Is 26 years old too late to start a CIV flying career?

[FN FAL]

yea, i may do that. I do have a bachelors degree, and fedex will pay $3000 a year for further education, which includes flight training. Only stipulation is it has to be from, let me see if i can remember this correctly, a PAR 121 or 141 school, whatever that means........wont cover all the costs, but its definately something.......

Can you do it in vacations? Get your writtens out of the way in advance and then take two weeks off to do the training and the practical?

I think with prior planing and a what not, you could do a private in two weeks. Then kick back, build some time on your own, then when the vacation and the schedule lines up, hit the 10 day instrument on vacation. You could do two weeks in the fall for private at 141 school, then after you rotate into your next alotment of vacation jump right into the instrument. It would take planning and a little bit of common sense...obviously doing it during peak would not be an option. See if you don't have a 141 school in your neighborhood.

 

[urflyingme?!]

Part 141 is a kind of school that is a little more strict than average, which is part 61. Part refers to the Code or Federal regulations, Aviation is under Title 14, parts are basically speaking the different parts of the rules. For example Part 121 covers "airlines", part 61, and 141 are two different sets of regulations for training. You'll be all to familiar with them in short order!

 

[Vladimir Lenin]

26?
you gotta put some effort into it...how are your savings? can you move out of state to teach?
go to ATP, do their 90 day program (which according to many works rather well) and start instructing...if not for them, for someone else
you'll have a ton of multi, and if you stay with them, ExJet may hire you with like 600 TT

in 6 months you could be 40 grand poorer, but making 22 Gs in the right seat of an RJ....

pick yer poison, and whatever you do, it will probably be wrong

welcome to aviation

 

[CapnVegetto]

Whatever you do, don't PFT. You'll get screwed out of a bunch of money by people that don't care. Happened to a buddy of mine. One thing that people never tell you about PFT is the fact that it SEVERELY LIMITS YOUR OPTIONS. If you get hired, great. If not, you're out $60 or $70K, on the street with 300 hours, ink still wet on a commercial ticket, no CFI, and NOT QUALIFIED TO DO ANYTHING. Then you have to shell out another $10K or so to get your instructor ratings, and you end up spending twice the money for nothing.

Keep your job, get your ratings. Hell, you've got a LONG way to go. 34 years before you hit the age 60 rule, and don't rule out corporate flying, for which there is NO age limit. I'm just 27, so I still have the airline option, although I don't think I'll take it, b/c it's just not for me. Take your time, get your ratings at the local FBO, don't quit your Fed Ex job. You're actually in a LOT better shape than most of us. If you're smart, your 'paying dues' can not be so bad b/c you've got plenty of money saved up, and very little debt.

Best of luck to you, feel free to PM me for any questions!

 

[rchcfi]

I was in your exact same boat a few years ago. I had worked for Southwest for 8 years in Operations and finally said "I really want to fly!" This is where I made the mistake and quit outright to get my CFI and start instructing. I wish I hadn't but you have to live with your decisions.

I echo everyone else's thoughts of keeping your current job and fly on the side. This way when you get to that level of 800-1000 hours without being able to find a job, you already have one. Also, when you get up to those times, be prepared for a lot of disappointment from the resumes that get no responses. And then, once you get to the magic 1200, be prepared to make $15K a year flying crappy equipment in the worst weather. Eventually you'll get there and it should start improving. You just have to make sure you can survive the first 2-3 years of your flying career.

Oh yeah, and I made my "career change" at age 29.

Good luck!

 

[Hemispheres]

I was in the telecommunications business for 17 years. At the age of 39, my position within the company was eliminated. I had a chance to accept a position with another company for a better salary doing the same type of work. The day before I was to start work I was advised my hours were 6pm to 6am. We were to update the communication wiring in one of the Federal Reserve banks and we had to be locked in the building. I said no thanks and went to work as a flight instructor at a 135 operation. To make a long story short, I was offered a position with Comair during the summer of their strike. I declined that offer and at the age of 46 now flying a Citation Excel. When I turned down the above said job, my salary was reduced by thirty one thousand dollars that year alone and still having a mortage and three kids. Synopsis. Go for it.

 

[ceo_of_the_sofa]

Hey, you could still retire as a 65 y/old cappy at a comfy regional

 

[RockyMnt1]

Don't stop what you are doing now

If you work for FedEx Express check your employee handbook,.the tuition reimbursment program does include flight training, but only after you pay for your private certificate. The private certificate does not have to be at a Part 141 school. In order to qualify for tuition reimbursement, the remaining certificates and ratings must be at a Part 141 school. Part of the paperwork required is a copy of the Part 141 certificate.

