I’m 54, have zero experience I want to become a pilot. This is not a spur of the moment decision as a family friend of ours owns a flight school and my 16 year old is currently enrolled there. I’ve talked with the owner and in a nutshell he said about 3 1/2 years, $50-$60,000 to get to 1500 hrs. I briefly looked around On the forums for this topic and didn’t see anything. I’m sure it is there so my apologies for starting another thread.
Bruce,
This is a question that we get asked a lot and the reality is that it depends on you and what your career expectations are. With starting at age 54, you will most likely never make it to a major airline and will most certainly not be a Captain at one. If you were to start today and trained full time, you could probably be at an airline by the time you are 56, leaving you with several years of flying left before the mandatory retirement age of 65.
As for the timeline, this is ATP’s forum and all of us here are ATP graduates. With ATP, you cane airline eligible in two years. I have zero knowledge at all of your friend’s flight school or what programs he offers. I can tell you that $60,000 sounds way too cheap. Also, how are you going to build your time to get to 1,500 hours? I am sure your friends estimate includes the hours for flight training, but not just pure time building to get to 1,500 hours. Does that price include your Flight Instructor ratings?
Please check out our FAQ section as well as ATP’s main webpage as there is a ton of information on both that will help get you going in the right direction.
Chris
Thanks so much for your quick response. You’ve asked some questions I just don’t know the answer to and that’s why I’m here. I will search around the site more diligently. Thank you again!
Bruce,
The whole process of becoming a pilot is a lot to take in. Check out this link: Pilot Career Guide / ATP Flight School
Chris
Bruce,
If you really want to do this, at your age, you need to drop everything and do the fast track program provided by ATP. It will be the quickest and most efficient path to becoming an airline pilot.
If you started soon, you could be at a regional in 2 years from right now. That leaves 9 years to upgrade and make pretty good money and have a great quality of life as a senior captain. The longer it takes you to complete your training, the less time you have making great money as a captain paying off that loan and stashing money for retirement.
Hannah
Yes, I’m a little confused by the ATP program that says you’ll have your commercial license in 7 months. Maybe I haven’t read enough but what happens after 7 months? If I do this I won’t have to take out a loan, I have the money to do it.
Bruce,
No need to be confused. What you’ve read is correct, after 7mos (training full-time, no work) you will have your Commercial Pilot license which means you can work as a pilot and get paid. What you can’t do is fly for an airline. The airlines require you to have a minimum of 1500hrs of flight time. That means upon graduation you’ll need to build an approx 1250 more hours. The most common route is by flight instructing which usually takes another 1.5yrs on average.
If you’ve got the money to pay for the training out of pocket all the better. Just make certain you also have enough to carry you through that 1.5yrs as instructors don’t make a ton of money.
Adam
Besides going the instructor route. What other realistic jobs as a commercial pilot are possible?
Bruce,
As a low time pilot there aren’t many and it also depends on your area. If you’re near the beach there’s banner towing, near farms cropdusting, the city traffic watch. There are also surveying and light cargo. It’s really up to you to see what’s around in your area.
Adam
Bruce, I’m a year older but have my PPL and working on my IFR. Similar situation but I have no dependents so I’ve built up some savings after a career in IT. Always wanted to fly and pilot friends said the pilot shortage was real (2019). Company was terminating my position locally so I made the leap and started my PPL at a local FBO with plans to go to ATP after that. Unfortunately, ran into various delays including special issuances for first class medical. Then Covid hit and with my parents owning a restaurant and being elderly I told them to stay home and I’ll run it so they don’t have to be exposed. I guess the point is that our age and responsibility we can still do it but it hasn’t been as easy as I thought. If you do go the ATP zero to hero route, it’ll take full time dedication for 9 months but you’ll bang out your ratings. My friends recommended that route but that’s your life. Maybe get your PPL first and train with your son. You’ll want to make sure you can get a first class medical anyway. If you find you and your son enjoy flying, have the time and resources you can buy an IFR trainer/XC plane. That’s the path I’m on and while it’s been expensive to go it alone, I like being able to make the decisions on the aircraft vs the partnership I was in.
Good luck on your decision! If you enjoy a smaller work crew and personal service maybe corporate or charter is something to look into. No mandatory retirement at 65. It’s not an easy decision but I like being at airports or in a plane much better than the windowless data center.