Going towards helicopters

jtrain609

jtrain609

Antisocial Monster
Heya everyone,


I know this was posted sometime last week, but I'm looking for some information on a career flying helicopters and the track that you take to get to that level. I've got things worked out pretty well if I were to go fixed wing, and how the industry works; but I am at a loss when it comes to helicopters. How do you get instructing jobs? Where do you go after that? What's the path you take and how good is the job market? Does anyone have any web sites that are similar to Jetcareers for helicopters?

Thanks in advance!

Cheers


John Herreshoff
 
There is (or was) a pretty big helicopter school here in Florida. Air Orlando's helo is pretty much gone all the time, but I think that's mainly rich people with money to burn. As far as instructor jobs, I imagine there's not a lot of upward mobility. Just throwing out things in my head, I really have no clue how this works. My brother was thinking about it for a while until he saw the price tag.
 
I guess that's what really gets me going: I can do an add-on for about the same price as finishing the rest of my ratings. When you get down to it, the price isn't THAT much different from fixed wing to helicopter's. Heli.com says they can do it for you for around $45,000. No difference between that and going to Riddle.

I can add on what I need for about $16,000
 
Helicopters International Academy in Titusville? Is that the one you're talking about Kell?

Air Orlando now has THREE helicopters.
 
My questions to you would be: Why would you want to fly helicopters (reasons)? And, Do you mind goin' a hundred knots for the rest of your career?
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Seriously though, fill me in...
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I was reading through Pacific Flyer Magazine last night and found this school they have some pretty good rates and it looks like a large fleet. Dont know anything other than that.

http://www.universalairacademy.com

I too am interested in Helicopters. How difficult is it to transition to if you already have your fixed wing?
 
My personal reasons are that I'd like to give back to some people. I was a really sick kid (asthma) when I was only a few months old, and almost wound up in a helicopter a few times. Every time they needed it though, the helicopter was on the other side of the state. I came really close to not making it because that helicopter wasn't near my home town.

And yeah, I could do 100 knots the rest of my career
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Kelly, dunno how easy it is. Never flown a helicopter. I figure I could hack it, though. It's the appeal of the job for me.
 
Helicopters are fun, i've flown in one but have never flown one and if all goes right I hope to change that. I'm glad that my post earlier this week has sparked some interest in helicopter flying.

Does anyone think that there would be enough interest for Doug to start a helicopter forum???



Ryan
 
These are the guys that haul me off-shore to my job sites PHI- petrolium helicopters inc. They probally have around 200 choppers or so mostly based out of south Louisiana and south Texas. I guess they hire quite often. They have around 30 medical choppers also. I had to do that emergency water crash course with them a while back, It's pretty fun when you get turned upside down in the helicopter and dropped in the water/ very disorienting
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Every pilot I've talked to from PHI was ex-military though, they told me the hiring mins were about 1,000 Helo time, and some Instrument time, I can't remember how much. They said it was very difficult/expensive to build hours in Helo's if you don't go the military route. There is probally 50 people training in airplanes to every 1 in a helicopter - I would imagine being a Helo CFI would be pretty slow.

Their website may have some more info.
 
www.pprune.org

They have a large section in there forum dedicated to helicopters. I've been leaning towards helicopters aswell. Should be starting the private this summer. I've done about 20 hours in them spread over 3 years, and would still end up dead if I was up there by myself.
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Does anyone think that there would be enough interest for Doug to start a helicopter forum???

[/ QUOTE ] It would be cool but I wouldn't have anything to say in there. On the plus side, I would learn a lot.
 
Hehe, theres a flying school in Bankstown Sydney, if you wanna come down under for your training!!!

Good luck
 
I too wanted to fly helicopters, until I found out how hard it is to get a job and how little you make once you get them (even the "good" ones
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). Awfully tempting though, San Jose PD brought their EC-120 helo into a RC helicopter event I was at yesterday. They have an element of excitment that planes can't give you. Another good site and forum on helicopters is http://www.verticalreference.com/

Jordan
 
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They have an element of excitment that planes can't give you.

