Should I move to the UK
 

So work is painfully slow in coming to me here in canada even though I have 5000 hours with most of it on metros as a Captian and about 500 hours on the old F-28 as a F/O. My wife was born in London and still has her passport. My grandfather was also from London. I can do the JAA licence what do you guys think my chances are?

from others
 

http://www.avcanada.ca/forums2/viewt...t=608&start=25

Thanks for the Link
 

Thanks for the link it helped alot! :D

You can never have too many qualifications in aviation...we are a migrant workforce, not unlike wetback orange pickers in California....don't let the naysayers dissuade you from pursuing your goals....if you have the right to work..something you can't study for..than get the licence...something you CAN study for...your chances are what you make them..you apparently have the chance you had no control over....:ok:

Metro...

I did the conversion last year and have not looked back. The job market is fluid here and will only get better over the next couple of years as long as Bin Laden and Co don't pull anything too severe....This of course would effect all of us.

With your time you would get a look from every carrier here in the UK. Direct entry commands are available with smaller operations. You will miss Canada but the jobs make up for it here. Only 6-10 hours on a jet to go home and holiday time here kicks Canadian standards. 4-6 weeks is common.

Good luck

Metro Head

Yes why not come on over to the UK and join all the others legal and illegals already here and on their way and lets get the population up to 65 Million asap and we can all fall over each other in this crowded little island.

Should I buy a Ferrari?

It's horrendously expensive to buy a house (25% of the size and 400% of the price in Canada), schools are very variable in their quality, your tax bill is going up, not down, the roads you want to travel on are busy, small and full of arrogant pr*cks, and you'll be horrified at the cost of living.

Apart from that, it's fine.

a_a

You forget to mention the weather in UK!! Perhaps for a Canadian that would be an improvement:confused:

Weather:

The UK has lots of it, and it's the eternal topic of conversation, so start practicing comments like:

Not much of a summer is it?

It's so wet I've developed webbed feet.


You'll find that we don't take well to extremes of weather either - so more than two days in a row of >25C/75F is a heatwave, any one day at/below 0C is "Britain freezes in arctic blast", more than 0.5 in of snow and the entire road and rail system grinds to a halt and more than 2 inches of rain in two days and we have floods.

Apart from that it's fine.

Metrohead,

I'm an Aussie living in England and can tell you that the job market here is MUCH better than just about anywhere else. The negative comments here are from Brits who just don't get that 4000hrs scores you a C210 in the Aussie bush or a beaver on floats where you are.

With your experience you will have no problem scoring a job, and if you can stump up the money for a type rating (A319/20/21 or 737 being the obvious ones) would probably score a Jet f/o position with about 2-3 years to command.

The weather sucks, the houses,gas and beer is expensive, but as far as job prospects go, well, I'm here and not out on Sydney Harbour, which must tell you something!!

Metrohead,

having just done the reciprocal of what you are thinking about doing then my answer would be NO! UK is a lovely place, but: the weather is pants, taxes are unreal, everything is a lot more expensive than Canada, people are less friendly..................the list goes on!

Oh and they dont have Molson in the UK;)

el dorado

Yes by all means bring your Ferrari. Within weeks it will either be stolen or vandalised by one of the many 1000's of mindless yobs. UK is the car crime capital of Europe,something else a_a failed to mention:{

Dirty Sanchez,

And you are flying Jets for whom in Canada?

Yes why not come to the UK. Everyone else is. You don't even have to have a job and if you do you'll end up paying an endless amount of tax and get absolutely nothing back for it.
There's quite a lot of Brits who would love to leave the UK if possible and the anount of long haul pilots who are leaving increases by the week as they just can't afford to live here!

its not that bad a place, yes the weather is predictably unpredictable and its almost impossible to buy somewhere in the south thats less than abt £250,000 and the roads are packed and taxes high but everything is within a 5 minute drive, jobs are plentiful, lots of places to rent available, people are not unfriendly just what we are used to so living next to your next door neighbour and not knowing there name is common and we dont say hi to all and sundry whilst doing our shopping but it has a charm and if it was that bad millions wouldnt flock here every year and thousands wouldnt come here illegally either.Plus its the home of football and the passion wd put any country to shame....

Stay in Canada !!!!

House prices are ridiculous, the people "on the whole" are unapproachable and customer service is non existent.

Quality of Life is far better in Canada.

And yes I have lived and flown in both.

Income tax 40%, sales tax 17.5%, local income tax £1800, soon to increase to £5000. Crime high, schools poor, health service in crisis, pensions in meltdown, roads gridlocked. But look on the bright side: we have a fantastic government.

