Overseas flight training
Hi BB - I can provide a bit of info based on the experience of my son "Orville".
He did his Can. PPL just outside Toronto, enjoyed it and decided he wanted to become a professional pilot. So the question was - where to train? Like you, he has a Ca. and EU Passport.
This was in 2007/8, the employment prospects were not great, so we looked at it "backwards" - after he'd trained, where were the jobs likely to be?
That was pretty easy - if you want to fly the big shiny jets, Canada has 2 main airlines, who don't often advertise vacancies, Transat , Porter with Q400's and a bunch of smaller players.
However, if you want to move up to jets from a Q400 or small piston.turboprop, many airlines will not be interested because you don't have jet experience or experience in a heavy aircraft. So there really isn't much prospect of getting onto a big airplane for a long time.
In Europe, on the other hand, there's loads of airlines and several, like Ryanair, are constantly recruiting. Yes I know FR are the dregs, but if you want to get jet time, they are an option.
So once we'd decided on Europe, the question was - which is the best school? After a bit of investigation, we came down to the Integrated course at Oxford. Yes, it's expensive, but their training is first rate and their reputation second to none. Don't forget, at some time, the Chief Pilot will review your qualifications before he offers you that job - M. Mouse Flight Training can't really compare to Oxford in terms of reputation.
So that's the way we went - yes, I know there are other schools but we selected Oxford and were very happy, to say the least, with the way they worked.
After 18 months and an "above average grade", he walked out of Oxford, with 250 hours, CPL and IR and fATPL- straight into the right seat of an Airbus A319 based in a stunning capital City in Continental Europe.
That was 3 years ago - he's now done over 2,500 hours jet time and the juices are stirring for a move to something wider.
This is all very expensive, of course, but as in many things in life, you get what you pay for. Yes you can work your way up - and maybe become a t.v. star at Buffalo - or you can just go for the big time in one leap.
Some, who will probably post on here, will say that 250 hours is not enough to go into a jet. But that's the way it works in Europe, and I've not noticed that Europe is any more dangerous than Canada.
So that's what we found - Airbus 320's into CDG, FCO, VIE, DME, FRA, BCN - or maybe Barons into Brandon? The choice is yours - all it costs is money.
OD