Jumping ship to The Middle East - Hypothetically speaking...
Hello all,
Hope you people in the land of sun, sand and no bacon can help me?
I currently fly the Dash 8 in the UK and things are progressing well. Whilst I am certainly not in any great rush to up sticks for something else (for many, many reasons), the next move that we make has certainly been something my wife and I have been talking about.
The idea of moving to somewhere such as The UAE has been mooted and at face value, it does seem attractive. Now, I know as with many things, it isn't all a bed of roses and there certainly are negatives to working and living out there. If it is to ever become an option for us, we certainly have a great deal of research to do.
I'm initially keen to look at what likely prospects there would be for someone of my experience. In two years' time, I hope to have around 2000hrs TT, with 1800hrs of that on the Dash 8. Of course, with the world as it is, this is all hypothetical. For instance, I notice that Etihad require applicants to have at least 1500hrs TT with 1000hrs of that on multi-engined jets in a multi-crew environment. Fingers crossed, I hope to have more than that sort of figure, but it will be turboprop time. Do you think that the likes of Etihad would welcome an application with that sort of background or realistically, would I be looking to move to a jet job in the UK before I made the move?
Naturally, this is hypothetical and assuming that things will eventually turn the corner and we begin to see a more bouyant global economy and the possible upturn in recruitment that may accompany it.
As an aside, my wife is established in a career that we know is portable and her skills are quite well sought after. As usual, it's me that's the problem!
Any advice would be most welcome.