US pilots flying for foreign carriers

[NookyBooky]

Do many US pilots get jobs flying for foreign AL's like JapanAL, British Airways, or Quantas? If so how much more difficult is it (in decent economic times) to get a job with a foreign Air Line?

And if your a new resident of a country? for instance, if an American pilot moved to Austrailia, how much of a disadvantage would he be at in getting a job with Quantas?

Sorry for so many questions.

 

[TurboS7]

I flew for a British Airline, it took a month to go through all the 121 training checkride, and I had to get a temp. ATLPL from the CAA.

 

[blade230]

Quantas does not hire Americans, only Australians, and some from NZ.

JAL will not hire Americans directly. You must apply through a temp. contract company like PARC or HAS. Through this system you also fly only certain aircraft DC-10 and classic series 747. New equipment remains for mainline (Japanese) crew.

British Airlines and Virgin have both hired Americans in the past, don't know about now. You must have a JAA though.

Good luck

 

[Blueline]

Blade,

Qantas does hire Americans. You must, however, have the legal right to work down under. Check out their employment website.

BL

 

[Cardinal]

First of all, check out www.pprune.org for the whole story on flying outside the United States.

Americans have a pretty good deal right here at home. I just flew with an Australian who fled the truly dismal job market there (pre 9/11!) for a much better position with us. That continent has an immense pilot glut. Europe's ATP certificate is a quagmire. It involves something like 12 different written exams. Have fun. And in first-world nations there will be local competition for the positions. Of course any foreign path requires that all the right-to-work stuff is taken care of, and not all companies are willing to sponsor people. I researched this issue pretty hard, and unless you have a compelling non-work related reason to move abroad, i would avoid it.

Perhaps the one exception to the above would be HK based Cathay Pacific, who make things pretty workable for the expatriate. Heck, with seniority ther are US crew bases. BUT - the International Federation of Air Line Pilots Associations has placed a recruitment ban on CX, and for good reason. Run a search if you're curious. Anyway, don't go there till things are settled, or we'll have to slash your tires, etc. Would ya really want to work under and pay taxes to a communist government anyway?

 

[GulfPilot]

To obtain a JAA licence, the "short way" one must have 1500hrs PIC in an aircraft over 60 metric tonnes, then complete 1) Airlaw written...2) Human performance factors written...3) Simulator type check on the type desired...this will provide you with a JAA ATP...your current logbook will be thorougly scrutinized, and validated before allowing you to enter this program...many agencies will require this licence for their postings...temp work permits are usually not a problem...some agencies are able to obtain one-year validations for temp contracts..but this is happening less often as time goes by, due to pressure from pilot groups. An Australian ATP can be obtained by sitting two written exams..1) AAOS (aeroplane conversion) 2) IREX (instrument)..and again taking a type check with an examiner/inspector approved by CASA (aus faa) the need for the 1500 PIC in large aircraft to my knowledge does not exist...Japanese carriers put you through the whole ATP as a part of their initial training which usually runs 4-6 months..middleast carriers obtain licences from their country of registry that are basically validations of your FAA when you complete their initial training course...hope this clears it up a little....Bristol is a good school in the U.k. the australian CASA has a website you can contact.

 

[whereamI]

China Airlines was looking for expatriate pilots in the not to distant past. They are based out of Taipei, so the whole communist regime thing is not so much of a problem. My understanding with JALways was that they only hired expat pilots for the JAX portion of the company, I could be wrong. I do know the pay scale is significantly different for expat and Japanese pilots.

 

[bobbysamd]

Expat jobs

You might try IASCO . It used to be a pipeline for Americans wanting to fly for Japan Air Lines.

Sadly, Captain McNicol at Flight Crews International has retired (Great for Captain Mac; sad for pilots!). And, worse, Kit Darby has purchased his company. At one time Captain Mac was a prime source of foreign airline job leads. According to the web page, Capt. Mac is still around. Maybe he can still help.

Good luck with your quest to fly in foreign lands.

 

[80/20]

Many Americans are flying for foreign carriers. To have a realistic chance with the better-benefit/higher-paying foreign carriers you often need at least two of the following:
* Time on type
* Foreign license
* Work permit

Some oriental carriers such as JAL will, as GulfPilot said, employ us and give the required training to convert to a JCAB license and base you in the US. JAL will actually pay you a good salary during this training. The catch is that you must have time on type and go through crew leasing. This is not so common in Europe where you normally have to get the JAA license on your own. It is however possible, but not so common, to get a validation where you can fly on a FAA license in Europe for some time.

The pay system may also be different. Many European carriers have fixed pay regardless of type. For example, a B-737 and a B-767 pilot will have the same pay. Starting salaries and F/O salaries are sometimes higher. This will give you a higher salary in the beginning of your career. Few foreign salaries can compete with the max pay that we have seen for senior captains at top paying US airlines.

 

[runnymeade]

The CASA will assess you on a case by case basis if you have an ICAO ATPL licenses all you really need to do is pass a class one Australian medical, have your logbook assessed by a CASA examiner. You will need to register with the CASA office in Canberra for the exams and present your passport and current license.
You must pass the commercial air law exam first, which is a prerequisite for the ATPL air law exam. Then pass the IR air law exam after which you will be allow to sit for the ATPL air law.
You must then do flight training equal to the FAA instrument checkride. There is no ATPL checkride in Australia, once you satisfy all of the above and have logged all appropriate training the ATPL will be issued by Canberra.
Ad-Astral Aviation does the most conversions and have a nicely designed accelerated course which cost about 3000.00, they also have in-house examiner so all can be done right there.
http://www.ad-astral.com.au/frame_main.htm

To receive the CAA license in an Asian country first you must have a sponsor for a work permit, without this your chances of even receiving the training is slim.

Regards