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View Full Version : Careers in Scotland for a pilot


ikea
14th Sep 2004, 18:53
Hey, I would just like to know where most of the jobs in Scotland are? i really want to stay in Scotland, as it is home, and Im a little worried as to the availability of jobs. For a low-hours pilot, only Loganair, and Highland seem to take on low hours pilot. However, there are quite a few flying schools in the country. Do they ever employ newly qualified pilots? Any help would be most appreciate :-)

rotatrim
14th Sep 2004, 19:40
Don't know where the jobs are, but I believe that Scotland is the least favourite base for many Pilots. In other words, if you are Scottish and can emphasise that you want to remain there during your career, it will be a selling point in your favour.

I heard one Chief Pilot tell a conference audience (3 years ago) that he couldn't find anyone to fill 2 ATP positions in Aberdeen because no-one wanted to be stuck there.

Local airlines aren't the only possibilities, several airlines have Scottish bases.

Megaton
14th Sep 2004, 19:48
Only snag is that airlines such as Loganair recruit in extremely small numbers so the chances of getting a job when and where you want is very small. Companies such as Eastern, flyBE and easyJet also base in Scotland bu you can't join a company on the basis that you want to be based in Scotland. Consider yourself lucky if you get a job at all!

DB6
14th Sep 2004, 20:07
ikea, flying schools never employ newly qualified pilots unless they have an instructor's rating (except very rarely to man the phones etc.). They need instructors, pilots pay them to hire planes not the other way round.

landrik1
16th Sep 2004, 11:09
Feel sorry for those many stunning views and lovely hillside walks, Scotland is beautiful but you need to earn a living mate, money or scotland:ok:

Luke SkyToddler
17th Sep 2004, 13:56
There are 4 airlines headquartered in Scotland that I'm aware of ... Loganair, Scotairways, Highland Airways and BMI Regional.

They all have been known to take on low timers. BMI Regional took on a bunch of OATS graduates recently, Highland Airways have a strong preference for +1000 hour types but they did employ some ex- Atlantic Airlines cadets once upon a time. Loganair have employed one or two of my ex students with fresh CPLs issued from Jerez, and when I interviewed with Scotairways back in 2001 there were only 2 of us in a group of 8 that had over 500 hours so there's got to be some hope there for you.

In addition, you should specify on your CV you send to those companies (as well as Eastern etc) that you are a Scot and would love to have a Scottish base, because they certainly aint the first choice of many of their other pilots.

The problem as always, if you're a low timer then you are fighting with hundreds of other cvs on the chief pilot's desk to get noticed.

ikea
17th Sep 2004, 15:03
WEll, im learning to speak gaelic, i wonder if this would help! I remember seeing a job advert for Highland, which was totally in gaelic, maybe that would impress them! It is my family's first language :-)

wingman1
19th Sep 2004, 12:22
The Scottish airlines, due to their size, struggle to keep their pilots for long periods of time as alot of them eventually head off down to london as soon as they hit the 1500 hr mark. If you live in Scotland and want to stay there then you have a huge advantage. If they can see that you're settled here then someone will snatch you up sooner or later. Worked for me! Best of luck. Wingman

P.s. To those of you who think that scotland is a last resort then think again. You'd be hard pushed to find a more exciting and challenging flying environment. Tiny airfields with only an NDB to guide you in in the middle of winter to huge intl airports with full ils'. Fly into Sumburgh's rwy 33, possibly THE most intresting approach in the world, especially since Kai Tak. fly past sumburgh's lighthouse which is at 800' when you're at 500', and use the small farm to que you're turn onto the runway centre line, at +/- 50 feet, yes 50 feet in a 15 ton SAAB or a 25 ton ATP. But i suppose flying an autoland ILS into every airport is just as fun, ha! ;)

Luke SkyToddler
19th Sep 2004, 17:33
Heh

I do like that approach ... I've been doing my command upgrade training over the last 2 or 3 weeks in the 'medium' turboprop I fly, the other day we had a freight-only sector up to Sumburgh so we took the chance to practice some of the 'interesting' scenarios that might require one to throw the plane about, anyway my training captain / make-believe FO while acting as handling pilot, had a simulated massive incapacitation episode on short finals to LSI rwy 33 ... not a huge amount of margin for error in a perf A aircraft that's for sure :D

All those southern nancy boys that don't go anywhere without fully automatic glass cockpits and 2-mile-long runways with cat 3 ILS's don't know what they're missing :ok: