[Louie]

I am seriously considering going to school to fly helo's commercially. Are there any helo pilots on here I can consult?

[mustangdriver]

I have time in the Bell-47, R-22, R-44, and the EC-135, as well as sim. time. But I am not a rotor pilot, just fixed wing. I will say that it is a rewarding thing to do though.

[Lakota Mech]

I'm not a pilot but a mechanic. Stay away from a company based in Las Vegas. They are way overpriced.$60000.00 plus. If you have a private pilots certificate, I think you can get a transition in 40 hours of flight time. Most employers won't look at you until you have around 1500 hours of turbine time for insurance purposes. try the website justhelicopters.com and browse the employment section for pilots and that will give you some kind of idea of what employers are looking for.

[SKUNKY]

Calling A-109E.....Calling A-109E.....Come in, Historical Bob

[Hoverbug]

Originally Posted by Louie

I am seriously considering going to school to fly helo's commercially. Are there any helo pilots on here I can consult?

I was a fixed wing CFI and transitioned into rotary. Sorry to say I kept getting within an hour or two of the checkride and kept running out of money and finally put it on hold while I finish my PhD. Here are my thoughts as a former CFI though:

1. Get your fixed wing ratings through instrument first. The helicopter is a very poor classroom (even more so than an airplane). If you are a novice to aviation, you don't want to have to learn the radio, airspace, etc. at $4/minute. You can learn these skills in an airplane at a third of the cost and greatly decrease the learning curve in the helicopter. I found that the instrument rating requires the same level of finesse, discipline and scan as flying the helicopter and having these skills in place greatly eased my transition. These are not skills that come easy. Again, it is far easier and cheaper to pick them up in an airplane. The helicopter add-on is fairly generous under the FAA, so you can cut your requirements a fair bit by going this route. I would do this close to home before going away to the professional helicopter school. This will also give you the advantage of a different perspective.

2. I soloed in an R22, but did most of my post-solo work in the Schweizer. The R22 has a slight edge in cost and is a bit better performance wise, but it is a far more difficult aircraft to learn in than the Schweizer. Of course, there is a school of thought that says learning in a difficult aircaft at the outset makes everything easier down the road, but I'm not sure I buy that. The Schweizer is a far steadier platform and I definitely felt safer in it, though there is a higher likelihood of mechanical problems simply because it has more moving parts than the Robbie.

3. If you are going to seek employment as a commercial pilot, be aware that you will almost certainly have to instruct to build your time. This is not an easy occupation and you should know upfront it is in fact quite dangerous. Training counts for the bulk of helicopter accidents for good reason. That said, you will want to go somewhere with a good rep and the ability to transition you from student to instructor on site. I can recommend Helicopter Adventures in Titusville as one place that really has their act together.

4. Get ready to blow some serious dough. It'll take a long time to make it back in this profession and you'll be eating alot of Ramen while "circuit bashing" (as the Brits like to say) as an instructor. Make sure that you want to do this more than anything else in the world, otherwise you'll be unhappy and poor rather than just poor,

[admin]

My buddy and I were considering going into training with that school from Vegas. Due to my not having enough time, I decided not to. However, my buddy went for it. He is flying now and I am not, and that's nt something that I'm real happy about. The comments above about the school from Vegas are true. I believe that he paid over $72,000 for his schooling, but it's a student loan and you don't have to begin paying it back until after you graduate.

[flyXwire]

Originally Posted by SKUNKY

Calling A-109E.....Calling A-109E.....Come in, Historical Bob

If I recall reading a back issue of Fine Scale Modeler, Historical Bob was a helo pilot during the Vietnam War, right?

[Shawn 507]

Originally Posted by SKUNKY

Calling A-109E.....Calling A-109E.....Come in, Historical Bob

Yea I suppose a guy who has been flying them since they were controlled by broom sticks and kite string should have some input.

[Hoverbug]

Originally Posted by flyXwire

If I recall reading a back issue of Fine Scale Modeler, Historical Bob was a helo pilot during the Vietnam War, right?

Huey gunships.

[skysurfer808]

Hello All,

Its been a long time, but I've been pretty busy as of late, and have logged 200 plus hours since being here. When I saw the comment about that certain school in Vegas, I have to say something. They have a detachment here, and have caused more problems for our airport than just about anybody else...though our rival flight school across the field has also done their fair share of stupid things. The Vegas school offers a program where they say they'll loan you the funds if you get your instructor license in a year. Thing is nobody gets that far in a year, in fact the folks training here have only just begun to solo and get their private helo licenses. There was quite a bit of rivalry between us at first, but after a bit of beefing one of the instructors is now a friend. We all do our best to maintain professionalism, but the trouble is it is difficult to sequence an 70 knot helo into a traffic pattern where Cessnas fly at 85 knots, and Exec Jets come in at 100 plus. This leads to part 2 of my rant...traffic patterns. For whatever reason this helo school seems to find it necessary to fly airplane style traffic patterns....in a helo. They use a 6000 foot runway for their approach in a flying machine capable of vertical landings, which is a total mystery to me. The instructors also dress up in military style khaki nomex flight suits with military style insignia, which gets under my craw, but as my instructor friend told me...it is company policy.

I second hoverbugs assertion that one is much better off getting started in airplanes, than transitioning to helos. One of the best helo instructors on our field (from a competing outfit) is licensed in both and has 4500 hours in each. He also allowed me to get some loggable stick time in a Robinson R-44, my first time ever riding in a helo. Having this experience I can honestly say flying helos is a blast, but my airplane background definately came in handy. The one difficulty I really had lay in figuring out the yaw string, a little piece of yarn stuck to the front bubble that you have to follow in order to maintain coordinated flight. In an airplane you step on the ball of the turn coordinator, in a helo you step on the pedal opposite the yaw string. The controls are much more sensitive, and hovering is a whole other deal, but if you can already fly an airplane you are much better off than learning helos from the beginning. I have a student from that school who I am doing sporadic lessons with, and he is doing fine in the airplane, but when you consider the amount of money spent to get to where he got, the Helo Add on option makes sense.

I myself will eventually get the Commercial Ad on for helos, but it will likely cost somewhere in the neighborhood of 25-30K to do so. Going all the way to Helo CFI would cost the better part of 100k starting from scratch, whereas it is an add on for if you already have a Commercial and CFI rating. Still, one thing to keep in mind is this...the Army won't be in the sandbox forever. At some point in the not too distant future, there will be a large number of former Army Warrant Officer pilots looking for Helo Jobs. These folks, with 000's of hours of Turbine Helo and Combat time, will be first in line for the best helo jobs. Meanwhile, in the Fixed Wing world, regional airlines are hiring folks with a couple hundred hours and some are giving them their Commercial Multi Engine Checkrides in the sim during training. For long term job prospects, the Fixed Wing world looks much better, more seats open and a higher end salary....topping out at 120-150 rather than 100 for helo guys. On the other hand, you get to actually fly your machine, rather than be an autopilot manager....which does have some appeal. Of course in either airplanes or helos, the road up is a long one, with low pay and high training costs the rule for most of your first few years.

The funniest helo incident that happened to me occurred shortly after coming here. I was in the traffic pattern and a helo was creeping up on me and tower told its pilot to slow down. The Helo driver, who was most likely a student, actually said "I Can't," which really got my gander up...as he's flying a HELO. Tower came back on and told him "Do what you gotta do, but SLOW DOWN."

I hope you have all had a Happy Thanksgiving.

Aloha,
Skysurfer808