Career change at 32 (EU/Spain): Am I crazy to chase the right seat?
Posted by kkerznerman@reddit | flying | View on Reddit | 27 comments
I’m a 32-year-old male currently living in Central Europe, and I’m seriously considering a complete life pivot into commercial aviation. I need a brutal, no-BS reality check from those who are already in the industry, especially pilots flying in Europe/Spain.
My Background & Current Situation:
Age: 32 (will likely be 35 by the time I finish training).
Education/Career: Dual degrees in Law and IT. Currently working full-time.
Family: Married with a young son.
Citizenship: I have Ukrainian citizenship and also unrestricted rights to live and work in Spain.
The Plan:
Because I can’t afford to just drop everything and lose my income, I’m planning the Modular Route over the next \~3 years:
PPL + Night Rating at a local airfield (flying on weekends).
ATPL Theory (distance learning, grinding question banks like AviationExam while working my day job).
Hour building -> CPL/IR/MEP -> APS MCC.
Target: Applying strictly to Spanish bases (Ryanair, Vueling, Wizz Air, etc.) using my work permit.
Where I’m stuck (My doubts):
The Financial & Family Risk: To fund this, I would need to borrow a significant amount of money from a family member (an investor mindset, I'd treat it as a formal business loan). It feels terrifying to flip my family's life upside down when money is already tight. Are the junior first officer salaries in Spain right now (2026) worth this gamble?
The Age Factor: Is 35 too old to be a 200-hour rookie cadet in the eyes of European low-cost carriers? Do guys my age actually get through airline screenings, or am I competing with 19-year-olds who have no grey hair and no baggage?
The "Superhuman" Myth vs. Reality: I’m confident in my technical abilities, I understand systems quickly. But looking at the job from the outside, the responsibility of holding 180+ lives in your hands feels overwhelming. Does that mental weight fade into "just standard operating procedures" once you're in the soup, or do you need to be a fearless superhero to do this job?
The EU Market Right Now: We hear a lot about the pilot shortage. Is it actually trickling down to low-timers in the EU/Spain market, or is the market saturated with fresh frozen-ATPL holders?
Am I romanticizing a mid-life crisis, or is this a logical, achievable business case given my work permit in Spain?
I would love to hear from anyone who changed careers in their 30s, or anyone currently flying out of Spain. Tear my plan apart.
Thanks in advance!
Jazzlike-Air-9903@reddit
I am 27 and female and would love to get into Aviation but I am asthmatic and would also Like to have Kids one Day, any advice?
kkerznerman@reddit (OP)
Advice on having kids? Well, it's actually pretty simple. You just need to find a guy and, you know... spend some time together lol
i_own_5_cats@reddit
not crazy at all, loads of guys start mid 30s modular, age is fine, huge thing is money and unstable hiring cycles, especially in eu… and yeah finding work sucks now
No-Magician1332@reddit
can I get the tool?
kkerznerman@reddit (OP)
Appreciate the response! I’m definitely still weighing everything right now. It’s a massive commitment in terms of both time and money, and it’s a choice that will pretty much redefine the rest of my life. Trying to be as calculated as possible before making the leap.
cptnpiccard@reddit
I think 3 years, to go from 0 to Commercial is whole unrealistic, with a full time job and young family at home.
snuepe@reddit
I wouldn't with your background and family.
boganfromdownunda@reddit
Going the modular route is no doubt the best idea to have an acceptable study/work/life balance.
Keep in mind, the modular route takes the longest. You can start tomorrow and finish in 2030.
It’s an excruciatingly long road, seems never ending, but you’ll finish, and when you do finish, you’ll have another long road ahead for hiring if the job market is slow.
This career needs patience you have never experienced even with kids. It’ll bring you up to breathe and pull you back down again for another couple of months. It isn’t pretty, but a dream is a dream.
I am a flight instructor in Spain with about 800 hours of flight instruction, chucking out CV’s anywhere I can and still haven’t landed a single interview.
Free to answer your questions in DM’s as well OP.
davidswelt@reddit
I would question that career decision. If you are established in law, particularly now there will be interesting questions to deal with wrt to IP (AI training, RAG), ethics, reliability of AI systems, and much more.
