ATPL at 40

Even if you have the attitudes and flexibility of a youngster, many employers will assume that you don’t.

They will assume that you will not ‘put up’ with the sort of treatment that a younger pilot will accept.

They will assume that you will be less malleable, and less able to be moulded to fit their particular company requirements.

They will assume that you will be less likely to agree to poor wages, that you may be less flexible as to re-locating, and that you will be more expensive to employ (for example if company healthcare is insurance based).

They will rightly assume that you are less able to learn new things than a younger pilot. They will correctly gauge that you are more likely to have ill-health, and they will realise that you cannot serve them for as long, and therefore cannot give as big a return on any investment they may make in you.

They may have concerns as to how easy younger Captains will find it to work with an older co-pilot.

They may question your motivation. Why weren’t you doing this at 23?

None of that is to say that it is impossible for an older pilot to find work, just that he (or she) will find greater obstacles in their way, and the chances will be more rare.

Edited to add: Ex military pilots will not necessarily face all of these problems, and some companies like to employ them.

I don’t think there is any market for any pilots to get jobs at the moment, regardless of age.

People talk a lot of crap about this kind of thing, however I have heard that smaller regional turboprop airlines are better for older starters…. the older pilot is more likely to want to settle down with their kids, wife, etc in one place for a longer time and less likely to want to move to a shiney jet as soon as they have a few hundred hours.

Go for it, just don’t risk your financial security on it. If you can afford to spend about 40 grand and not be financially ruined if nothing comes of it fine, other wise you could be falling into a ring of fire!

Have you tried to ask potential employers about this?

I have heard about at least one pilot getting his first job at that age. Still, the nature of the market can be a challenge for many pilots regardless of age, I guess.