Yes, you should move to the UK. I did it 5 years ago, with almost no experience at all. I have been flying the 767 ever since. I have been comparing terms & conditions with the Canadian market ever since and there simply is no comparison. However I did manage to get in on the housing ladder here before everything went haywire, I think I would find it pretty hard to do now.

Do not listen to those who say stay at home. If I had done so when I was posting similar questions on pprune I would still be a 152 instructor. Yes the weather is crap, yes it is expensive here, but what people don't realize is that Canada is expensive in other areas. There is a huge misconception in this country that Britain is the most expensive/worst place to live in the world and that all our problems will be solved by moving somewhere else. You can see this on the numerous television programs like "no going back" where extremely naive people move away to Australia, Canada, France etc thinking that they are in for the easy life, only to make the shocking discovery that things were actually easier at home! Life is hard no matter where you are and the simple FACT is that the best place in the world for a pilot to work is in Britain. And hey, 900 hours a year is the limit here, not 1200 like in Canada! Quality of life is better based on this fact alone.

The aviation industry is the second largest in the world and due to the prohibitively high cost of getting a licence there are a lot of jobs around. If you can sort out the money then just do it.

I should also mention that I was concerned I would get a bad reception here and people would think I am taking jobs etc. Based on the sort of xenophobic rants you see on this website you could be forgiven for thinking this but the reality is that people are really interested in you and I couldn't have had a warmer reception.

But yes the weather really is bad here. If the weather was better the aviation industry wouldn't be so big so we have the weather to thank for our jobs.

Go for it.

unmiseowl,

Australia has 49% tax, 10% sales tax, and the average earnings for pilots is around 40% of what can be earned here.

The grass may seem greener-though back home it's usually brown!!

OK Wiz, but what about the crime, schools, roads/public transport, health service, pensions crisis, weather and above all Tony's govenment?

Wizofoz

What is important is what your take home pay buys you ! In OZ it goes much further as Housing,Petrol ,Food etc etc is far cheaper than in UK.

Yes there are some minuses like Ozzies to contend with:ok:

Hi guys,

unwiseowl,

Crime? About the same. I've experienced four comprehensive burgularys at home, muggings, beatings, murders etc. are all there. Smaller numbers because of a smaller population but per capita about the same. Schools? My kids are happily in a local Catholic State school, whilst we were going to have them privatley educated at home because the state system is c****.
Roads? A little wider! But nothing like the motorway system, and rural roads are death traps. Public transport? Nothing approaching the tube, a creaking bus service in sydney and and old inefficient suburban train system. Health service? Medicare, the government health insurance, is underfunded. Waiting times for non-life threatening surgery (Such as hip-replacement for an old guy in constant pain) was approaching two years. Pensions? There is compulsory personal superanuation, as the state pension is not available to virtualy anyone with any assets. Those funds are under the same pressure as British ones, and the Aus population is aging just as quickley.

Weather? Great most of the time, though try flying an un-airconditioned light twin in 45 degree heat- not fun.

Airline jobs? Qantas, 15 years to command. VB? gotta know some one, and the pay stinks.

Tony? Well, he'll be gone soon, won't he? And don't think we haven't had our share of idiots behind the wheel. Do some research on Gough Whitlam

thegypsy,

Yes and no. Firstly, Sydney is hellishly expensive. If you re envisaging a place overlooking the harbour, you are talking millions of dollars for starters. Median price for greater Sydney is around 500 000 (About 200 000 pounds), which is similar to Britain. Other places are better, but I don't know what you'd do for work.

My higher British salary is paying the mortgage on my more expensive British house. Come retirement, the value of my four-bed semi in Northern England would fund my entire retirement at home! And my job security here is MUCH higher. When there are only two airlines, if the one you work for goes broke, your choices get very limited!!

Just another input into this discussion. I am a Brit. I grew up in England, I served 12 years in the RAF, joined what was then Air2000 - now First Choice Airlines and am now plying my trade as an expat in SE Asia. I have tried hard to be proud to be British.

But:

Wild horses wouldn't drag me back to UK. Each time I visit my family I find the UK dirtier, more overcrowded, more expensive and less friendly than the previous visit. The taxes (direct and indirect) are high to subsidise, amongst other things, a welfare state system that is creaking at the seams but still seems to attract millions of economic refugees who put further strain on a failing system, and common decency seems to have been sacrificed on the altar of making a dollar. Petrol is over 4GBP a gallon. If you smoke, cigarettes are over GBP4 for 20 and the tax on alcohol is unbelievable. A bar meal for 2, a few drinks and a short cab ride home will set you back over GBP50. Think about it!

Work may be hard to come by in Canada but I would think twice before coming to UK.

