Dr Mike Oxgreen; Been there, done that, know the pain and regret stories, tried it and yes I was lucky got a job. However few things, you need to realize, you have already limited yourself to much, if you believe you will get a job at any of those areas you mentioned.
There are many with thousands of hours experience, currently working abroad who is just waiting for jobs in these areas to be available, so to expect to get a UK job, is putting a big limitation on yourself.
I know loads of guys commuting from around Europe, the world, just waiting for chances with UK carriers to get home. Also you have flying schools like CTC who are propping up many of the major airlines with cadets, so do not expect to have a chance to get a job in the UK until you at least have 1000 - 1500 hours experience on some heavy metal.
Here is what I would say, as has been said many times before, you will have FTO's trying to get your cash, they will let you dream and believe. fATPL is one small step, but you will also need to pay for your TR, that can be another £20 - 35K, and this is nearly without any exception, specially at your ago, no airline will invest in your TR. No one. So you will need at least £70.000 to get you where you want to go.
Also current market situation, who knows what will be of FlyBe and Monarch within the next 5 years, there could be loads of pilots without jobs soon. Thats why loads are jumping ship from Monarch, because they are expecting the end to arrive soon.
The fact is, if you can accept to spend £70.000, and 5% chance of getting a job, and approx 0.1% chance that the job will be in the UK, then you should go for it.
I personally got there, did it, but it cost me a lot, and is still costing me a lot, both financially and personally. For 3 years I had almost no social life, no time or money to enjoy life, it is a hard job, and to be honest I sometimes consider my own sanity when I know what I could have used that money I made for.
I have managed to maintain a foot outside in other business too, and that is what saved me financially, and is what gives me the "freedom" to just quit if I have had enough of crap lifestyle and working conditions.
I now got few thousand hours on heavy jet, and I could NOT SURVIVE on my pay alone from flying, there is NO WAY I could survive and maintain my lifestyle on this money alone.
However I do see a light at the end of the tunnel, but I will need to work triple time for at least another 3 - 4 years.
There are many jaded pilots out there, who wish they could still fly just as a hobby, because it has it great moments, but when you doing 6 consecutive days, where you do multiple transitions from early mornings to late nights, back to mornings again, and you only get 2 full days of proper rest, it's really not worth it, because the financial reward does not match the sacrifices you have to make.
"I live in Woking, which puts Heathrow, Gatwick, Southampton, possibly Bournemouth, and probably City within commuting distance. Luton and Stansted would be a bit of a ball-ache" ; sorry to be the bearer of bad news, just to give you an example for the previous 3 years I commuted 4 hours by air EVERY week, with sometimes multiple flights/changes.
The last 1.5 year I have been commuting every working day around average of 4 hours (2 + 2) - So on a 12 hour duty day, with minimum rest, I have max 8 hours to relax, eat, life, write on PPRUNE, before I have to be on the go again. Have multiple days like this and you see real fatigue. Of course within limits of base, but you always need to calculate some buffer time, traffic, public transport issues, it NEVER ends! Uk jobs maybe in Scotland etc. if you are lucky. That's reality you need to expect.
As I said light soon in the end of the tunnel, as soon I will only have 30 minutes travel to work, and that will be like a whole new life! Still not enough money to survive though.
I am sorry this is not the answer you maybe are looking for, I know this from my own experience, looking for the answer that I wanted to see, confirmation bias!
Last edited by truckflyer; 22nd Jan 2016 at 23:51.