Flying is great, but it isn't creative. It is executing predefined procedures (company and legal), again and again, reliably, and working together with a team within well-defined parameters. It is nothing like an interesting career that requires judgment, creativity, and constantly new challenges of you seek them. Also not cyclical, unlike aviation.
As a private pilot, I still like flying, but reflecting on a recent 6 hour trip NYC to Miami, I was just thinking ..6 hours of the same weather decisions I made many times before, talking to maybe 30 different controllers saying more or less the same things. The autopilot kept the airplane along the defined trajectory. I enjoyed the views, but somehow .. not that exciting any more ...
kkerznerman@reddit (OP)
Thanks for the reply! Regarding my career, my path took a bit of an unusual turn: as it happens, I don't work in the field of my first degree (law), nor my second one (IT). I am currently running a small company as its director. As for what you wrote about the pilot profession—that is exactly what I'm looking for! I want a stable, predictable career where most of the complex decisions and situations have already been figured out for me, and I just need to strictly follow the procedures. At the same time, I'd like to earn a solid income and have a job that is a bit more prestigious and interesting than just being a regular desk jockey in a random office. That is exactly why I started thinking about becoming a pilot.
davidswelt@reddit
Well in that case... I guess my comment was helpful too! :-) and in Europe, where you get a right seat in an A320 at 250 hours (or used to), this may be a quicker career change than you think.
Redfish680@reddit
Weekends only for the PPL is going to take a lot of time to begin with. You’re going to have to have all the stars lined up (weather, aircraft availability, an instructor who is willing to work around your schedule, etc.).
Weekends only for the rest of your ratings, as well, or does something change that allows you to be able to fly during the week, speeding up the process?
kkerznerman@reddit (OP)
Thanks for the reply! Yeah, if I do decide to take the plunge and see that I'm getting the hang of the training, I’ll definitely try to fit in some flights during the week as well, balancing it with my day job.
noideawhatsupp@reddit
It’s possible. But keep in mind that Schools are full to the brim at the moment with young guys and girls chasing the dream as well. A lot of them are backed by their parents and others working as CabinCrew / Dispatchers etc.. I see a few career changers like yourself go through the courses but Working while doing the ATPL‘s is really going to take a toll on you (and the family) - especially with a young kid at home. Again it is possible but going to be hard.
The market goes up and down but in Spain even with the right to life and work it will take some time in the best case to get a job..
Source FI/TKI in Spain. AMA if you need anything else.
NegoNikad@reddit
I started when I was 32, started flying at 35 so exactly what you are predicting. You are not old in a sense whether you will be able to pass the exams and learn to fly. This is what I was worried about the most. What eventually made me quit aviation is the impact on the family and overall I didn’t like the company and the lifestyle. It was one of the European low cost companies. Good luck.
cptavril@reddit
I have had students much older than you find jobs. No later than last week, a student of mine, who was 42, found a job flying P-180s in France. That was about 6 months after she finished her training. I'm unfamiliar with your visa, does it give you unrestricted right to work in the EU or just Spain? If it's the EU, it won't be an issue at all. Obtaining an FI rating could be a help, and allow you to work as soon as you're out of school. To give you an idea, FlyBy pays 22 000 euros a year for beginner instructors.
kkerznerman@reddit (OP)
Thanks for the response and the insight about FlyBy! As for the visa, unfortunately, it only gives me the right to work in Spain.
cptavril@reddit
That's definitely going to be a huge hurdle to finding a job as a commercial pilot. But I don't have any experience with those.
nated0ge@reddit
Please take this from a long time FI in the UK/EU who teaches modular.
You have no idea what the market will be when you gradudate. Do not plan around this, nor can you plan around it.
Lets look at aviation in the 2000s-now; we had 9/11, the 2008 market crash, we also had SARs, then COVID, now the fuel crisis.
If you want fly commerically, there is going to always be a large risk of finishing your APS/UPRT at a hiring low, and then you may expect 1 or 2 years of waiting. This is happening right now in the UK due to a massive overhiring in 2024+2025. I expect the hiring in the UK market to pick up again in 2028+.