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True, yesterday when I was at my PPL groundschool class I went outside for a quick break and a Bell 406 buzzed over and I was just in awe, they are quite impressive.
 
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Does anyone think that there would be enough interest for Doug to start a helicopter forum???

[/ QUOTE ] It would be cool but I wouldn't have anything to say in there. On the plus side, I would learn a lot.

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I could talk a couple heli pilots into joining if you start a section for 'em.
 
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Helicopters International Academy in Titusville? Is that the one you're talking about Kell?

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I guess. It was the one at TIX. I think they went under, though. I could be wrong, it's been a while since I've been to TIX during normal operating hours.

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Air Orlando now has THREE helicopters.

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Three helos?!? Last time I heard they had just gotten their second one. Are they hiring a third instructor or just sticking with the zwei instructors they have? I haven't been there in about two months, but I got the call the other day that I have "paperwork from Sallie Mae" to fill out. Looks like I might have the $$$ to finish by Aug after all.
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Here's the deal though, I don't know exactly how hard the job market is to break into. I've had some people say that the helicopter job market is doing well now beacuse the hiring pool is shrinking. Right now I can find more instructor jobs open for helicopters than fixed wing at some of these web sites.

Another question I have is, is this normal? Is that going to change quickly? Those guys in Titusville are still going strong.

Thanks a bunch for the links guys, I'm checking them all out and reading up right now.

Cheers


John Herreshoff
 
JustHelicopters.com
This site was posted above but I thought I'd post it again. It has many good articles on the different aspects of the industry and it has a forum where you can post questions, just be warned that the forum is unmoderated and you will have to sort through the b.s.. Having said that there is some great info there and a lot of the guys there are willing to help.
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Helicopters International Academy

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This school was refered to above..it is actually called Helicopter Adventures Inc. and there are two locations, one in CA and one in FL (the FL location is the main school) I was so close to dropping out of school with only my A.A., taking out a massive loan, and going to this school. If you really want to fly helo's for a living I truly beleive that this is the best school out there (I did my research). It is the largest helo school in the world (civilian anyways) and their career pilot program is about the equivilant of going to ATP or Ari-Ben and doing their professional pilot programs. Here is a link to the school.
Well after visiting the school and talking with SallieMae and being so close to actually doing it...my better judgement began to get ahold of me and a light bulb truned on...I'll fly jets for a living! After some serious thought I finally realized that though I was/am fascinated with helicopters... the industry absolutely sucks and I wasn't going to be a part of it! Money most certainly isn't the most important thing to me, however I do want to be able to raise a family one day and I don't want to do it on your average helo pilot's salary (if you are lucky enough to get salary, many are paid hourly with no overtime...even if they've worked the hours...and no its not illegal because it is "at will employment" which also means "no job security"). Right now many of the pilots are trying to unionize and maybe one day they will be better compensated, but it wasn't a risk I was willing to take and you should do as much research as you can (and monitor the forums(vertical reference/ pprune/ justhelicopters) daily to see whats going on in the industry) before you even think about taking out a loan. I know I will have very low pay as a CFI and this will continue on through my first 5-10 yrs as a fixed-wing pilot, however I stand a much better chance of living comfortably flying fixed wing as opposed to helicopters. Remember too that you can always fly helicopters as a hobby if you make enough money to do so. Well that is definatley my longest post ever, but I had a lot to share and that's the point of this place. Right? Now, I'll give my fingers a rest and go have a drink with his guy-->
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Helicopters International Academy in Titusville? Is that the one you're talking about Kell?

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I guess. It was the one at TIX. I think they went under, though. I could be wrong, it's been a while since I've been to TIX during normal operating hours.


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HIA is going strong - in fact they just bought the FBO at the north end of the field. I have stopped in a few times and I must say, whoever is hiring the girls behind the desk is doing an excellent job.

RV7, maybe that other company owns them but the sign on the door says HIA and they use it as their call sign.

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Air Orlando now has THREE helicopters.

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Three helos?!? Last time I heard they had just gotten their second one. Are they hiring a third instructor or just sticking with the zwei instructors they have?

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LOL no they have "drei" instructors now - although only the two are Bosch. Gabby is one of my favorite people so be careful
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