Sioux39

Its seems that the typical profile of an expat is someone with 1000's of hours of TT and ends up flying large equipment. My question is are their opportunities for someone with regional airline minimums? (I'm not at that point yet, I'm just looking to see if any opportunities are available) I'm primarily interested in Europe but I can deal with Asia.

daytonaflyer

Unfortunatley NO. Not unless you are from another country and enter one of their airline training programs.
There is no fast way to big iron unless you are the child of an airline captain or you're a smokin' hot woman with connections.

Typhoonpilot

There is a reason that the typical expat pilot is someone with 1000s of hours. Most countries have labor/immigration laws the prohibit companies from hiring foreign nationals unless they can't find any qualified citizens to fill the position. Airlines overseas can demonstrate that need with Captains for safety, training, and experience reasons. They generally can not do the same for First Officers.

That said, there are still some opportunities out there. They are difficult to find and require some amount of luck. It was reported that the new private Chinese airlines hired some expat First Officers with very low time. Perhaps those individuals were already in country and typed on the aircraft, but working as Flight Instructors or something else until an opportunity came along.

Europe is a tough nut to crack unless you have the right to live and work in the EU. If you do then all it takes is for you to buy a type rating to get a job at many companies.

Falcon Express hires guys onto the Beech 1900 in Dubai. Usually they want them type rated first.

Notice the trend here. Most people outside of the States are willing to buy a type rating to get that first job. I don't agree with that, nor do I endorse it, but that seems to be the way it is.


Typhoonpilot