Africa and PNG are both good places to get in and move up quick, and 500 hrs should be pretty reasonable. Maun in Botswana is a good place to start, and there are a number of S African companies running around Africa who will emlpoy you with that kind of time. These are not jobs you will land by sending off a CV though; you'll have to do a road trip. A place like Solenta will start you on a Caravan in the right seat (yes, the right seat of a Van) flying a Red Cross contract. Generally guy's move to the left seat, then the right seat on the ATR (all over West Africa for DHL). It's a good place to get good turbine time and reasonable T&C's.

Friends of mine have started on the C206 in Botswana or Kenya, then the Caravan, then to Solenta, Trackmark, Naturelink or a similar operation. A few ended up with Hong Kong Express on the NG after a few years in Africa, a coule went to CX from there. It's all about getting in and getting and working contacts. Be a chap, make friends and stay in touch with them. You'll end up with a very good network and will find it hard to be unemployed.

Here's a bit of skinny for ya:

A good place to knock on the door in Bots is Sefofane (they say they have hired for the season but one never knows):
Sefofane Air Charters
P.O. Box 6850
Windhoek
Republic of Namibia

a bigger op based in S Africa but with bases Africa wide and an expat employer is Solenta, a good place to go after a bit of time with a place like Sefofane, they are accepting CV's:

http://www.solenta.com/employment.ph...33&parentid=33

Another good large operator accepting CV's is Naturelink:
Naturelink Aviation
Hangar 12 & 45,
Wonderboom Airport
Pretoria, South Africa.

Postal Address:

Naturelink Aviation
PO Box 15585,
Sinoville, 0129
South Africa

Best of luck with it. . . it's an adventure. At the moment a true adventure as some of these ops also operate into Afghanistan.

Hey PCLCREW, what kind of jet time do you have? If it's on anything larger than an RJ I would have thought you'd be in a pretty good position. Bummer you're not having any luck dude, keep it up eh.

 

If you have a CFI, there is a flight school in Bali that is always looking for instructors. I think they pay about $24,000 a year. At least Bali would be a great place to live.

 

Two airlines come to mind in Europe that will hire with 250 hours total time. Rynanair and EZ Jet. Applicants will be invited in for an interview and simulator assessment. If accepted, the applicant now becomes a candidate. The candidate will be allowed to enroll for a type rating at an approved training facility that offers a type rating using the airlines’ specific procedures. The training is an out of pocket expense solely born by the candidate circa €30,000. The cost of the type rating is exclusive of accommodations and food. Next comes the base training, then line training. Generally pay commences once the safety pilot is no longer required to be on the jump set.

Of course the right to work in the EU is required along with the EASA nee JAR license is required.

There are schools in the US where you can obtain a JAR license and ratings appropriate to those minimum required by the above LCCs. You know that that means…. more $$$$$$s However, given the state of the economy within the EU, work visas are harder, not impossible, but harder to come by.

If you can come up with the scratch, preserver through the training and get the work visa, go for it Cathay Pacific would look at you closer for their cadet program with a JAR certificate too.

As far as speaking the language??? Yes some carriers on the other side of the pond do require fluency in their native tongue.

Anyway… which ever direction you proceed with your career good luck.

 

Yea, that was when times were good, though. Now with those kinds of times you won't even get looked at by the biggest bottom feeder LCC, unless as mentioned you forked out 30,000euros to prostitute yourself for some years.

A place like Wizzair, where nobody wanted to work and everyone frowned upon, now it is almost impossible to get even looked at by them unless you have a couple thousand hours and have a TR or are willing to pay your own. A part of me dies inside every time I see a 200h FO forking up cash for schemes like the EasyJet scheme to jump the line into a shiny jet.

The European market at the moment makes me depressed when I think about it. Hopefully things pick up.. I hear things to the effect that the European market lags behind the US by about 1 year. I guess we will see how and when things pick up there.. for now, though, for the most part, it's crap... unless like I mentioned you speak a certain language, and are from a certain nation who is hiring now with low mins.. and they are out there, but those are specific gigs, not available to everyone.

 

Yep .... Aegean hired a few months ago but wanted Greek speaking pilots

There is a lot of opportunity though .. especially in the Middle East .. Air indigo ordered I don't even know how many A320 NEOs .. things should pick up again.

 

The U.S. Regional Carriers provide good experience for a low time pilot. Many only require 100 hours Multi. I have gone that route and worked overseas on the CRJ for the last 4 years but now even with 2500 PIC CRJ/EMB it's very difficult to find a job overseas. Last month I got the A320 type and have applied with several A320 operators but no luck yet.

I'm sure the job market will change considerably given the 5 year retirement extension (65) is approaching 5 years ago, U.S. furloughs being called back, and large aircraft orders in the works. In my opinion, the 500 hours time in type will disappear because anyone that has 500 hrs PIC in type (Boeing/Airbus) probably already has a job.

 

I was hired at a US Regional, but when I saw the pay I turned the job down and moved to Europe where I was lucky to get hired immediately.

 

Thanks for the responses. No luck yet. I'm confident the market will soften up in the next couple years though.

As far as the Afghanistan flying goes, it seems to me that the only companies that fly there require a good amount of time 1500+ as of now. Are there any operations that use smaller planes like a 182 or a 206 that require alot less time? I honestly would not mind flying over there for a awhile.