Ryanair hiring Irish or not?

[EIPCW]

I know this has been debated on other threads but I'd like to start this for any Irish pilots who have had any recent experiences.

I think it's safe to say that not many Irish have been hired over the last number of years as compared to other years. I'm not in any way demanding or expecting that we should be the airlines first and only preference.

I completed my training back in 2011 and due to financial difficulties like many in Ireland I was unable to keep my licence valid. I did however keep my application with Ryanair open in the hope that one day I would be contacted. 4 years later still nothing. I was updating my profile to make it look like I had been current to see if that made any difference but still no contact.

So basically I want to start this thread for any other Irish out there who may have recently had an assessment to share their experiences so I like others can make a judgement call on when is a good time to consider renewing my licence.

I am also considering an instructor rating so to make it clear I am not holding out for Ryanair as my only hope. This is more for me to have an idea what the industry is like and when would be a good time for me to start flying again.

Cheers

[banjodrone]

Have you considered Africa, Indonesia? They're not what they used to be but every so often I hear of someone getting lucky in those places. I too finished up around the same time as you but also for financial reasons didn't get any start on licence conversion. I decided against gambling what little I had left on trying overseas but I know one guy from my school who's now flying Twin Otters in Indonesia. He had to get very necky to pull it off but he managed to get them to fund a type rating and give him a job. I don't know how exactly he worked around the immigration side of things but on the other hand I've another friend who tried Botswana, Namibia and Tanzania and not a chance with less than 500 hours, 1000 preferably. There's a thread in the Africa forum to do with the whole Botswana / Namibia side of things.

[Skydreamer1]

Affirm RYR have now started to invite Irish guys for assessments after a number of years of us being neglected. Things look very positive with a recent assessment day at Simtech having 4 Irish guys out of the 8 guys in total being assessed that day. Hopefully they will start to ramp up recruitment over the coming winter months and a few FO's make their way to the sandpit.

[EIPCW]

Good to hear that Skydreamer, hopefully the chance will come for us waiting all these years.

Now to decide what to do, renew MEIR, get an instructor rating or just let my license rot away 😀

[EIPCW]

Hi banjodrone, Africa/Indonesia is not an option for me unfortunately. Wife is fairly easy going in terms of where a pilot job may take me but I think outside Europe will not be an option.

[banjodrone]

Oh ok, getting an instructor rating would be worthwhile if you can finance it and put it to use. If anything it will make you a better pilot and give you practice flying from the RHS. As you're probably aware, the opportunities for instruction are fairly limited in Europe however you may find that you actually like it and could mold a decent career out of it if you've got a flair for it. Good instructors are becoming increasingly rare.