Stay at your current job and do the flying during off hours. Not only will you be earning great money, getting vested, and builiding vacation time. Also, you will be building something called a retirement account.

To save even more money, self study for the wriiten exams. Gleim, Jeppeson,and King all have self study courses available. You can start this right now with very little investment. There are great books out there to help with this effort. When you take your commercial wriiten exam, also take the AGI (advanced ground instructor) and the CFI (flight instructor) (same bank of questions). When you take your instrument written, take your IGI ( instrument ground instructor) and CFII (again, same bank of qiuestions). The exam results are good for 2 years.

One note on flight training. What you learn at the beginning will be the building blocks for later training. You don't want to have to unlearn things and relearn them correctly. Don't skimp on the training. Interview the instructor. Look for experience and competent teaching techniques. Ask the pilots for recommendations.


Keep throwin' those boxes!!
FedEx used to have a program that allowed pilots with 800 hrs TT to fly right seat inthe Citation (certified single pilot IFR) so that newbies can gain flight time/experience. Since FedEx converted to the Lears (certified 2 pilot IFR), that program has gone out of the window. This program was used by several folks to transition to the flight line from other areas. I know of no such transition program today. At some point you are going to have to leave FedEx to get your turbine/PIC flight time, unless things change.

 

[Metro752]

http://www.faa.gov/pilots/become/handbook/

The FAA website has changed a lot.

Airplane Flying Handbook is here
http://www.faa.gov/library/manuals/

Lots of good free stuff on the FAA website.


If you want to look at sectional charts, check out www.myairplane.com and using internet explorer you can navigate the sections. You'll want to have a broadband connection to make it work your while.

 

[learflyer]

Is 33 too late to get OUT of Aviation?

 

[comander]

http://www.faa.gov/pilots/become/handbook/

The FAA website has changed a lot.

Airplane Flying Handbook is here
http://www.faa.gov/library/manuals/

Lots of good free stuff on the FAA website.


If you want to look at sectional charts, check out www.myairplane.com and using internet explorer you can navigate the sections. You'll want to have a broadband connection to make it work your while.

exelent links thanks!

 

[Ailerongirl]

What was that website that had free practice tests? Someone posted it a while back, but my computer has had a lobotomy since then, and I can't find it in search

 

[bobbysamd]

Age 26

Twenty-six years old is certainly not too old to train and start a flying career. Your Bachelor's degree checks off one square already. Perhaps you have contacts at FedEx that could provide LORs and/or could steer you to the right places.

A professional aviation career is expensive to start, requires a major commitment, and demands big sacrifices. The rewards are very uncertain. There are plenty of people who start their aviation careers and end them at the same airport, without getting anywhere in between. Don't go into to it for the money. You really need to think about it carefully before starting.

Further,

One note on flight training. What you learn at the beginning will be the building blocks for later training. You don't want to have to unlearn things and relearn them correctly. Don't skimp on the training. Interview the instructor. Look for experience and competent teaching techniques. Ask the pilots for recommendations.

(emphasis added)

I second this wholeheartedly. Get the best training that you can possibly afford. Do NOT follow my example of earning ratings with an instructor who owned his own airplane. At the time it was a good idea, but when I got my first job it became apparent that he shorted me on many things. Try to train at an operation where flight training is not a sideline.

Finally, briefly, P-F-T means "pay for training." P-F-T is an employment issue. A pay-for-training situation is one where a company might offer you a job but as a condition of employment one is required to remit money to the company to pay for one's training. P-F-T boils down to buying a job.

At least one regional airline, a number of freight companies and at least one charter company that I know have P-F-T programs. You can usually tell if a company is P-F-T if its advertising talks up "First Officer Program," "First Officer Training Program," "Build Quality Time for the Airlines," etc., or "Guaranteed Interview," etc. P-F-T is aimed at people who believe that they can bypass professional aviation's traditional timebuilding and experience-building process. Aviation is a conservative and traditional industry that frowns on short-cutters and end-runners; accordingly, pilots who have built their experience traditionally loathe those who try to end-run the system.

Once more, run a board search of "P-F-T" for as many discussions as you might care to read on this issue.

 

[cforst513]

Once more, run a board search of "P-F-T" for as many discussions as you might care to read on this issue.

Like I said, it'll take you 2 years to read all the threads on PFT. Good luck, tho lots of good info to be had.