BananasBananas,

Everything you said can be applied to Canada as well. It is not just Britain that is affected by slow decline. Pretty much everything "WizofOz" said applies to Canada too except replace Sydney Harbour with "anywhere in Vancouver". Cigarettes cost a fortune (but this doesn't matter when you are aircrew if you know what I mean), cities are getting dirtier, roads are in worse condition every year and funding gets cut all over the place - god help you if you need an ambulance in Ontario. Pension funds are underfunded and there is no money in the economy to sort it out. Welfare state is in a mess - just count how many people are sleeping on the streets next time you are in Toronto (there used to be none when I was a kid).

Restaurants appear cheaper in Canada but this is false economy because you have to add 15% tax to all the menu prices and then of course add another 15% tip because tipping is compulsory. Not something you need to worry about in Britain.

The simple fact is, what you have described is the state of the entire western world. Everything is sacrificed at the altar of the mighty dollar. The sooner people begin to wake up and realise that the grass ISN'T greener on the other side the better. Except where it comes to aviation.

The decision should come down to where are the jobs. The answer is they are in Britain. The wages are very competitive and the competition is strong and healthy. Employment is way more secure than other countries and time off is much more. The vast majority of jobs are on large commercial jet aircraft. If bush flying is your thing then don't come here. If airline flying is your thing then get off your backside and get here yesterday.

Zippy

I think every country has there good points and bad, we all have crime but in a country with 70m people its going to be higher than say in Canada but I for one live in London and have never been attacked in the street, never seen a gun, dont know of anybody personally who has been the victim of crime, my house has never been burgled but when I spent a good amount of time in BNE last year I had my bike nicked from outside my house about a week after being there!
Things are relative to, yes house prices are high but wages are not so bad, we get decent holidays unlike our N American counterparts, flights are cheap abroad and theres plenty of competition to keep the prices low and everything is 'just around the corner', I think the tax system is pretty much equal to any other country and its not astrnomically high you just get used to it.
Theres many a country worse than England.

If you do come please bring with you some Tim Hortons coffee :ok:

On behalf of RedFred as I'm sure he meant to say it but is just a bit ignorant you'll be welcome in the rest of the British Isles which includes Scotland, Wales & Northern Ireland.......:rolleyes:

Thegypsy said:

Have you even been...?

As others have said housing is now on a par with the UK in the growth areas of Australia. Take the southern suburbs of Brisbane, which is infact a long way from the centre of town (30kms) a very average new build property will set you back $400K which is around £170K, much the same as say the outer reaches of Birmingham or Manchester or Newcastle, and as for Glasgow, that will get you a mansion... :p

Petrol... ok it is cheaper in Oz, but it is a fairly poor grade of petrol so less miles to the gallon and certainly harder on the upkeep/servicing costs, and they all drive gas guzzlers so it sort of evens out.

Food, there is no difference, indeed some foodstuffs such as milk & bread are actually more expensive in Australia.

As for crime, there was a recent study which said you are more likely to suffer serious assault in Australia than anyother developed country...! Like a previous poster, I had never been burgled until I lived in Australia...

Don't get me wrong, I love the country (Australia), but you have to be realistic.

Of course many apologies to Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland for not including them in the UK!

BANANASBANANAS

Please check your PM's!

Thanks

B727-200

About all these jobs in England...

Are many jobs available at the regional level, or only at the top (BA, Virgin, etc)?

Must one need some level of JAA licensure to inquire, or are pilots with adequate experience abroad but no JAA tickets given consideration?

I guess I'm asking if a relatively low time FAA pilot should send out apps to the UK or wait until he has a respectable amount of time at a US regional and at least a frozen JAA ATPL....

Chris

Pilotcpb,

First and foremost you need the right to reside in the EU. If you don't have that the rest is a waste of time.

If you have the right to reside in the EU then you'll need to convert your FAA licence across to a JAR licence which will cost a lot of money if you're a low timer without a lot of experience. Say £10,000??

There aren't a lot of jobs in the UK for low timers but if you have experience there are openings. My company, easyjet, says they have about 5,000 applications on file at the moment from European pilots. At the moment they are getting people in the door by getting to pay them £25,000 ($40000?) for a type rating and a reduced salary :sad: so the UK isn't a honeypot.

At the moment anyone without experience is going to find it extremely tough to get a look in. Anybody with experience on a turbo prop should be able to secure another turboprop position but may struggle to get on a jet at the moment. Anybody with reasonable experience on a jet should find a position on a jet with someone, but perhaps at some cost as paying for your type rating seems to be becoming the fashion. :sad:

Hope that helps.

Scottie,

Thanks for the info... thats pretty much what I figured the situation to be, but the tone of the thread was fairly upbeat... guess I underestimated th experience of everyone else!

Chris