WORKING ABROAD.

[bruce88]

Hi,
I'm curently a low hour PPL soon to start a module course for a frozen ATPL, but reading the topics on this site, its a bit disconcerting at the number of qualified people struggling to find any job at all.
I was wondering, is it worth looking abroad in order to get that first job.

I'll fire a volley of questions ...

Are things any better, further a field maybe in the States. What do you require to enable you gain employment out there , say as an instructor. Is the JAR licence accepted in the States.
Am I right in saying you need over 1000hrs or so to fly commercialy.

What about further a field still, Africa, Australia, South Africa, Far East or Outer Mongolia. Which countries recognise the JAR and would allow a British citizens to work there.
Like many people I'd be willing to fly anything from anyhrere.
I appreciate there are a number of questions here but any advice or ideas would be welcome.

Thanks
JIM

:D

[RVR800]

Are things any better, further a field maybe in the States. NO

What do you require to enable you gain employment out there , say as an instructor.
FAA CPL/IR CPI CFII

Is the JAR licence accepted in the States.
Generally NO

Am I right in saying you need over 1000hrs or so to fly commercialy.
200 hrs - the more hours the better
hence 1000 hrs in the ads

>What about further a field still, Africa, Australia Need Aussie licence minimal jobs
-----need Australian Citizenship

South Africa Far East or Outer Mongolia.
POOR ECONOMIC INDICATORS

Which countries recognise the JAR and would allow a British citizens to work there.
European UK France etc
Yes its the law

[Naples Air Center, Inc.]

Jim,

In order to work in the U.S. you will need a work visa. As long as you do not have an F.A.A. License you can get J-1 Visa.

The J-1 is a work study visa. It allows you to come into the U.S. and do you F.A.A. Licenses and work for up to 2 years as a flight instructor.

The fastest way to a job for you would be to get a F.A.A. PPL based on your J.A.A. License and then go straight into the F.A.A. CPL/IR. All your current flight time will count towards the requirements for the CPL/IR. After that you do your flight instructors rating and you are off job hunting in the U.S.

I have hired quite a few instructors on the J-1 visa. The average instructor comes to me with about 350 hours and when their visa expires, leave with between 2,500 and 3,000 hours of flight time.

You can check with the U.S. Embassy for a list of schools that offer J-1 visas.

Good Luck and happy hunting,

Capt. Richard J. Gentil, Pres.
Naples Air Center, Inc.

[ 07 September 2001: Message edited by: Naples Air Center, Inc. ]

[SuperTed]

Naples Air Center Inc,

How easy is it to get a J1 visa for a normal British person? Also theres been much said on here about converting from an FAA licence to a CAA one! How easy is it the other way round, how long does it take??

Another thing, working in the States you require an IR don't you??

Thanks

[Naples Air Center, Inc.]

SuperTed,

The J-1 visa is easy to get. Just find a school that can issue the visa, then you go to the U.S. Embassy and they add the visa to your passport. Word of warning the school issuing the J-1 will need the money for the course up front. The money up front meets the requirement by immigration to show you have enough money to complete your course and stay in the U.S.

To convert your J.A.A. license to an F.A.A. PPL based on your J.A.A. consists of going to the local F.A.A. office and showing them your license. They will issue you a U.S. PPL. To make the U.S. license current you will need to do a B.F.R. It will take about 3 hours total with an instructor (1.5 ground, 1.5 flight).

You do not need to do your I.R. but you will want to. It gives your F.A.A. CPL more privileges and you can get your instrument flight instructor rating, which makes it easier for you to find a job.

Good Luck,

Capt. Richard J. Gentil, Pres.
Naples Air Center, Inc.

[GPS Approach]

Naples Air Centre,

Can you E-Mail me, I'm interested in doing my FAA CFI with yourselves.

Cheers GPS. ([email protected])

[sydneyc]

This is another question for Naples;

I may be a little slow today, and this may already have been answered, but I have a question re' instructing in the US.

If someone who has 300 hrs and a CPL/IR from the UK wants to travel to the US to get an instructors rating and then work on a J-1 for a while, which licences would you need to re-do?

Thanks

[finalchecksplease]

You have to remember that the clock (2 year J-1 visa) as soon you set foot in the USA and start your training, so for 0hrs to CFII / commercial licences will take about 6 months so 18 months left and then do 2150 – 2650 hrs as a CFI that seems a lot Capt Richard J. Gentil could you please explain how this can be done?

