If you could, would you go to the states?

[davie7ee]

The USA is a good idea for the following reasons;

The cost of flying out here is a lot less than the UK or Europe in general. Become a CFI and gain many hours of flight experience in a short period of time. I taught at a JAA (CAA) school where I would fly 6-8 hours a day.

The USA is going through a pilot shortage. There are many companies out here that even if they hire as many pilot's as they can this year they will still be short!

You can gain the multi crew experience by flying for an airline in the USA whilst completing your ATPL's, you can even take the exams out here now (Orlando).

[KAG]

"The USA is going through a pilot shortage."

[davie7ee]

For the first time in 5 years there has been a large amount of pilot movement in the industry. If the regional airlines hire as many as they can this year they are still going to be short; which is great. There are several rules driving this though
1. The experience for a first officer is going to be increased. To allow to fly at an airline you will need 1500 hours (it is going back and forth as Universities and companies are arguing that 800 is sufficient).
2. The average of the pilot workforce in the USA is old.....i believe that the majority of the pilots at American Airlines are over 55 so not long for them to go.
3. New regulations on flight time and duty time. The FAA wants to increase the hours per day but also increase the rest period. If this comes about the airline will need 2 crews to do what 1 crew used to.

It all looks good for pilots for the next few years which is a huge relief!

[zondaracer]

shortage of guys with the hours to fly at a regional and willingness to fly for regional pay on regional schedules. but i´m sure the pilot mills will figure out how to pump the required number out and have them instruct until they reach the hiring requirements.

[davie7ee]

Right now the only ones affected are the regionals. As i stated before the majority of the pilots at the major airlines are old and were back logged because of the retirement rules (60 increased to 65). Within a few years this problem will not only be a regional problem.

I know a good few captains that have been at a regional for 10-15 years. They get paid pretty well (100k+), get the schedules they want, and get a large amount of time off per year. Given that it would take them at least three years at a major to earn the same as they are getting and all the benefits they would lose as they would be on the bottom; i do not foresee people leaving in a hurry.

We will see how the pilot mills work out........loans are hard to get especially when you are not part of a university.

[M_Wall13]

I'm in a similar situation to you M1ghtyDuck, most of my family live in the US, so I have the option to live over there, I'm a recent uni graduate with four years experience flying gliders and two years running a gliding club so I love GA, I had been due to start an UK integrated course earlier this year but decided not too due to the ridiculous cost and job market situation, so the plan is to go modular over the next few years and just keep an eye on the industry, I understand 100% that an new fATPL is by no means a ticket to an airline job, so the chance to go to the US and gain a license at a more reasonable price with the chance to gain experience and build hours in GA seems a good idea, also just me piece but the slavery of working for a regional over there isn't too different from what its like over here, with debt ridden guys/girls flying with BE, EZY and the golden harp.

So I'm pretty much asking the same questions guys what do you think?

[M1ghtyDuck]

M_Wall drop me a PM with your email address, be good to chat with someone considering the same thing.

The way I see it, even if we end up deciding to come back to europe, convert to JAA and try and find a job over here, we're in no worse a position financially or otherwise than if we'd just done it here in the first place, but probably have the benefit of some extra hours.

[KAG]

Why in our industry, when there is some movement, hiring, we call it a shortage?
Do pilots have a vocabulary problem? When I hear about:
line training instead of P2W,
frozen ATPL instead of CPL licence,
jet instead of turbofan,
shortage instead of hiring,
education instead of training,
GA instead of what we really mean (A B747 could be part of GA)....
When I hear about that then, I tend to beleive we really do have a vocabulary and accuracy problem.

[Reverserbucket]

Utah based regional currently interviewing for between 60 and 70 pilots per month - that's quite a few people. But - the salary is in the region of 20,000 USD p.a. - not a lot.

[zondaracer]

Yeah lots of US Regionals are hiring right now. The going rate seems to be somewhere between 800 and 1200TT, in anticipation of new work rest rules and the 1500TT/ATP rule which kicks in in 2012.

As previously stated, with seniority is possible to break $100,000/yr and have a decent schedule, but the first few years will be a struggle

You Tube

[davie7ee]

I used the term shortage as there is not enough supply of pilots to satisfy the demand at this time. I believe somewhere in a dictionary this is defined as a shortage.