Cactus-Airbus: an English (why do we say British when they are all different?) guy who came years ago to the US and then joined the Army Reserve to become a helicopter mechanic told me something interesting. He worked his way thru his US ratings and now flies the CRJ as FO, for a major airline "network".
He said that despite higher regional salaries in the UK, the higher taxes there+high cost of living etc make it better to live as a regional FO in the lower cost states in the US. He also lives down south.
This surprised me, because I knew that the gross salaries here at all regionals (after Stephen Wolf destroyed the original Air Wisconsin), especially for FOs, are lower than in Europe.
Over there, you might run into some bias (as most foreign pilots claim is the case over here), and although my company has a number of pilots from overseas, you would have a rough time paying for and earning your foreign ratings, from everything I've read and heard. Many abroad consider us all cowboys, lacking the polished radio discipline and theoretical comprehension. The JAR ratings etc might not lead to a job, even if you spoke a second language fluently-and many airlines paradoxically prefer young, inexperienced pilots. The young ones (or most former military) have no previous exposure to how many ways a civilian employer can willingly cheat and violate regarding the spirit and letter of any contract section (i.e. the Part 91+121 abuse here by numerous freight airlines). Some airlines prefer, under certain conditions, to hire pilots with 500 hours, instead of guys who have 8-10,000 hours or more! I know one of them who interviewed years ago for a Cathay job, along with two others. You might try the contract route with a Pacific Rim carrier, but that is supposed to be a complex subject. One of our (native US) guys, was one of the few US pilots hired by Cathay in the better, good old days, then left after several years.
You will not find much help volunteered on the Pprune website, at least from pilots overseas- many have been waiting years for their first flying job, after learning a huge load of academia for their ratings, most of which many have often claimed, has no application to actual flying-and after all the expense and study they invest, they simply do not want you moving over there. You have lots of research ahead of you if you want to objectively consider work outside the US, in order to avoid many traps or deadends which I've read about for years. You might be much better off staying where you are, as long as you don't have lots of rattlesnakes around
, except for those painted on some of your planes. If you are still fairly young and want some job security here, and willing to get a major salary cut for a while, and possibly jeopardize a stable personal relationship (in some cases) doing all night ops, maybe FEDEX or UPS would be a good choice.
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