Getting a pilot job in England/Europe

[Benji86]

Hello to everyone, I am a relatively new member and dont know too many other pilots, especially ones that have more experience in the industry, I have a couple of questions if anyone can answer them,

1. How difficult is it for an American to obtain a position as a pilot in England/Europe

2. Is it ones opinion that a student pilot working towards commercial ratings would not be able to obtain a non flying job (ie dispatcher, resource planner)
Any feedback would be appreciated

[I_Money]

Converting licenses is incredibly difficult and expensive.

[IcarusGR]

I did the FAA/JAA conversion and it is intense.
6 months Ground school, you will need to passs 14 ATPL exams
Then convert your CPL/IR. If done in England you will need around 15,000 dollars. The IR is intense, nothing like the FAA.

Now getting a job as an American? I havent heard of any Americans over here, unless their flying N-REG aircraft. I am American but I also have a Greek passport and work for an airline across the pond.

[athomeinthesky]

First you will need either a EU passport or have to find a European wife to be able to work over there.

As the above post said you have to take an intensive group of exams (14) to get your frozen ATP from the people I know that did it they said it was the hardest thing they ever did. Then complete the flight tests (can be done in florida) but the instrument part of the flight tests has to be done in Europe which is really expensive.

Then you have to compete with all the other European pilots who generally are sitting around waiting for jobs since there is not many instructing jobs over there.

Then you will have to pay for a type rating with alot of the smaller airlines but if your lucky enough (high unlikely) some of the major airlines over there pay for your type rating.

If already have a FAA ATP you still have to take the tests but don't have to take the long distant course.

If you have a lot of hours on a heavy aircraft you can bypass some if not all of the requirements but I'm not completely sure.

[rasec]

For those who fly over there...

how hard is it to find an N reg aircraft?

[unclenobby]

You have a few options - none of them straight forwward.

1: Get all your FAA qualifications and convert as described above. 14 exams, intensive study and a lot of money on the MEIR in Europe. A lot of wannabes in Europe fund their own type rating to get the shiny jet jobs.....thats another 25,000 or so if you went down that route
After that you have the small matter of a work permit - You would need a company to sponsor you, unless you are extremely qualified then I can't see it happening.
Time to check the heritage and see if you have any Euro grandparents (if you get a passport for an EU country you can work in any EU country, for example, Spanish passport allows you to work in England).

2: Get as much experience as possible over here (probably need a year or 2 PIC turbine time) and get in with a Euro airline that is expanding faster than it can find experienced captains.

For example an Irish airline is currently advertising for street captains in the ATR42/72 - their requirements are below.
As you can see it's a contract position and you can get in without an EU passport and with JAA ratings - I presume the airline would arrange for temporary license waiver for the right candidate with the irish Aviation Authority as well as the necessary work permits.

Position:
ATR 42/72 Captains
Experience/ Skills:
ATR42/72 type rating and experience
Details:
Candidates must have experience on both the ATR 42 and ATR 72.

Should you wish to submit an application you must satisfy the following minimum requirements:

- 3000 hours total time
- 1500 hours on ATR 42/72
- Current JAR Licence preferable but not essential
- Hold Class 1 Medical
- European Union Passport preferable but not essential

But who's to know what the industry will look 2/4 years down the line. Maybe there will be a push to standardisation of licenses so converting is not that much of an issue (JAA to FAA is a walk in the park incidentally)

3: Fly N reg aircraft in Europe - not the best strategy to persue in my opinion but it is possibel

4: Best option; Find a hot (and rich) European bird and get hitched!


Where there's a will there's a way!!

[jynxyjoe]

how about new england?

[v1valarob]

Originally Posted by Benji86

Hello to everyone, I am a relatively new member and dont know too many other pilots, especially ones that have more experience in the industry, I have a couple of questions if anyone can answer them,

1. How difficult is it for an American to obtain a position as a pilot in England/Europe

2. Is it ones opinion that a student pilot working towards commercial ratings would not be able to obtain a non flying job (ie dispatcher, resource planner)
Any feedback would be appreciated

www.pprune.org for all of your answers, although the basics are mentioned above.

I understand that instructing in Europe would be hard because of weather and Im sure lack of students because of the costs. So the path to the airlines is very different over there in comparison to the US. But I cant believe most people pay for their type rating.

I wanted to convert my FAA to JAA and work for LoganAir. I already have an EU passport. But besides the costs of converting, you also need to pay for your own Saab type!!!! That still doesnt guarantee a job.

-Rob

[British Wannabe]

As a 24 yr old wannabe who`s a British Citizen living in London I can assure you that it is a long and almost impossible process to get a job here in the UK. Maybe other places in Europe have a better chance but I seriously doubt it.

It was mentioned above that there is not many instructing jobs over here. The truth is there is a real shortage but no one can afford to take these postions on. The pay is poor and the cost to get their too great!

Also the trend now is that gone are the days where someone graduating from flight school then instructing to build time to get picked up from the ailrines.

Once you have spent thousands converting all your licenses, you wil then be not much better than a newbie fresh out of flight school. The majority of airlines will not look at you unless you pay for your own type rating beacuas there are plenty out there that will do this and your looking at.....$40-50,000!!!

Don`t get me wrong there are a lucky few who will get into British Airways or other major and not have to pay for their type rating but to get this chace you need to do extremly well in your flight exams and above 85% in all 14 ATPLs.

Forget how many thousands of hours you have instructing or multi-time. Unless you have above 500 hours on type with your type rating only then will you be competitive. There are positions out there but for the more experienced positions hence the 500hrs + on type.

I`m sorry if this sounds a bit of a depressing post, as someone who right now is looking to start flight school this is the current situation. I am now trying to get out to the U.S.!

Danny