GH95

Hi guys,

Just looking for some general career advice for the future from our neighbours across the pond...

I’m British, currently 24, and fly the Airbus A319/320 for a well known UK low cost airline. I’ve been there for just over 2 years and have about 1700 hours total (1500 on type) as a first officer so far. Upgrade to command here is pretty quick and I could expect it hopefully in the next 3-4 years depending on if I’m ready for it etc! I’ve also just got married to a US citizen as well and we are thinking of maybe a move to the USA in the future.

I love the USA, we go back quite often, plus I lived in Arizona for a while during my training and could definitely see us moving out there permanently at some point if it made sense to do so.

My main question is, apart from getting a green card and that sort of stuff... what are my chances of getting straight into the RHS of a major airline out in the states? I’ve got a 3 year BSc degree from an accredited UK university if that would help my chances as I know they seem to like their guys to have one.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not ruling out working at a regional or a medium level like spirit or frontier if those were my options, but my end goal would be a major, so ideally I’d love to go straight in if I could with a decent bit of jet time under my belt. However, I know seniority is a very big thing in the airline industry out there so I’m not jumping to any conclusions about my chances of getting hired anywhere.

I did my CPL flight training in the US and my instructor has now moved to a regional (Compass Airlines I think) and said that getting about 1000 hrs PIC Jet would put me in a good position if we decide to move (plus do the ATP, FAA IR etc), so my plan is to stay where I am for now and hopefully move to the LHS and build that time when I can.

Any advice would be great appreciated, thanks!

galaxy flyer

Pretty slim, low on time for any legacy, easily hired at a regional. Make sure the degree is acceptable to DL, AA, UA first. And, of course, the green card.

GF

Adretel

Hey Friend, The good news is the Aviation industry in general the U.S. market remains on a shortage of good qualified pilots. With that said based on your hours you are going to have to expect to start on light iron to continue to build some time and earn in the ranks. When you have a date yo plan on making the move I can assist you in what jobs are currently available. Until then you can scan Aviation Jobnet to see what things are looking like.
https://jobs.aviationjobnet.com/

Sunrig

My thoughts on this, since I also did the move from EASA land to the US: The fastest way for you to get competitive for a Major would be joining a Regional ASAP. The reason behind that is that you could upgrade after 1000 hours of 121 and start building Jet PIC way faster than staying in Easy Jet. If you stay in Easy Jet it looks like you need another 3/4 years as an FO and then another 1/2 years as a Captain to get some PIC time. My guess is that you can get easily hired by a Major within 3 years after flying for a Regional. You would be at around 4000 TT and 1000 TPIC. Way better than coming to the US in six years with no actual US 121 experience. If you want to look at the Locos like Spirit and Frontier I guess your total time right now is not enough to get an interview. Some Regionals will also help/ pay for the ATP/CTP course and your ATP Checkride if you need to convert your license to an FAA ATP.
Best of luck and get the process for the Green Card started as it takes at least six months until you have it.

GH95

If I had a few thousand hours in the left seat of the A320 (talking 5-6000 hours total) do you not think that would make me competitive enough for applying to the majors? If not, what about somewhere in the middle ground like JetBlue?

As far as the degree goes, we don’t generally do 4 year bachelor degrees over here, they are 3 years unless you do a masters afterwards. But I could check with some airlines at some point as it’s from an accredited university over here.

Thanks for the advice!

usmc-sgt

That’s a different question, and the answer is yes. If you had 5-6000 hours of PIC in the left seat of a 320, plus the 1700 you already have TT PLUS the 3000 more hours you have before you even get to the left seat...you’d be close to 10-11,000 hours tt with 5-6000 hours pic in a bus. You would then be competitive for a legacy.

Is this a 10 year plan or a now plan? If it’s a now plan, you’re going to a regional. There is almost zero scenario any legacy touches you, to include the majors like Jetblue, spirit etc. Like none, so don’t even consider it. If this is a short term goal, pick a regional with a flow and get into the left seat ASAP. If you flow, great. In the meantime you build time and once you hit roughly 5000 hours you’ll be in the approximate ballpark of competitive.

dera

You don't check with the airlines, you need an Academic Equivalency Evaluation to see if your degree is considered a BSc or Associates Degree.

GH95

Hi,

I was thinking at least 2 years of command for that 5-6000 hours total time (so roughly 2000 in the LHS) but obviously the more pic the better!

As far as timeline goes, I’m talking at least 5-6 years, we’re in no rush. Like I said, we’ve just got married, enjoy living here and besides it makes more sense for my wife to stay and be eligible for UK citizenship before considering moving over, in case we ever want to come back. By that point I’ll have hopefully swapped seats and can continue building the hours. But we’re both young and I’ve potentially got plenty of flying years left, so I’m not rushing over just yet haha! But obviously if and when we do move, I want to put myself in the best possible position, so I’d rather keep accumulating time and move when the time feels right.

GH95

Hi all,

Now that the market for pilots is looking very different now in the USA compared to pre covid, what are my prospects likely to be over the next few years?

I'm at about 3000 hours SIC on the A320 with command prospects not too far away (within the next couple of years) so any insight would be greatly appreciated.

I wouldn't have a problem with getting residency etc as my wife is from the USA,

Thanks!

rickair7777

Definitely you can get a major job, which includes all narrowbody scheduled pax operators (in the US the term "regional" means fee for departure subcontractor).

Good chance you could get a top-tier job, but without an 4-year degree or TPIC that's not assured. But it would be worth the effort to do the interview prep and applications IMO.

US employers only give credit for foriegn degrees which are accredited with a US agency, I'm not sure where your 3-year fits into that. You should ask the school what if any US accreditation affiliation they have... you might have a 4-year equivalent, a 2-year equivalent, or nothing. If you have a 4-year equivalent, I'd say you're pretty competitive for top-tier right now.

Don't waste any time, hiring and seniority is moving very fast.