FAA or JAA?

[cardtrickrob]

Hey Guys,

I'm about to finish my FAA training with 180 hours and my FAA SE and MEL Commercial Licences and Instrument Airplane Rating. I have the option of staying here in Florida and get my Instructor Ratings, allowing me to instruct for a year (when my J-1 visa will expire). I've also got the option of converting to JAA, as I'm a British citizen.

I'm having a hard time deciding which route to take. If I stay here, I'll be able to get around 1000 hours instructing - but finding a job would be difficult once my visa expires, or I could leave now and convert to JAA - but I'll have fewer hours. I realise that jobs are few and far between everywhere at the moment, so whichever way I go, I feel have both advantages and disadvantages.

Any thoughts on which route I should take?

Cheers,

Rob

[hightower1986]

Personally i would stay in the USA get your hours built up at your employers expense and try to do some variation in your flying if possible, (not all C150 hours or whatever) then come back to the UK and convert it all again, "free hours" are hard to come by in the Uk i think if you are looking for a job, but if you have the offer of instructing and it sounds like you do, then i would stay there, till the end of your visa!

Just my thoughts anyway, im sure other people will disagree and maybe someone might agree but i doubt it!

[whiskey1]

Stay in the US and Fly.
You can start the conversion process to JAA over there. A number of schools now do Distance Learning theory.
Get that out of the way first then you can do the JAA CPL Flight test before returning to Europe for your Instrument Rating.

W1

[B200Drvr]

Stay and instruct in the US, You will regret not getting those hours in years to come, further more, jobs are hard to come by at the moment, so you will lose nothing by using this time as an instructor. My advice to you would be to start studying for your JAA whilst instructing, killing to birds with one stone.

[A340Crazy]

Sorry to crouch in on the topic, im busy with my casa cpl here in Oz and thinking about doing atp as soon as i finish my cpl..would it be better to do the jaa atp by distance learning or the casa atp? just wondering which one would be better to have as far as oppertunities go:confused:

[B2N2]

Stay, you have a golden opportunity here.
The market in Europe (or anywhere) is not good right now.
Has the school offered you a job? Take it.
CFI jobs are somewhat hard to come by right now, lots of schools are laying off.
Get your CFII and MEI.

[JetPil0t]

cardtrickrob (http://www.pprune.org/members/205780-cardtrickrob) - check your PM please

[BigGrecian]

What about staying on a J-1 at a school with JAA training, instructing and converting your licences at the same time?

Kill two birds with one stone.

[cardtrickrob]

Thanks for the replies guys,

I would love to go to a JAA school here and instruct, killing the 2 birds with the one stone, but the money I have available will only see me through only the one route. This is why I'm not sure which way to go - if I stay I am ruling out the conversion option which may cause a problem later down the road, and if I go I'm ruling out the hour building. Either way I go I'm going to lose something I guess!

Cheers

Rob

[grob master]

Or you could not even bother to convert because your Faa licences are ICAO recognised. (you can fly anywhere in the world with them). Not really sure why everyone is so worried about converting

[FlyingOW]

Stay in the US, build valuable hours as a CFI (highly recommend getting CFII aswell, MEI optional) and sign up for a ATPL DL program with the likes of BGS, CATS, Naples, etc. Use the money you make as an instructor to pick up the the extra expense, and use those rainy/ windy/ slow days to study for the ATPL.

The experience you will gain as an instructor will serve you well in the future as an airline pilot, it will give you interesting anecdotes to talk about at interviews about how you dealt with gifted(or challenged) students/ lets face it: single pilot IFR/ ADM & CRM issues/ etc, and among all others will improve your flying skills. I have yet to encounter a beter way to learn than from watching other people make mistakes and any instrutor will back me up on that one!

Given the current state of affairs in the EU, think long and hard about returning without anything much to offer except for the bare minimum flight time. You will need something else on your resume for when things do eventually pick up..............

Best of luck,:ok:

OW

PS. I went the FAA CFI/CFII route, thoroughly enjoyed it and never looked back!