Thank you in advance for taking some time to read my post, I really appreciate it.
Although I have MANY questions, concerns, comments, etc., I want to keep this fairly short in order to save everyone’s time! I graduated from ASU in 2016 and immediately went to work in software sales. I quickly realized that IT/the tech industry was not where I wanted to be for the rest of my career. I have been highly considering flight school and aviation in general for a little over two years now. The majority of my time has been spent trying to figure out the finance side of the house and how I would make it work. I believe I have finally formulated a plan as to how I will overcome that hurdle which has really put me in a spot where I want to go for it.
My main goal is to make it to a major airline within 10 - 12 years. Just from reading a lot of the other posts and talking to other ATP students/current pilots, this no easy task. I am up for it. Here is my concern, when I was 18 years old, my drivers license was suspended. I had accrued too many points on my driving record under the age of 18 (with the last ticket being 1 week away from my 18th birthday), which lead to my license being suspended. These were all speeding related violations, I have never had a DUI. I have only had one other speeding ticket over the age of 18, and this occurred when I was 22; I am 26 now. I realize how silly I was for speeding and for not learning my lesson after the first ticket. I have definitely slowed down and fixed the problem. Will my driving history, especially the suspension, prevent me from being hired by a regional or major airline? I am ready to incur the debt, put in the work and make this lifestyle change, but I can’t say I would make the plunge if my chances are shot because of my mistakes.
Again, I really appreciate everyone’s time and input!
I always recommend contacting the airlines directly about these types of questions to get their input, but my opinion, you should be okay. However, you need to do everything you can to not get any more tickets. The more time accrued without a ticket the better.
You will need to be honest about your past and I advise that you take full ownership. One thing to always keep in mind is that nothing is guaranteed in this industry. Some pilots with perfect records never make it to the majors.
You received so many tickets before 18 your license was suspended. You then say “I have only had one other speeding ticket over the age of 18, and this occurred when I was 22” so clearly getting your license suspended taught you nothing. IF you possibly finally realized that disregarding the law isn’t worth it than you’ll be fine. If not you won’t and you’ll have no one to blame but yourself. That means squeaky clean not “I only had…” anything. The airlines are highly regulated and they don’t like people who can’t obey the law.
Thank you very much for the time and response. Before jumping into anything, I will heed your advice and contact a few airline recruiters to run it by them as well.
I take full ownership of my actions and have made it a point to be much more mindful of the posted speed limit!
Thank you again, gentlemen, have a great rest of the week!
I do not see this as being a big deal for you, provided you keep your record absolutely clean moving forward. By that I mean not a single parking ticket, let alone speeding tickets or suspended licenses. I wold recommend contacting the recruiting departments of several airlines and asking them about this directly.