Looking abroad to fly...
 

Hey guys/gals. I'm currently a student in a Commercial Aviation program here in the US with a couple of years before my graduation, so my questions are just out of curiosity. Unlike many of my classmates who are looking at flying only in the US, I've been very interested in flying for an airline abroad. My goal has always been to get to an airline such as Emirates, Qatar, Etihad, etc.. My question to you guys would be what would be a good path to take to get to a place such as Emirates. I realize that I'd most likely have to start at a US regional, which is fine, but after that what opportunities are there for airline gigs abroad? I've been reading the Foreign section for sometime and the airlines that are being talked about have all interested me. Again this is just out of curiosity as I still have sometime before these decisions would have to be made, so with that said, thanks for any input, suggestions, personal stories of how you went abroad to fly. Thanks again and I really appreciate it :)

The jobs you seek are meant for experienced pilots though, If that is the path you would like to take eventually you need to get Jet PIC in CR7's or above. Even CR2 captains are not having a lot of luck with calls from these places lately, aviation changes from week to week it seems and the demand for pilots abroad in increasing but I don't see it going down to recent graduates from commercial aviation programs, you have a while to go before you get a shot at a job like that

Dominican's right, Alex. I have no doubt there are a lot of foreign students in your program, and such types have been getting their rating over here as long as I can remember. As a new commercial pilot you'll be competing for the f/o seat with zillions of similar folks with the same qualifications - and they're natives of the country. You haven't a chance. Grit your teeth and get some left seat jet experience here. It'll take some time ...

I'm in a somewhat similar position; I'm 23, have my comm, inst, and multi, working on the CFI. I was born and raised in the US but would love to do a contract somewhere overseas. Japan, China, Africa or somewhere abroad for a few years seems like a great adventure, not to mention the pay is almost double what we would get for a US carrier. But as The Dominican - (thank you for all the great info you posted in the "ANA JP Express or Air Japan??" thread by the way) and rotorhead say, guys like us are far, far from being competitive for those jobs right now. Yes the demand for pilots in places like China and Japan are high but their decision makers are nowhere close to letting a US pilot come in to interview with a wet commercial ticket. They will probably park their jets due to lack of pilots rather than lower their mins much further than they already are.

There's no way around it; the only path to big paychecks and big jets abroad is through grinding our way through the banner towing, the bird chasing, the instructing, the time building, the regionals, and most likely even the majors right here in the US. Take a look at some of the min reqs for these foreign jobs that I added for you down below; almost all want at least 300 PIC hrs in type to even be considered. The only way to get 300hrs PIC in a 737 is to make captain at a major airline and looking at the AA, UAL, DAL upgrade averages that's going to be about 15 yrs after your date of hire.

Another problem is that by this point it would almost be foolish to willingly leave the airline you've been at for the last 15 yrs in the US to go chasing adventure in mysterious lands. It looks like most of these US pilots going over seas are ones that were furloughed from their major airline in the US.

Crew Resources Worldwide

WASINC International

Parc Aviation Recruitment and Resourcing

You might want to look into cadet programs at Cathay but you will not be flying at all, you might get to answer a CPDLC message from time to time and live at a 50 sq. meter crash pad with 4 other guys. Also fill out an application with EVA, I think that they are calling guys with lesser times because of the demand. COPA in Panama is worth a try if your times are low, those are the ones that I can think of that because of the dismal terms and conditions they are offering they are not getting a lot of applicants.

Good luck

Wow.

COPA:

"-Minimum operational experience: 1,000 flight hours as a pilot.
-Single-engine, multi-engine and instruments commercial license."

To fly FO in a 737! The conditions must be reeeaally bad. I'm doing some research.

Thanks for all the detailed responses so far as they are very helpful. Yeah, I already realize the fact that I'm going to start my career at a regional here in the US and spend AT LEAST 3-5 years building up time if which is fine by me. I've heard that there are some airlines that will take you with Jet time abroad regardless of its PIC or not, PIC helps nonetheless though. Airlines like HongKong Airlines, EVA, Copa, etc. Or is it hard to get on with an airline like that even if you have the hr requirements?

Might as well apply to copa and see what happens. Looks like they are desperate :)

Probably have to be Panamanian.

GF

Nope. 1000tt is the "foreign pilot" requirement. 250 and a comm, inst, multi are the mins for the natives.

Requirements for appying for the First officer Position