Professional Licences in The USA
Well this my 2 cents:
I trained in the USA and converted to CAA (nowJAR) bear in mind it was 18years ago.
Having a friend or any other means of obtaining free flight time is of course incredibly useful and great fun. BUT remember that the minimum flight times towards the FAA licences are PIC !
Sharing costs in the PPL arena.. read the rules very carefully.
I never turned down a free flight during my training but getting PIC time for free.. tough ! until you have your FAA commercial.
250 hours PIC. OK so ATP (FAA) 1500 hrs PIC ! Getting PIC time in a commercial operation with a wet ink commercial licence only with the most ignorant or most generous insurance company.
I chose the Flight Instructor route. I had no problem getting a CFI job. I got my time (avg 60 hrs. a month and got paid. I got to know people at the GA airport in NJ where I taught. I flew jump planes and did traffic reporting in EWR's airspace (which was "interesting" to say the least.) Then I started flying right seat in a Navajo (Part91) and when the Navajo PIC moved up, I got his seat and his 10 bucks an hour. I never gave up teaching till I had the FAA.ATP.. and often I would run into the 100 hr a month barrier. I built my time very fast. The rest is history! ooo except the part about converting to CAA.
One piece of REALLY REALLY good advice. Get a UK medical certificate NOW. If you intend to work in Europe. I didn't. I am grounded in the UK with a class 2 in the USA !!!!!
If I had to do it over, I would do all my training in the UK.
As if the last para weren't words of warning, this post does not tell the whole story. Believe me the trials and tribulations would fill a book. Good luckl
Regards Paul.
"To finish first, first you must finish"