Yes, you both have your points...
Whirls: the funny thing is, that right out of flight school I have met (and made connections) people from all over europe (last time I checked it was more than 50 people I'm still more or less in contact with) but only two or three americans
. But granted, they are probably not (yet) as influential than the guys you meet in the UK.
windowseatplease:
yea, very good point actually: DO YOUR RESEARCH! and make sure your budget isn't too tight! lots of people I heard of ran out of money quick!
...although I haven't heard of guys beeing so naive thinking they could easily transfer your licences when they already started to fly.
Btw. my introductory lesson was round-about 24 years before I went to Florida - I was 4!
I was just lucky to get the visa's (together with my wife) in the US - I never planned to stay. And yes its really hard to get a work permit!
darrenphughes:
I had no choice; I had to leave my (own) company at that point or never, so there was no option to wait for a spot in the JAA class.
Money was never budgeted for a JAA course in europe so it was a no-brainer.
In hindsight, yes I would do it again!
A friend of mine who went down the same route like I did, took the exams after his J-1 was expired, got the IR, flew in the north sea for about a year and is now on a Police EC-135. So it definately works that way!
´
I gotta go, but maybe later I'll find my spreadsheet with the actual cost I had till now (I was pretty much on time).