dont mind who replies the more the merrier!
I had costed it at a local place up here to be around £47K to commercial (hadn't costed the FIR). HAI have the cost at around $50 plus exams but leaving aside the JAA it would be possible to do FAA CFII with mountain external load etc for $45 and then (if the blurb is true) work for a year to get up to about a 1000 hours.
Bearing in mind i intend to move to australia after this Im not sure how beneficial for me the JAA route is. However as I want to work offshore there is a good chance i will end up working tours and i'm having difficulty finding out what the employers actually prefer. The JAA would provide a safety net though for working in Europe if my visa application fails. I am very much keeping my options open at the minute.
What opportunities are there for low hour pilots in the uk who are not instructors?