The safest estimate is 'lots'. There are still jet and TP rated pilots with airline experience out there looking for work, plus the schools are chock full of instructors kicking their heels since last year who now mostly have high piston hours. On top of that, there are also rumours that the new reduced IR conversion requirements for ICAO IR holders plus the death of Ansett seems to have caused a glut of Aussie pilots, all arriving at Heathrow armed with dual-citizenship British passports or ancestry visas and several thousand hours of jet time.
There are 12,000 holders of current professional licenses in the UK that the CAA knows about (this based upon the number of Class One medicals issued to CPLs and ATPLs, therefore includes people without IRs). There are (supposedly) around 6,000 working airline pilots at any one time. What the rest are up to is anyone's guess.
My best guess (holds finger in air) is that there are 500 - 1,000 more qualified pilots looking for airline work than summer 2001. How many were actively looking for jobs at that time, well, that's the magic figure that no-one knows, however there was circumstantial evidence to suggest that airlines were struggling to find suitable pilots then.
Remember that in these days of JAR, European pilots coming over here for work also feature. The death of Sabena caused a mini-flood of 737 rated pilots to cross the channel to our low cost operators.
Although the light is brightening at the end of the tunnel, things are still by no means rosey for UK wannabes, especially those of us with low hours looking for our first break from right at the back of the long long queue.
chin up!
foggy.
Last edited by foghorn; 30th Aug 2002 at 09:50.