Me(a pilot) and girlfriend(tv producer) want to move to Dubai and looking for work.

[Benbo]

Evening all!
I hope your enjoying your time there.
I am presently in the process of trying to look for work over there as a pilot. The only problem being that for pilots with relatively low experience(around 500 hours if that means anything to anyone!!)It is very tough to find work as the supply of pilots with a similar amount of experience outweighs the demand. Therefore It is very useful to try and build some contacts as with any other industry to improve my chances of being successful with my hunt for work in UAE.
I presently work as a Flight Instructor in the UK for a well established flight school near London. However, my aim is to work for the Airlines or a corporate jet outfit over there in the UAE and my girlfriend and I are hoping to move out there asap as long as we can both find work.I am in my early thirties and my girlfriend is in her late twenties. Luckily she has managed to be quite succesfull in her job hunt so far and has a couple of opportunities looming on the horizon.
If anyone has come across any similar scenarios with expat pilots who are looking for work I'd be very interested in finding out any tips or getting any advice from you. This would be extremely helpful.

Thanks very much for reading and if you can offer any advice or assistance it would be very much appreciated.

Cheers.

[Maz25]

Hello and welcome to the forum!

A long time ago, I also wanted to be a pilot but my eye sight failed me!

In regards to pilots in the UAE, I believe that there is a flight school in Dubai. It might be worthwhile to get in contact with them and enquire about current and future vacancies (can't really remember their name - been quite a while since I looked at their website). You could also try the major airlines such as Emirates, Etihad or the other major Middle East Airlines such as Gulf Air and the likes.

A friend of my parents managed to secure a position as Captain with Gulf Air but understandably, his experience was well over 20,000 hours. I think that in order to work as an expat pilot, most airlines would be looking for people with quite a similar level of experience! I think that in view of your 'limited' amount of experience, the best way to go about this would be to contact prospective employers (airlines & flight schools) directly and discuss your experience with them. They would be in a better position to advice you.

[Benbo]

Hi Maz 25
Thanks for the advice. You are correct about the Airlines such as Emirates wanting far more hours than I presently have. They require at least 1500 hours before I'll even get a look in unfortunately. Though when I do get the hours I know a couple of quite senior Captains who may be able to help. That doesn't help me now though!! I heard that Emirates is starting a low cost airline called Fly Dubai. I'm trying to get in touch with them at the mo to apply. I think maybe Etihad and Qatar take on people with lower hours but contacts are what I really need to start building out there so if anyone could help it would be great.

Thanks

[southerncross]

Hi Maz,

My husband is an engineer and know a few pilots as well. I think a good place to start would be to go to a sight called pprune. Just google it. It is an industry website for pilots and engineers. There you can find threads and ask questions just like you have asked. The difference is that they are read by people in the industry here and else where and should know what is going on.

Good luck,

Leanne.

[Benbo]

Hi Leanne

Thanks for the advice about PPRUNE but I have been a regular visitor to this forum already for the past 5 years since starting my training. Any other ideas gratefully received.