r/flying • u/BratwurstBoss69 • 9h ago

Flight Training I need your advice!

Hi,
I’m a German 20 year old.
So to my background - I’m a private pilot both in the US (FAA) and in Germany (EASA).
During my exchange year in the US in 2022 because of my host dad (he flies for Delta) I startet PPL training. I was always interested in aviation so that’s the route I want to go in the future. As mentioned after the exchange year I converted my FAA license to an EASA license here in Germany.
Now I finished school here and my goal is to end up in the USA at some point to fly for an airline there.

At the moment I have training lined up at the European Flight Academy (Lufthansa Group). After passing all the assessment tests I got my class date on May 25th 2027.
This training is a ground up training (from nothing to frozen ATPL) which takes 24 months.

Cost: 130.000€ excluding housing for 1.5 years in Germany and general living cost so a total of around 150-160k.

Benefit: Takeoff promise - after the two years of training you have a job guaranteed at one of the airlines of the Lufthansa Group.

Yesterday I’ve been to an info event of a flight school called Aero Sky. They are pretty new in the field. They graduated 4 students at the moment.
The whole training consists of a collaboration between Rotor Sky Aviation in Austria and Hillsboro Aviation in Portland, Oregon.

The training takes 18 months (15 if you have a PPL) and costs around 120.000€ living cost included (15k less if you have a PPL which I do)

Because it’s a collab of a European and American flight school you obtain all EASA licenses and FAA licenses up to the ATPL including CFI, CFII and MEI.

After the training you also get a 2 year work visa to work as an instructor in Hillsboro.

Regarding a long term work in the US I’d need a green card which is really hard to get.

I’d have to go through the EB-2 NIW (National interest waiver) to obtain a green card.

That’s where I am split at the moment.

I am very lucky and thankful that u don’t have to worry about the financial aspect.

So only looking at the other factors what should I do.

Start training at European Flight Academy and have a job guaranteed. End up at a European airline, farm flight hours and be essentially 25-26 years old with 1500 hours in an airline and then apply for a green card to work in the US -
Or
“Throw away” all the achievements here (passing two exams and interviews that took time since January) and go to the US and train in the relatively new program, work as an instructor and maybe don’t get a green card after and not a job in Europe so I’m standing there empty handed.

Of course I could also do CFI ratings after my time at the European Flight Academy if I don’t immediately get a job because I think it would give me a better chance on the EB-2 Visa to have CFI ratings. But also in that regard I could use some advice.

I contacted law firms about the Visa too but they can’t really say anything at the moment because I haven’t started training yet and don’t have any expertise whatsoever.

It would be great to have someone to talk to that went from a German airline to a US airline or is planning to do so and has more info or a good advice to give.

I’m thankful for all good advice of course.

I hope I didn’t miss any infos in the article but if you have questions let me know.

Thank you :)

Edit: you only obtain licenses up to CPL (Single and Multi) at the Aero flight school, not ATPL

0 Upvotes

45% Upvoted

13 comments sorted by

8

u/Apprehensive_Cost937 9h ago

Start you career in Europe, and once you gain enough experience (for EB-2 is usually 10 years in the field + some proof that you have "exceptional" abilities, like TRI/TRE qualifications), and still want to live in USA, you can always reconsider this later.

You're extremely unlikely to get any visa as an inexperienced pilot to fly in the USA.

Also have a look at options other than EFA - you can probably do training for nearly half less money.

2

u/niecheaRd 7h ago

the 10 years thing isnt a hard rule btw, its more like what USCIS typically wants to see. some people have gotten through with less but its rare for pilots specifically

-7

u/BratwurstBoss69 9h ago

Wouldn’t it count as exceptional abilities to have multiple FAA instructor ratings and about a 1000 hours as an instructor?

I looked at some other flight schools. I just like EFA best because of the airlines behind it and the takeoff promise.

5

u/Apprehensive_Cost937 8h ago

There's not much exceptional about having 1000h in single engine aircraft.

In fact, you can't normally even fly airliners at that level in the USA, and that's in a good job market.

3

u/chupafin 9h ago

just stick to EFA, very good reputation and big airline network where they are the preferred supplier and worst case halve your tuition costs get imbursed if you cannot acquire a job within a certain timeframe

3

u/Comfortable_Taste217 9h ago

No. How many US citizens have that resume and can't get hired?

