Originally Posted by 3stripes

Thanks for all your help and advice guys.

Cal Varnson: Are you sure you want to marry an English chick?! There's a reason I'm marrying an American! Our ladies over here can be an interesting breed, plus the teeth sometimes take some getting used to!

porqueno: I'm probably going to be moving to Ohio. My fiance lives about 2 hours from DTW and an hour from DAY at the moment, however, she can be relocated by her company if required to be near me.

It's funny that a lot of you guys are saying stay in the UK. Many people over here are saying the exact opposite. The European market is a mess. Our pay is pretty good admittedly, but tax is huge, in some places as much as 50%. The real kicker though is career progression. The market over here has been totally messed up by 200hr wonderkids paying $50,000 to $60,000 for the right to fly 300 hours in the RHS on an Airbus or Boeing. The right hand seat here is now just another seat that is making revenue for the airlines.

I'm stuck on the J32. In the past I would have been able to progress to a 737 or A320 from where I am now and then on to the really heavy metal in 10 years or so. Now the only option you have is to pay for your three or four months joyride on a Boeing or Airbus and then hope to be picked up by an airline in the Far East or Asia. There are only a handful of airlines that pay for type ratings now and even fewer that actually employ you as opposed to taking you on as a contractor. British Airways recently opened up their recruitment for five days to take on 30 guys, they received over 5,000 applications. I was turned down, but so were people with over 10,000hours on type!

In short, the market is in a mess in Europe too, just a totally different one!