USA training for EASA/JAA/CAA/CASA Worth it?

[Aussiecop]

I had a mate float an idea to me last night. Not sure on the price you international guys pay per hour for Robbie time, I know it varies by country, but there seem to be a lot of internationals coming here to the USA to do their ratings and then returning and doing conversions based on the cost of flight time in other countries.

Some of the bigger places like Bristow want you to pay a substantial amount up front and stay for months and months adding on costs of accommodation and living expenses. My mate who is a CFI in the pacific northwest said the company he works for charges $230 an hour wet with instructor. How does that compare to you guys in other countries that are learning? company also offers a 3% discount if you buy 7k blocks of time.

Just looking at what I believe Aussies pay per hours wet with instructor (I think $500/hr) even if you fly over and pay accommodation, it has to be cheaper here. What are some pros and cons for anyone who may have done it or someone who advises against it?

[helimutt]

Never pay up front whatever the country or school. Why should you? It's usually a sign that a school needs cash quickly when they offer discounts. Pay by the hour even if it is a few $$ or ££ more. Offer to settle all flying charges at the end of each day flown.

The cost of training in the UK is way more than in US. look at approx £300 an hour. But as you rightly say, once you add in cost of flights to and from usa, accomodation, socialising, eating, transport whilst there etc, the difference isnt that great. You may fly every day and never see a cloud. Ive seen guys come back from usa having done all of their certificates, and the school I worked at in the UK had a couple of USA trained guys come to use the helicopters SFH, HoT having given them the check ride to hire the aircraft, they wouldnt allow them to fly, as their standards weren't up to it, nor were they prepared for the weather difference. Im not saying thats a generalisation, but its possible and ive witnessed it.

Similarly, I have seen the US IR trained pilots come back and struggle to do a basic IR flight in the sim. Maybe they were just not very good, who knows.

Overall, I ended up trying both routes and found it was going to be more beneficial for me to fly and train just in the UK, but that was after I had gone out to Florida with a new PPL in my hand, and did some SFH for a couple of weeks hour building in the sunshine. Nice change from 30kt winds and snow. :)

[Aussiecop]

HeliMutt,

It's a mate of mine who is looking at offering this. I know what you mean about the weather differences, but Florida versus the pacific northwest is like comparing England weather to Australia lol. I think schools in florida are giving a false sense of security due to the weather. It is either beautiful or unflyable due to storms there. In the PNW it is a great mix of everything including mountain flying and having to contend with low level fog etc. I am headed out there in a few weeks for a wedding and am going to fly there just to experience it (Where I trained it was flat as a pancake and boring)

The difference in cost I reckon would be better there as the pound and US dollar are so different, if US dollars for the 300 per hour were transferred, you guys are paying close to $600 US an hour which sucks. I wanted to see what peoples thoughts were and if there was interest so I could help my mate make a decision as to if he should pursue advertising it and such over in the UK or Canada/Australia.

[tony 1969]

It may well be worth it, but first your friend has to plough through the mountain of paperwork to get school approved to offer EASA training!

[Aussiecop]

Tony, Right on that my friend! That is why I told him to start with CAA/CASA guys first and see if it's worth it. EASA is a big hurdle as is from what I hear JAA conversions, so it's a case of crawling before he walks I think, but that said, there seems to be reasonable interest from some other places I floated the idea, so it may be worth at least testing the waters for him.

Way I see it is if he helps out just a few guys to get their ratings and saves them some serious money based on the amounts they would have to pay in their home country, then it's worth it.

This industry has enough hurdles to getting to that first paying job that adding inflated training costs to it just kicked you in the teeth while your down. I really commend anyone who can afford it in the UK or Australia, it's incredible the amounts some pay per hour there for a 22.

[Daithi]

€490/hour here in Ireland in a R44, not cheap but at least I can keep my job during the week. Loss of earnings is another factor to be considered when looking abroad for training in addition to the accomodation expenses etc. I had thought about going away too but for me it worked out best to stay at home, despite the higher hourly rate. :ok: