I'm an ex airline pilot who is on furlough but I know I will never be recalled, should I change careers?

Last year I was put on furlough from the company I was working for but since then they have filed bankruptcy and are now defunct. I decided to go back to school and finish up my degree, which is in education, but after seeing and hearing from my friends who are also looking for work as a pilot, there are just no jobs out there. I decided to persue a degree in engineering but after taking some prerequisite courses and talking it over with my counseler, it will take me at least three years to finish. I neither have the money to do this nor the time. I don't know if I can get any more grants or scholarships as I already have one bachelar degree nor do I feel I have the time. I am 55 years old and my entire life has been in aviation, either as a pilot or mechanic. I was a mechanic for 20 years before I dicided to become a pilot. So after finding out that it will take so long to complete and that I will have to take at least 80 hours more of school, I'm not sure what to do. I don't want to sit around waiting for another flying job to come along, which seem to be rare these days and it seems most employers are looking for someone in their 20's or 30's so the competition just seems to be too much and I don't have much chance of getting that job. I have sent out over fifty resumes and I have only recieved one reply which was a thank you but no thank you. The job is still open btw, even though I had all the experience they were looking for. So at this point I am not sure what to do. My instincts say to pack up, move to mexico, buy a boat and take tourists fishing, though I don't know anything about fishing. I have a military retirement so I could live on that down there. But other than that, I don't know what to do.