Aviation hires in cycles, its very rarely a constant stream. If you live in Europe, the primary place to go is Ryanair Group because they have a fleet (650 planes) and a high turn over. It's where all the EASA graduates try to go first. So because of this, choose your APS provider wisely, as some APS providers will give you a shortcut to bypass interview stages, which can help a bit.
With those factors listed above, I generally do not advise taking big loans, as the risk can be moderate/high.
kkerznerman@reddit (OP)
Thank you so much for this insight, especially coming from an experienced modular FI. What you said about market cycles completely validates why I'm choosing the modular route. Even though I’m planning to fund this through a family loan, doing it step-by-step via modules means I won't have to take a massive lump sum all at once. It helps keep the financial pressure manageable if I hit a hiring slump. Your tip about choosing the right APS MCC provider for that shortcut to airline interviews - I’ll definitely keep that in mind when (if) the time comes. Thanks again!
Weekly-Language6763@reddit
I've heard of people who have the right to live and work in a European country have issues with airlines, who'd rather take people who just have a European nationality. Be wary of this, I'd say this is potentially the biggest immediate hurdle.
A pilot shortage is not really a thing, maybe for experienced pilots, but not low hours pilots. Getting into any airline will be very competitive. Flights schools will tell you all kind of bs about airline partnerships and all but until you've at least signed on the dotted line of an employment contract with an airline, it doesn't mean anything. And as far as the market goes in the future, no one really knows what will happen either.
You can check salaries on various websites like pilotjobsnetwork, I wouldn't be too optimistic on the first years of your career. Low cost carriers will also have you pay for your type rating, so that's another major cost to account for.
I don't think your age would be a major issue, as long as you hold the required medical, I've seen new hires of that age. Some airlines may have policies in this regard but that depends on specific cases.
kkerznerman@reddit (OP)
Thanks for pointing that out. Honestly, that is my absolute biggest fear—that even after jumping through all the hoops, grinding for years, and getting the license, airlines will still just blindly prefer an EU national over me.
stickJ0ckey@reddit
Your age is not an issue, but your medical condition is. Try getting a class 1 before anything else just to be sure it makes sense investing 100k+ and months/years into training. Also get a radio license before you start your PPL so you don't run into delays later.
The market is pretty f*cked right now due to schools and airlines promoting a fake shortage of pilots, the first do it so they can sell flight hours and the latter so they have larger candidate pools and offer lower wages. There is no shortage of pilots, the market is saturated well beyond capacity, some people spend years trying to get airline jobs. It's a textbook bait-and-switch scam.
Before using any QB make sure you thoroughly go through all textbooks for each subject otherwise your learning will be much, much harder. Besides, I would not want to fly with anyone who got their license "studying" from question banks, not saying most of them even get in a cockpit anyway, airlines have their own assessment tests and most QB eaters end up getting the finger.
EASA ATPL exams are quite a thing, it takes a lot of time, energy, focus, resources and a very supportive partner over the course of 1-2 years, weekend study might not cut it.
Oh and... there's no such thing as "I'm a natural" and "I already know this shit". Some of the crap in the EASA theory can cause an experienced meteorologist/attorney/physicist/... to run back home tail between their legs. Not a general rule, but still. Eg: I did some years of fluid theory / CFD, electronic engineering and IT yet some of the crap in met, PoF, Nav/RNav/AGK was so f*cking frustrating still.
gl ✌️
kkerznerman@reddit (OP)
Thanks for the detailed response and the reality check! Yeah, getting the Class 1 medical done first is definitely top priority now—no point investing time or money without it. I don't think I'll have any issues passing it, but it's still the smart thing to do first. Also, your warning about not becoming just a "QB eater" and actually digging into the textbooks makes total sense. Appreciate the advice!
Apprehensive_Cost937@reddit
The biggest hurdle will be that you don’t have an “unrestricted right to live and work in the EU”, but only a Spanish residence permit, so most airlines would be reluctant to hire you, if they would even consider you at all. How far away are you from getting the citizenship?
