Working as a commercial pilot or Instructor in the USA
Hi all,
I have a vacation booked to the US in October/November and while I was there I thought that I would check out the aviation industry and the prospect of flying in the US. We will be around the west coast on our vacation.
I have recently been instructing a lady from California who tells me that Kiwis and Aussies get on well in the US due to their work ethic, flying standards and calm nature.
On reading the forums and doing some research I hear a lot of negative things to do with working conditions, pay, vacations and visas. The forums that I looked through though were slightly older (2011) so I'm not sure if the situation is still the same.
I am a New Zealand CPL holder with 700TT, MEIR and an instructor rating. Rated in PA38, PA28, PA34, R2160 (Robin 2160), C172 and Partenavia P68. I am sitting around 500+ PIC (our PIC is slightly different to the USA I think, see below) with 350+ hours instructing. I am also a current part 135 line pilot with commercial experience in scenic and photography/formation.
Note: referring to PIC above. We have an american guy training with us currently who has a given PIC in the USA but when we account for the differences in rules, his PIC is a lot more then what ours would be. To my understanding, in the USA PIC counts as any time that you fly the aircraft and have a license regardless of if there is an instructor on board. In NZ this is not the same, you only accrue PIC if you are the sole pilot responsible for the flight e.g; instructing, ferry flights, solo practise.
Thanks for the help in advance!