For those of you that want to go out there and work after your training be careful because a lot of schools promise a job or let it shine out they might give you a job but don’t count on it! It worked for me but I have friends that were not that fortunate and also some schools take on their students but don’t give them enough students to get the experience!

[Naples Air Center, Inc.]

Wow,

So many questions! :)

I will do my best to answer all in one posting. Hope its not too confusing.

sydneyc,

You cannot work in the U.S. with a license based on a license from another country. So you will need the get an unrestricted F.A.A. license. All your flight time counts so you would need to take the written, fly with an instructor for a few hours to get used to the F.A.A. system and you can take the CPL Check Ride. IR or IFR as its called in the U.S. will need to be taken and can be combined with the CPL check ride.

finalcheckspleas,

I pay on a two week pay period and my instructors average 75 to 100 hours of instruction per pay period. The big advantage in Florida is the weather. We are able to to fly VFR around 360 days a year. I had a gentleman in my office yesterday who owns a flight school in Northern England. We were talking about flight time on aircraft. We were looking at the amount of flying my C-152s were doing. I had a C-152 fly 194 hours last month, and his comment was that he was happy when each of his planes fly 360 hours in a year.

GPS Approach,

I will email you shortly. I also wanted to let you know that I do not offer the J-1 visa. So if you wanted to get into a program I described in this thread it would have to be with another school. I would be happy to get names of schools for you or you can contact the U.S. Embassy and they will provide you with a list also.

Hope I was not too confusing,

Capt. Richard J. Gentil, Pres.
Naples Air Center, Inc.

[bruce88]

Thankyou for the above , most useful.
One last question..
If I have a JAR frozen ATPL how easy would that be to change to an FAA IR/multi instrucor rating.
I'm guessing I would probably need to convert all my JAR ratings to FAA.. Is this going to be a problem. Would I be better off doing all FAA ratings then converting to JAA later.
I'll shut up now.
JIM

:D :D :D :D :D :D

[Naples Air Center, Inc.]

Jim,

If you have questions, keep asking.

If you have 1500 hours and J.A.A. licenses, convert all your Licenses to F.A.A. and then just take the FAA ATP written & checkride. Then do your Flight Instructors, but if you have 1500 hours there is no reason to come to the U.S.

If you have low time (250hrs to 700hrs) come to the U.S. on a J-1 and convert private then take the CPL/IR F.A.A. witten/check ride and on the flight intructors.

In the U.S. the writtens are easy. The F.A.A. gives you all the questions they will ask you and the answers before you take the exam. Each rating only has one written, they are between 60 and 80 questions depending on the exam. (I have not taken a written in 11 years so the exact number for each exam escapes me. Sorry.)

An idea to save you time and money is to study and even take the F.A.A. writtens in England. I believe Rory at A.A.S. still offers the written exams.

Sincerely,

Capt. Richard J. Gentil, Pres.
Naples Air Center, Inc.

<<Edited for Typo>>

[ 08 September 2001: Message edited by: Naples Air Center, Inc. ]

[F900B]

If i came there with my CAA CPL/IR and 350hrs TT. Lets say i got my FAA/CPL/IR CFI/CFII (all done in four months wow) and i had 18months left, to go from 350TT to average it out to 2850TT after the 18months, i would have to be doing 138hrs a month, which we all know is impossible.

Even at 2100TT in 18months and your instructors leave with 2500TT min. i'd still have to be doing at least 116hrs flying a month for 18months .

And the last time i talked to 1800 WX brief guys 360 days of total VFR flying in S FL is probably unrealistic from what they say.

Sounds more like a sales pitch to me along with how many hrs you would leave with as been an instructor at your flight school.

And of those 2500hrs - 2800hrs how many of those hrs is Twin Engine time, rather than flying a Cessna 152 and 172. I would think most European airlines are looking for alot more than 2000hrs in a C-172 circling around Florida.

Not trying to be negative, but more been realistic.

My advice is to anyone interested in this flight school and any other flight school in the USA is do your homework before you commit to a program like that. Living here in S fl for the last 5 yrs i've seen my fair share of European Students basicly going home with less hrs than promised and even no licenses and paying alot of money for it.

My advice again is do your homework do the research, and get everything as much in writing as possible.

[clear prop!!!]

Richard,

Sorry to burden you with even more USA questions on what is becoming the ‘Ask Richard Show’!

