Flying Lawyer I'm afraid I disagree with you on a number of grounds, and I have been through several professional pilot licencing systems - before going through the JAA system - so I feel I do have a benchmark above and beyond what I read. However, remaining on track:
The cost per flying hour will not significantly reduce, irrespective of training requirements, and I feel the major motivating factor in criticism of JAA is the cost of getting a licence, not the requirements. In fact the expensive bit - the flying - is very rarely criticised at PPL or CPL level (my own being the 5 hours of instruments at PPL level but thankfully a u-turn is being considered). Yes, the theory is onerous, but the theory cost equates to about 5% of the total training cost which is largely fixed by factors beyond those generated by JAA requirements, and personally I don't think 6 months of theory is out the question to train someone who knows nothing about aviation, flying or helicopters up to the standard of a professional pilot. The CAA fees are ridiculous, but again a small percentage of the total training cost.
I have read it from the beginning and the topic has largely taken the same line it always does whenever it is debated, ad nauseum. And I suspect we have differing opinions too on what "obvious" conclusions we deduce from these sorts of threads.
But the world would be a boring place if we didn't all have our own opinion.
BlueStack Good luck, we don't all have apathy towards the new pilots. I suggest reading threads by Jemax who gave a very good indication of how you can do things cost effectively and extremely expeditiously in the UK, and I also suggest reading my thread about what is involved in converting your future FAA licence back to JAA.
Remember it is highly likely that you will be unable to remain in America after the expiry of your J1 so a conversion may well have to be budgeted for. Even with a 1000 hours under your belt from the States - which is slightly more than most would appear to return with - if you intend to make a living of flying onshore in the UK it will be as an FI, not a charter pilot. Therefore once you have paid for:
1. Training in America
2. Conversion to JAA CPL
3. Adding various type ratings to your licence to make you employable
4. JAA Flight Instructor
and during your time instructing in the US only having earnt back a fraction of what you would have earnt during that year in the UK as an FI (between £18000 - £24000) the long term savings may not be as great as would appear. Particularly if you hour build abroad but do your training in the UK ... and no, I don't have a vested interest, I only instruct very infrequently
