Regional jobs for a 40-something

[climbhappy]

i agree with many opinions here. no doubt you can getr hired. it you love to fly and can handle the pay. do it. you only live once.

 

[LJDRVR]

Go for it.

I'm 37 and just finished the first week of groundschool at a large regional. I'm the oldest one in my class, but it really doesn't matter. The Younger folks are smarter and have better reflexes, but I've got more jet time, so it all balances out overall. Besides, the "young-old" thing really doesn't matter. There's only 13 years difference between me and the most junior. This being Aviation, we have a whole lot more in common than any differences. As a matter of fact, we don't have a single "dud" in our class. (Except maybe me!) I've been pleasantly surprised what a good bunch of toops we've got in our group.

Take the chance, you'll have fun.

 

[Hose A. Jiminez]

I guess my question would be WHY would you "want" be a new hire at a "regional" in the post 9/11 era.

I was hired at 39, before 9/11. It was cool then, but it sucks @$$ now. Low pay for life? Since I am well into my 40's now I am kind of stuck here. The "majors" (L.C. Pukes do not count) will not be hiring for years. I can't go back to my previous office job because I have no recency of experience.

Yes, my attitude has been severely tainted. I would not recommend this profession to anyone now.

I can only imagine it was your attitude that got you turned down by the "L.C. Pukes".

 

[AviatorTx]

I can only imagine it was your attitude that got you turned down by the "L.C. Pukes".

Actually, I've never applied. I never will. They are the scourge of the industry. I would go back to flying corporate before I ever applied at scabtran or jetblue.

 

[Av8trxx]

I'll also agree that age is not an issue in getting hired. As long as you have the flight time, they will call. What you should consider more is this sentiment

I guess my question would be WHY would you "want" be a new hire at a "regional" in the post 9/11 era.

I was hired at 39, before 9/11. It was cool then, but it sucks @$$ now. Low pay for life? Since I am well into my 40's now I am kind of stuck here. The "majors" (L.C. Pukes do not count) will not be hiring for years. I can't go back to my previous office job because I have no recency of experience.

Yes, my attitude has been severely tainted. I would not recommend this profession to anyone now.

Your age will have a great bearing on your years left to make a nest egg for retirement, esp if you don't have much of one as a mid-life career changer already. My friend got hired at age 46 and declared they were "Living the dream, baby!". Three years later they are leaving commercial flying because they just can't make a good living at the low pay and have what they want to retire at age 60. The flying was good, but the lifestyle was not all they had anticipated it to be after the first 2-3 years....at least as an F/O at a regional and they were not willing to ride it out until it got better. Meeting living expenses was also a constant drain on their savings from the sale of their home when they left to go fly.

QOL may be an issue at low regional wages, esp if you have a family. You could be at the end of a huge hiring spree of 600 pilots, and then there you'll be...at the bottom on reserve, waiting for the next hiring wave to move up.

 

[Snakum]

Fellow old fart here ... turned 40 this year, a PPL and 200 hours in the logbook, always had to stop training for one reason or another. There was always a family crisis, family $$$ responsibilities, and then 9/11 which actually left me homeless for two seperate periods (sleeping in my car and showering at the gym ).

Now I've decided that I may not live my childhood dream (airline flying) because of my age and background (two misdemeanors twelve years ago), but I think I could be happy flying an ATR at MAC, a King Air on charter, or even a Seneca at Ram Air. Since I've built two careers already and lost my @ss each time (divorce the first time then 9/11) I've decided that I'll do what I love to do and if I'm eating dogfood on Social Security at 70 years old ... so be it.

Life's too short to sit around thinking about what you might have done.

Minh