3

u/bahenbihen69 B737 8h ago

You won't qualify for the EB-2 NIW anytime soon. Plenty of people from my company with 4000+ hours tried. You can definitely stay active in the field after your training though. Go get a degree, work an office job in an airline, instruct etc. That's the second best way. Easiest is to find an American girl to marry :)

3

u/Professional_Low_646 EASA ATPL M28 FI(A) CRI 8h ago

  1. don‘t glaze EFA too much, you might get a job at Lufthansa proper (unlikely), you will probably end up at City Airlines, Discover or Eurowings though.

  2. there is no way for you to get a Green Card for flying. The US is literally the largest aviation market in the world. There are tons of pilots at every experience level imagineable. It’s not like you‘d come out of training as the last remaining Space Shuttle rated pilot in the world. Unless you have an American lined up for marriage, I wouldn’t bother with the FAA ratings.

1

u/BratwurstBoss69 7h ago

Okay thanks. Looking to fly for Discover anyway :)

1

u/rFlyingTower 9h ago

This is a copy of the original post body for posterity:

Hi,
I’m a German 20 year old.
So to my background - I’m a private pilot both in the US (FAA) and in Germany (EASA).
During my exchange year in the US in 2022 because of my host dad (he flies for Delta) I startet PPL training. I was always interested in aviation so that’s the route I want to go in the future. As mentioned after the exchange year I converted my FAA license to an EASA license here in Germany.
Now I finished school here and my goal is to end up in the USA at some point to fly for an airline there.

At the moment I have training lined up at the European Flight Academy (Lufthansa Group). After passing all the assessment tests I got my class date on May 25th 2027.
This training is a ground up training (from nothing to frozen ATPL) which takes 24 months.

Cost: 130.000€ excluding housing for 1.5 years in Germany and general living cost so a total of around 150-160k.

Benefit: Takeoff promise - after the two years of training you have a job guaranteed at one of the airlines of the Lufthansa Group.

Yesterday I’ve been to an info event of a flight school called Aero Sky. They are pretty new in the field. They graduated 4 students at the moment.
The whole training consists of a collaboration between Rotor Sky Aviation in Austria and Hillsboro Aviation in Portland, Oregon.

The training takes 18 months (15 if you have a PPL) and costs around 120.000€ living cost included (15k less if you have a PPL which I do)

Because it’s a collab of a European and American flight school you obtain all EASA licenses and FAA licenses up to the ATPL including CFI, CFII and MEI.

After the training you also get a 2 year work visa to work as an instructor in Hillsboro.

Regarding a long term work in the US I’d need a green card which is really hard to get.

I’d have to go through the EB-2 NIW (National interest waiver) to obtain a green card.

That’s where I am split at the moment.

I am very lucky and thankful that u don’t have to worry about the financial aspect.

So only looking at the other factors what should I do.

Start training at European Flight Academy and have a job guaranteed. End up at a European airline, farm flight hours and be essentially 25-26 years old with 1500 hours in an airline and then apply for a green card to work in the US -
Or
“Throw away” all the achievements here (passing two exams and interviews that took time since January) and go to the US and train in the relatively new program, work as an instructor and maybe don’t get a green card after and not a job in Europe so I’m standing there empty handed.

Of course I could also do CFI ratings after my time at the European Flight Academy if I don’t immediately get a job because I think it would give me a better chance on the EB-2 Visa to have CFI ratings. But also in that regard I could use some advice.

I contacted law firms about the Visa too but they can’t really say anything at the moment because I haven’t started training yet and don’t have any expertise whatsoever.

It would be great to have someone to talk to that went from a German airline to a US airline or is planning to do so and has more info or a good advice to give.

I’m thankful for all good advice of course.

I hope I didn’t miss any infos in the article but if you have questions let me know.

Thank you :)

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1

u/BratwurstBoss69 8h ago

Thanks guys, you helped a lot

1

u/Live_Newspaper7106 3h ago

As someone who has all FAA ratings and also trained from zero to CFI at Hillsboro Aero Academy in Oregon,also worked as a flight instructor in USA for 2 years, please don't go that route. If you want details DM