Kenny Keller says your mid-40s aren't too old to become a helicopter pilot. The real barrier is money: training costs a lot and entry-level pay is low. If you can afford it, go for it as a hobby or second career.
Hey, it's Kenny with helicopter Line ground school and I want to answer a question. I've been getting a lot lately and it's from gentlemen in, say, their mid-40s. I had one just email me today. He's 45, wanted to change to another career. He's like, kenny, is it worth it? Am I making a good move? And I want to cover the whole age thing across the board as quickly as I can. I've had people solo on their 16th birthday. One of our online ground school members got his private pilot rating and a jet ranger at 70. I don't think you're ever too old to learn the aircraft. You can learn to fly the helicopter, you can learn the ground school, you can learn what you have to know to pass the test to become a helicopter pilot. The biggest thing, if you're thinking about changing careers later in life, some people are going to tell you you're too old. I don't think so. I'm a dreamer, always been a dreamer. I would caution the problem's going to be the money. The money is always the problem for most people when they go to pursue a helicopter career. The training is expensive. There's no way around it. You can try to go to cheaper places and save here and save there and you can save a little bit. But in general, it's expensive to become a helicopter pilot. And then once you start working in the industry, you're not going to make a lot of money. So the biggest caution would be, can you financially do it? I would never tell somebody to hurt themselves financially because I've done it, I've been there and I know what it feels like and it's rough. But with that being said, if you think that you can do it financially as a second career, maybe you've got some money in the bank. Whatever the case is, if you can handle it financially, I would say go for it. Flying helicopters, absolute rewarding experience. They're the coolest machines on the planet. So if you have a desire to become a helicopter pilot, I wouldn't not do it because of my age. You could at least do it for fun. You could possibly do it for a career. It all boils back to the money. So the jet coming in here behind me. So I'm going to wrap this up, be a dreamer, go for it, do it. Caution, money, It.
