If YOU could reverse the clock... EXPAT's
 

Hello All,

So, lets imagine that we are talking to our newly graduated son/daughter. He/she has just completed there CFI and began instructing at a busy flight school. They look you in the eyes and say dad/mom... The only thing I can think of is flying in Asia, it is such a dream to me. What would you tell them, that you would have done differently to get to the expat phase of your career.

I would have done it sooner.

FO

I would give them a long talk on the benefit of working in your own country, preferably for the best major in that country. I would tell them that for the majority expat flying is something you do not aspire to. It is something that is forced on you by circumstance. Company went bankrupt; got furloughed; screwed out of ever being a captain do to a bad seniority list integration; never able to get on with that major in the first place; felony conviction (yes, I've met some); etc.

I'd tell them if they want adventure early in their career they should go flying the bush somewhere ( Alaska, Africa, PNG ). Then come home to the States; settle down; and get to that major as soon as they can.


Typhoonpilot

I echo Typhoon's sentiments..

There is no way I could have foreseen my position now when I left my office job out of college and decided to instruct. I saw many under appreciated years of regional flying and with a little luck a shot at the majors. I set some personal goals and a rough timeline with the notion that if it didn't work out, the office jobs would still be there.

My path started out in that direction, and it was some rather uncommon twists that had me in the right place at the right time with the right type to be hired by a foreign carrier that wasn't a low cost FO puppy mill that paid peanuts.

A couple different decisions along the way, or even a class or two difference in seniority would have taken me a completely different route without my knowledge.

As the man said.. it's a circumstance not and ambition.

This is a very difficult question that cannot fit into a neat few paragraphs answer, first of all the aviation world that exists today is very different than the one I grew up when I was getting my hours, second the expat pilots world is very different than the one that existed only a couple of years ago. Aviation is very fluid and dynamic, everyone is talking about the upcoming hiring at the majors and how many pilots will be hired yadda, yadda! But can we really guarantee that this will be the case? When I got hired at my first major job, if you would have told me that I would be in Japan working contract work, I would have told you that you were delusional, after all, back then the economy was booming and the mainline carriers were hiring hundreds every month, there is no way you can foresee how things will turnout in your career, sure, the main goal should be to get hired at your career job and have a ten minute commute with 18 days a month, but to try to predict what path will give you the more stability is silly on all itself since there is no stability in this business.
As a pilot you should try to get the golden ticket and go with the career job, but whom the hell knows what that is? You never expected Eastern and Pan Am to go down and you certainly never expected that an operator of a few Falcons flying freight would become the FedEx of today.
I am in that situation today as a matter of fact, my son is talking pilot, what I tell him is that he should forge a strong criteria of what he would consider acceptable and unacceptable, form his character around those values and forge ahead with whatever the industry throws at him without compromising those values. The rest is just luck and timing, anyone that claims what path would be best for a young aspiring pilot is basing it on what they would like this industry to be, not the unpredictable and heartless career it is.

I should have gone to law school, then open a firm specializing in aviation bankruptcy law.

I would tell them I would pay for them to go to back to nursing/HVAC/IT school and leave the flying for personal enjoyment.

What I would say really would depend on how open that individual is other cultures. My 5th airline is an Expat job and I love it as do many of the guys I work with but you really have to be open to new things.

I would tell them to get a job at a major airline (not LCC) in the US that has a base in their hometown.

Sorry, just IMHO... Even a USair career is a lot better than commuting across the world to a bunker in the desert where they take your passport away.
Yes, you get to fly a 777 or 380 at 27 and live in the towers with a bunch of FA's. You will have some cool pictures to put on facebook, but it will get old soon and you will look back at it as waisted time.

Solid family (and life in the US) is where you will be happy.

Don't forget to develop yourself in something esle so you could make your millions and not fly like a slave and shake everytime you go for a medical when you are 45+.

The world has changed and the changes have caught up to the USA. It seems now we have to pay our "dues" by flying for regionals for low pay just to get a chance of landing at SWA, Alaska, FDX, or Delta. Everyone else pays squat wages. The competition among pilots to get a job at those four mentioned airlines will be intense like a Cowboys Redskins game.

There are some tax advantages of working overseas.
In many Mideast countries there are NO income taxes and I would say no union dues either. I would say do a present value calculation for all current and future income. One for the USA and one for an expat job. I am sure the expat job will get you a larger sum of money at the end of a career.