Since September 11th 2001, the only significant hiring that has been taking place in the UK, and possibly the whole of Europe, has been type-rated pilots with jet experience.
Except in a few special cases has been very very little if any hiring of pilots with low hours or only piston/instructing hours.
Once you'd converted, you'd be joining a very long queue of people hunting for an airline job here in Europe. The schools didn't stop training on September 11th, but the airlines stopped hiring and made a lot of pilots redundant. In the UK alone it is estimated that 1,000 pilot jobs were done away with in the immediate aftermath of September 11th. This has caused a big backlog of pilots of all experience levels, as all those airline-experienced pilots are first in line to be re-hired.
Things are now moving again, but it will take time to clear the backlog and get back to the 'golden years' of early 2001 when it is thought that there was the closest to a pilots shortage that there has been for many a year.
I'm not sure if things are as bad here as they are are in the US, however it may be beneficial to stay there for any upturn in the airline market rather than pay a large amount to convert your licences to JAR just to be at the back of the queue again.
Youir figures look a little on the low side also - maybe someone who has converted recently can comment? I think £10,000 excluding living costs is a fair budget - this is over US$15,500. This excludes the MCC which is pretty much necessary for an airline job those days - add another US$3,000 for this.
Best of luck whatever you choose.
cheers!
foggy.
Last edited by foghorn; 21st Sep 2002 at 09:29.