Financially, don’t get a loan for flight training, certainly not for the majority of it. What if you don’t find a job? How would you feel paying off a huge loan for a licence you are not using? Your plan otherwise sounds good, keep working while going down the modular route.
You’re not too old. 40 tends to be the “magical age”, where hiring prospects might become a bit more limited for someone without previous experience.
As for the superhuman goes… that’s a myth. Sure, you need to get through flight training, study a lot, etc., but we all make mistakes, every single day, so far from being a superhuman. The responsibility is there, but you don’t really think about it on a daily basis. All I want to do at the end of the day, is get safely home just like the rest of the passengers and crew, so I’ll do my best to follow the procedures and keep the flight as safe as possible. If I stay safe and alive, odds are others will as well :)
Pilot shortage… no such thing, especially at a fresh CPL level, and arguably there never has been. Sometimes the market is better, sometimes it’s a bit worse. Contrary to what you read here, which is mostly US content, there is pretty much alwayss some hiring of fresh CPL pilots in Europe going on. Goes together with the first paragraph, but you should be prepared to move or commute (if at all possible) for the first job - don’t limit yourself to Spain (assuming you get citizenship), as that will severely limit your opportunities. Being an inexperienced pilot, you can’t really pick where you’re going to work initially, you just take the first job that comes around, and then go from there. If that means flying a clapped out old ATR in cold winter Lithuania instead of your dream of flying a brand new A320 from the beaches of Alicante, well, that’s the real world unfortunately.
Good luck!
kkerznerman@reddit (OP)
Thanks for the detailed response! Regarding citizenship—well, I’m still 10 years away from it, and the countdown hasn't even started yet. I currently live and work in Slovakia, so I just hold the Spanish residency documents for now. Your points about the "superhuman" myth and the reality of the job market (the clapped-out ATR in Lithuania vs Alicante) really hit home. It definitely gives me a lot of food for thought regarding the financial risks and managing expectations. Thanks again!
rFlyingTower@reddit
This is a copy of the original post body for posterity:
I’m a 32-year-old male currently living in Central Europe, and I’m seriously considering a complete life pivot into commercial aviation. I need a brutal, no-BS reality check from those who are already in the industry, especially pilots flying in Europe/Spain.
My Background & Current Situation:
Age: 32 (will likely be 35 by the time I finish training).
Education/Career: Dual degrees in Law and IT. Currently working full-time.
Family: Married with a young son.
Citizenship: I have Ukrainian citizenship and also unrestricted rights to live and work in Spain.
The Plan:
Because I can’t afford to just drop everything and lose my income, I’m planning the Modular Route over the next \~3 years:
PPL + Night Rating at a local airfield (flying on weekends).
ATPL Theory (distance learning, grinding question banks like AviationExam while working my day job).
Hour building -> CPL/IR/MEP -> APS MCC.
Target: Applying strictly to Spanish bases (Ryanair, Vueling, Wizz Air, etc.) using my work permit.
Where I’m stuck (My doubts):
The Financial & Family Risk: To fund this, I would need to borrow a significant amount of money from a family member (an investor mindset, I'd treat it as a formal business loan). It feels terrifying to flip my family's life upside down when money is already tight. Are the junior first officer salaries in Spain right now (2026) worth this gamble?
The Age Factor: Is 35 too old to be a 200-hour rookie cadet in the eyes of European low-cost carriers? Do guys my age actually get through airline screenings, or am I competing with 19-year-olds who have no grey hair and no baggage?
The "Superhuman" Myth vs. Reality: I’m confident in my technical abilities, I understand systems quickly. But looking at the job from the outside, the responsibility of holding 180+ lives in your hands feels overwhelming. Does that mental weight fade into "just standard operating procedures" once you're in the soup, or do you need to be a fearless superhero to do this job?
The EU Market Right Now: We hear a lot about the pilot shortage. Is it actually trickling down to low-timers in the EU/Spain market, or is the market saturated with fresh frozen-ATPL holders?
Am I romanticizing a mid-life crisis, or is this a logical, achievable business case given my work permit in Spain?
I would love to hear from anyone who changed careers in their 30s, or anyone currently flying out of Spain. Tear my plan apart.
Thanks in advance!
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