What is the current situation over there with regards to schools teaching the JAA PPl syllabus? As we are all aware, there was much sabre rattling when JAR was introduced in respect of training out-with member States. There was the suggestion that non-member states, such as the USA would have to use instructors who had a JAA instructors rating.

It would appear that the above has not yet been fully implemented. If it were, what would schools like your own do?

I would imagine that Visas would be easier to come by, as you would not be taking work from US nationals and were bringing revenue to the USA. Given that scenario, would UK instructors have to have an FAA CPL/IFR if they were only to teach JAA PPL’s? or, would conversion to FAA CPL only suffice?

Frankly, the idea of spending the winter months instructing in the US has tremendous appeal!!

Thanks


CP

[Rotorbike]

Just a little add on to Naples Air Center's statement. In order to be granted a J1 visa you need to be able to PROVE you have funds to complete a Commercial licence NOT pay all funds up front.

It is the US government that hands you the visa and they require proof that you can fund the course so need to see copies of your bank statements with these funds before issuance of your visa.

Please don't be convinced to hand over large sums of money to foreign flight schools when it is not required and then watch them go under before you complete your study.

How do I know??? I had the pleasure of going to the US on a J1 visa and build my first 1500 hours being a flight instructor. But my flight school never had more than $2000 credit in my account at ANY one time!!!!

[SuperTed]

Can I just ask how much money in uk pounds is required to convert from a JAA ATPL CPL and FI to a become a US FI without IR?

Thanks!

[GoneWest]

Superted - I think I know the answer to that one..."nothing"...as (I believe) you cannot be an FAA instructor without an I/R.

Also have a feeling - whilst on the subject - that a student only needs an FAA INSTRUCTOR on board if training for an FAA RATING - OR doing any portion of flight that requires the authorisation of an FAA instructor under the Federal Regulations - such as any training before first solo, first solo, first solo cross country, first night solo or first night cross country....and subsequent solo cross country authorisations.

If a UK student came here to do a JAR multi rating or an IMC rating (for example)they would not need to fly with an FAA licenced CFI...because they are not training for an FAA rating, nor flying solo in a type or environment in which they are not already licensed.

(I think)

<<edit for typo>>

[ 09 September 2001: Message edited by: GoneWest ]

[Naples Air Center, Inc.]

F900B,

Since you live in S. Florida I would like to extend and personal invitation for you to stop in and look at the numbers. Come meet the instructors and talk with them. The current record for two weeks of instruction given is around 107 hours. (I do not remember the exact number.)

Clear Prop,

I agree with you. If the J.A.A. tightens the regulations to require J.A.A. instructors for all instruction in the U.S., it will be a lot easier to get visas. Also, instructors will be in demand. The only problem I see is the cost. If it becomes the case that J.A.A. instructors will be required, the cost of getting those instructors will drive the prices up in the U.S. to a point close to what it costs to get a license in the U.K. The only advantage for coming to the U.S. will be, to do your license in 4 to 5 weeks vs time it currently takes in the U.K. due to weather.

If that happens, the students will be the ones loosing since a lot of people will not be able to afford a PPL. I might be wrong, but I thought the main mission of the J.A.A. was suppose to bring flying to the masses, not to make it so expensive that it becomes elitist.

Rotobike,

The schools I know that issue the visa require the money up front. If you can find a school that does not, better. I suggest that if a school requires the money up front, pay them with a credit card. If anything goes wrong, a credit card gives you good recourse to getting your money back.

When I have student come for a professional course I have a program setup with my local bank for those students. They get free checking and other bank services while they are at my school training. Other schools should have a similar setup for their students.

SuperTed,

I do not know if this will answer your question. I suggest that you get the cost of the aircraft rental and instructor at the school you figure on attending. Then using the requirements for each license, figure out how many hours you will require to obtain those licenses. That should be the cost they quote you. If they quote you something significantly higher, I suggest you look at another school.

GoneWest,

Instrument Rating Requirement for Flight Instructor. Under F.A.R. 61.183(c)(2) it reads "An Instrument rating or privileges on that person's pilot certificate that are appropriate to the flight instructor rating sought,..."


Happy to help,

Capt. Richard J. Gentil, Pres.
Naples Air Center, Inc.

<<Typos>>

[ 09 September 2001: Message edited by: Naples Air Center, Inc. ]