Originally Posted by
CAVU2
My ultimate goal is to return to the Middle East and/or South East Asia as an airline pilot, but am unclear as to how easy this now is with UK based CAA qualifications (whose use (worryingly) have been likened by some on this forum to Russian qualifications...)? I notice that European airlines are stipulating EASA qualifications although this is a moot point with me being a UK passport holder only and with little desire to forge a career in Europe, but how does it work with the Gulf and particularly South East Asian carriers? Are they still hiring UK qualified pilots and if so what additional qualifications and experience are usually required? I understand that this longer term plan will require working in the UK for some time before any move but how easy it to transfer to different jurisdictions once qualified and with a bit of experience behind you?
The UK licence, along with EASA, FAA etc are considered the gold standard. To get paid to fly you need the right to live and work where the plane is based, and you need the licence to match the registration. Hence a US license would generally be worthless to a UK airline and vice versa.
You have the right to live and work in the UK and Ireland, so you'll need a UK licence and preferably an EASA licence as well. I recommend getting an easa medical and both sets of exams. You don't necessarily need to do both flight tests initially, the medical is good for 5 years (before you need to do anything) and the Exams are good for at least 7 years. The flight test for an ATPL is a raw data ILS and takes about 5 minutes to do tagged onto an LPC which is A LOT easier than doing a CPL and IR flight test.
Getting the licence is the easy bit. Getting the first job is harder. You'll be considered a cadet. Someone (possibly you) will need to pay for a type rating, base training (that's take offs and landings in an empty plane) and line training of anywhere from 40 to 100 sectors. That's a huge investment of training and equipment and no ME airline will train foreigners from scratch, only locals. They want experienced guys who are exempt base training and need maybe 10 sectors of line training so your route to the ME will most likely start in the British Isles somewhere, Ryanair being probably the biggest cadet airline, but DHL, Jet2, Tui, even BA now etc etc are all options. If you're lucky you'll get 737 or A320 at Ryanair/Jet2/Easy etc straight away. If you're really lucky you'll get 757, 767 or even 777 at DHL. If not you might end up with a turbo prop job like ATR or Q400. That's still very useful - you'll get your ATPL out of it and you'll probably be a better pilot as well, but you'll need to jump ship at around 2000 hours to one of the airlines that didn't want to touch you as a cadet. You didn't want to be in a turboprop so you'll be looking for Jet jobs from day one anyway. Don't be tempted to stay for a command, your priority is jet time, preferably over 50 tons and preferably glass cockpit.
From here you have 2 routes to the ME: you take your 2-3000hours jet time and join as an FO, or you get a command in Europe, wait until you have 6-7000 hours and apply as a direct entry captain. You'll make more money as an FO in the ME than you will as a captain in Europe, and a better/different quality of life. Just don't get your maid pregnant.