Flying in India as a pseudo-expat

turbomax97 · July 6th, 2008, 05:02

I'm researching all my options here and my father brought up a good point - I can easily be an indian citizen even though I was born here since he is already a citizen.

I was curious because quite a few of the students that train in the states go back to india with bare CPL hours and are flying aircraft such as the 737 and bigger.

I'm honestly not even sure how to approach this, but it seems to be a good lead.... Any ideas/ experiences?

Victor · July 6th, 2008, 08:46

Yeah this was a good idea for a while,BUT now its getting bad over there also. I applied to Jet Airways when I left ATP and had the chance to go over there. I realized that the industry was in a trial period because of how many airlines opened up. They told me to plan on 22 days on and 8 days off. Now the industry is hurting and layoffs will happen in the next year. If you decide to do it try Jet Airways and Spice Jet. They seem to have their stuff togeather. Hope this help.
Go to thier websites and look at careers.
SpiceJet.com
JetAirways.com
AirIndia.com
Indigoairways.com
Saharaairways.com
GoJet.com
Not sure if these are the exact websites but they are the names of the airlines.

KLB · July 6th, 2008, 11:20

A few of my former students fly for AirIndia and Kingfisher. Be careful with this though. They're getting hired with low times (the bare mins commercial tickets), but they are actually paying for the type ratings. The way that I hear it works is that the companny takes a small portion of every check until you have payed off the cost of the type rating. If you leave early, you pick up the rest of bill.

The license conversion is a huge worthless pain in the butt with a sprinkle of bribery and beuarcracy.

SpiraMirabilis · July 6th, 2008, 17:40

Hey J-dawg, sorry to hear about your SKYW class. I actually have a bit of info on this subject since I taught Indian students for about a year. Basically all you need to do is get your licenses converted to Indian (DGCA.) To do this you have to take several (4?) written tests that are only given in India and only every 4 months or so. The pass rate for these tests is very poor but I am not sure whether or not that is because they're inheriently difficult or just people take them without being properly prepared.

After you've got your written tests out of the way the conversion process is simple if you're an Indian citizen. It less much less simple if you are not. In either case it seems like bribery is a well accepted practice to speed along your conversion processing. There may be a checkride and then again there may not be, most likely not actually. After you have your DGCA commercial multi-engine license it is just a matter of applying to Air India or Kingfisher and getting accepted, which is rather easy right now since they have a shortage. You generally start as SO (737/747/A340/etc) on larger aircraft or FO on small (ATR).

BajtheJino · July 6th, 2008, 18:13

From what I understand all expat F.O's lost their validation May 1st. You have to get a DGCA license to fly.

Piperflyer · July 8th, 2008, 21:22

Well first off go to India and be sure that is where you want to before commiting to anything.

Secondly nobody is hiring unless you have an ATR, A320,or 737 type pretty much.

Also I have been hearing that all expats will be gone by 2010. Not 100% sure on this though.

July 6th, 2008, 05:02	#1
turbomax97 Junior Member Join Date: May 2006 Location: Dallas Posts: 261	Flying in India as a pseudo-expat I'm researching all my options here and my father brought up a good point - I can easily be an indian citizen even though I was born here since he is already a citizen. I was curious because quite a few of the students that train in the states go back to india with bare CPL hours and are flying aircraft such as the 737 and bigger. I'm honestly not even sure how to approach this, but it seems to be a good lead.... Any ideas/ experiences?

July 6th, 2008, 08:46	#2
Victor Junior Member Join Date: May 2008 Location: Charleston Posts: 36	Re: Flying in India as a pseudo-expat Yeah this was a good idea for a while,BUT now its getting bad over there also. I applied to Jet Airways when I left ATP and had the chance to go over there. I realized that the industry was in a trial period because of how many airlines opened up. They told me to plan on 22 days on and 8 days off. Now the industry is hurting and layoffs will happen in the next year. If you decide to do it try Jet Airways and Spice Jet. They seem to have their stuff togeather. Hope this help. Go to thier websites and look at careers. SpiceJet.com JetAirways.com AirIndia.com Indigoairways.com Saharaairways.com GoJet.com Not sure if these are the exact websites but they are the names of the airlines. __________________ 05/02 - Applied OTS 07/09 - Took AT-SAT (92.9) 08/11 - Geographic Pref. (SC,GA) 09/08 - Referral List PubNat2

July 6th, 2008, 11:20	#3
KLB Old Skool Join Date: May 2005 Location: DFW Posts: 2,820	Re: Flying in India as a pseudo-expat A few of my former students fly for AirIndia and Kingfisher. Be careful with this though. They're getting hired with low times (the bare mins commercial tickets), but they are actually paying for the type ratings. The way that I hear it works is that the companny takes a small portion of every check until you have payed off the cost of the type rating. If you leave early, you pick up the rest of bill. The license conversion is a huge worthless pain in the butt with a sprinkle of bribery and beuarcracy. __________________ "Never miss a good chance to shut up!" ATP ASEL AMEL CFI CFII MEI Single Pilot Part 135 Freight Current SA227 and BE99 Former Chieftan 2100+ TT B.S. Commercial Aviation: Flight Operations

July 6th, 2008, 17:40	#4
SpiraMirabilis Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2006 Posts: 1,486	Re: Flying in India as a pseudo-expat Hey J-dawg, sorry to hear about your SKYW class. I actually have a bit of info on this subject since I taught Indian students for about a year. Basically all you need to do is get your licenses converted to Indian (DGCA.) To do this you have to take several (4?) written tests that are only given in India and only every 4 months or so. The pass rate for these tests is very poor but I am not sure whether or not that is because they're inheriently difficult or just people take them without being properly prepared. After you've got your written tests out of the way the conversion process is simple if you're an Indian citizen. It less much less simple if you are not. In either case it seems like bribery is a well accepted practice to speed along your conversion processing. There may be a checkride and then again there may not be, most likely not actually. After you have your DGCA commercial multi-engine license it is just a matter of applying to Air India or Kingfisher and getting accepted, which is rather easy right now since they have a shortage. You generally start as SO (737/747/A340/etc) on larger aircraft or FO on small (ATR). __________________ Yet Another Turboprop FO*

July 6th, 2008, 18:13	#5
BajtheJino Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: MEM Posts: 1,193	Re: Flying in India as a pseudo-expat From what I understand all expat F.O's lost their validation May 1st. You have to get a DGCA license to fly. __________________ Many Shuvs and Zuuls knew what it was to be roasted in the depths of the Slor that day, I can tell you!

July 8th, 2008, 21:22	#6
Piperflyer Junior Member Join Date: May 2004 Location: koa Posts: 150	Re: Flying in India as a pseudo-expat Well first off go to India and be sure that is where you want to before commiting to anything. Secondly nobody is hiring unless you have an ATR, A320,or 737 type pretty much. Also I have been hearing that all expats will be gone by 2010. Not 100% sure on this though. __________________ HY HY!!

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