression in a crappy dead end job for a couple of years, but she got accepted on a training course as a paramedic despite full disclosure about her medical history. 

It's been the making of her, she's sailed through the training and has been transformed by the the whole experience. She's left home, been signed off the meds, got her own place 200 miles away and was thrilled by passing her final assessment in Friday. 

Yesterday they told her they're "reassessing' her medical history and they may not want her at all. 

We're rallying round to try to prevent a total collapse at the moment, but we'll see how it goes. 

The point is, what they say is acceptable and what they will actually accept is anyone's guess, especially when it's a long training course and the rules can change monthly.

chillidoggy

Classic Emp Fab thread, arguably one of your finest!

Emp_Fab

Eh?  What does that even mean?  What is a classic Emp_Fab thread? 

Neil

I think you should just accept that your time has passed.

I seriously doubt anyone would take on a new pilot aged 60 with your medical background and your inheritance would be wasted. 

As others have mentioned, a PPL course will be very satisfying and is far more hands on with navigating/actually flying the plane than commercial aviation which is really just clicking a few switches and watching screens - the planes are actually landed by computers most of the time!

Jalapeno

Garthy said:

if it goes wrong you either die or get the blame.

I'd say you get the blame both ways, whether you survive or not !

Costs a bit to get a PPL, but once you do other PPL Students pay for all your flying.

(Bloke I worked with, once put in an expense claim for going to Munich and back for 2200 miles @ £X a mile - turns out he had his own Cessana and flew there and back for a 2hr meeting).

EricTheWeary

Hey, this is a guitar forum - surely no finer place to understand thwarted ambition!
I don't really like air travel and have no idea how realistic this is but, FWIW, the thing I learned ( or at least had reinforced) after my redundancy was that it's much harder to aim low. So, if I was applying to be, say, a Tesco delivery driver it's hard because the competition is so huge. If you have a professional qualification and if it's something for which there is a demand you can get on shortlists and if, at some point, you can talk the right talk you'll end up in a job. 
So, I think it's unlikely I'm not sure it's impossible.
 I'd have thought investing some of that  inheritance in something like learning to fly a light aircraft or a glider was a more likely and probably more satisfying outcome. 

Axe_meister

if anything flighing a light aircraft is far more fun than the BIG airliners that generally fly themselves these days.
As you have had a heart condition you will probably not pass the physical medical anyway. 

JezWynd

Garthy said:

It looks fucking tedious if I'm honest, most of the time you'll be above a blanket of cloud or the ocean or flying at night, for up to 10 hours at a time sitting next to a person you may not like, and if it goes wrong you either die or get the blame.

And don't forget the back ache. My dad was an airline pilot for 38 years; started on Stratocruisers as navigator and ended up as captain on 747's before moving to Islanders in his commercial flying twilight years. When he stopped flying, due to medical stuff, he spiralled into ill health and alcohol like many of his contemporaries. Due to the long hours seating in cramped cockpits he had several long periods of intense back pain, locked rigid on the bed for days at a time.

He came from a working class family in Liverpool, his dad was a docker, but he loved flying; from reading Porson's Flying Service at age nine he was obsessed with it, becoming the youngest holder (at the time) of a gliding licence. He was lucky to be of the generation that had free university education (where he spent all his time in the univ air squadron), National Service (in RAF doing flying training in Canada) before gaining employment with BOAC.

I'd say go for it. Spend what time you have left doing something that you love. Work towards getting your private pilot's licence and take it from there. Finding a new lease of life in  your 50's is a great thrill, plus you have experience of life to negotiate some of the pitfalls and the wisdom to navigate around setbacks and problems.

ESBlonde

I don't want to wee on your matches, but:
Given your health scares that are on record I would think you now have bugger all chance of being a bus driver let alone an airline pilot (remember the case of the scottish dust cart driver).
So I would get your ppl, and if you are lucky progress to transport captain (there are a long list of young fit experienced hopefuls ahead of you.
That said,  if you can afford to try then you should go for it. Many youngsters go to South Africa to train in the clear air and then try to become bush pilots for a few years then progress.

chillidoggy

Emp_Fab said:

Eh?  What does that even mean?  What is a classic Emp_Fab thread? 

Oooh, it's hard to define really, but the thread title kicks it off nicely for me, and the dreamworld, Walter Mitty-style scenario of you flying a plane is yet another of your hare-brained schemes that'll never get of the ground. And let's face, you do have a bit of form in that area.

A brilliant thread, cracks me up every time!

LoFi

I'm afraid I'd have to be another one of the realists/pessimists and suggest it would be a waste of time and money if you were actually looking to get a job at the end of it*. Not that I know anything about aviation jobs - it's just that, as you say, why would an airline take you on over someone who's much lower risk and who they're likely to get a much longer period of service out of.

As others have suggested, a PPL would be a hell of a lot cheaper - would it give the same thrill?

(* - If all you want is to be able to say/feel "I'm a qualified airline pilot" (not necessarily as a brag, but for the sense of achievement), then by all means go for it, but it seems like a lot of money!)