Pro Helo Pilot Forum
- Thread starter Ian_J
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GatorFC
Well-Known Member
I served aboard a helo carrier in the Navy, can I play? 
While I'm using my GI benefits for fixed-wing training, I can't help but wonder whether I should have gone the whirlybird route since I'm from Louisiana and wouldn't mind flying roughnecks to the rigs for a living.
What held me back is that I had always heard that the helo community was even harder to get into than fixed-wing especially with all the military guys out there. Now I hear that the Gulf needs pilots. Is this because alot of them left after Katrina? Don't think I'll be switching aircraft classes anytime soon, but, just out of curiousity, what are the prospects for civilian trained guys, and what's the scoop on GOM job opportunities? Thanks.
While I'm using my GI benefits for fixed-wing training, I can't help but wonder whether I should have gone the whirlybird route since I'm from Louisiana and wouldn't mind flying roughnecks to the rigs for a living.
What held me back is that I had always heard that the helo community was even harder to get into than fixed-wing especially with all the military guys out there. Now I hear that the Gulf needs pilots. Is this because alot of them left after Katrina? Don't think I'll be switching aircraft classes anytime soon, but, just out of curiousity, what are the prospects for civilian trained guys, and what's the scoop on GOM job opportunities? Thanks.
n57flyguy
Well-Known Member
GatorFC said:I served aboard a helo carrier in the Navy, can I play?
While I'm using my GI benefits for fixed-wing training, I can't help but wonder whether I should have gone the whirlybird route since I'm from Louisiana and wouldn't mind flying roughnecks to the rigs for a living.
What held me back is that I had always heard that the helo community was even harder to get into than fixed-wing especially with all the military guys out there. Now I hear that the Gulf needs pilots. Is this because alot of them left after Katrina? Don't think I'll be switching aircraft classes anytime soon, but, just out of curiousity, what are the prospects for civilian trained guys, and what's the scoop on GOM job opportunities? Thanks.
good question, I want to know
Oh, if youve seen a helo, you can play.
scottyboy75
Well-Known Member
Age, is the most prevalent reason I can think of. Viet Nam pilots are retiring, losing their medicals, or just giving up the controls. I bet any helicopter school website you go to will have some form of the statement "Viet Nam pilots are leaving the industry," and they will point to the looming shortage. I have noticed too that the gulf companies are delvoping other markets such as EMS. I was talking to a utility pilot who said that at a recent class he attended there was a 20 year experience gap. For some reason there does not seem to be a lot of mid time pilots out there.
scottyboy75
Well-Known Member
I found this on another site kind of a day in the life.
Re: Living Offshore In the GOM
FH1100Pilot
From: USA
Posts: 88
Since: 10/13/2005
I had to actually break out my old GOM chart today to see where High Island 309 is...and it is a ways out there alright. But grounded all day for wind? What are your limits? I can't remember too many days being grounded for wind, but PHI's limit was 40 knots and that's blowing! (Better to be conservative though. Those L-model blades are quite limber! They *will* cut your tailboom off if you give them half a chance.)
My first offshore job was on Vermilion 245E. The ship *never* saw the beach; they ferried me and the mechanic out and back each week in whatever happened to be going that way. Huge, triple platform with interconnnecting catwalks. We used to pee off them onto the Vietnamese shrimpers tied up below. Hey, what else could we do for entertainment? This was in the days before satellite t.v.
I used to think VR245 was a long way out, but really it was only about 40 miles from the edge of the marsh south of Intracostal City. But then, anytime you can't see the beach is "a long way out." It was disconcerting at first, flying around so far from land. But I knew that if I just put my compass on "N" I would hit something solid sooner or later...if I had enough fuel.
Later, I moved over to a Shell Oil Company platform just off the mouth of the Mississippi River. Spent the better part of nine years there. Nice place. Big platform but few people. I had my own room with only one bed(!) and a desk. Basically three flights per day: Put 'em out in the morning; run lunches at 1100, then clean 'em up just shy of downtime. The foreman's edict was to keep the flight time down to 3.0 per day tops. Okay by me! Man, I loved that job.
In the beginning, the older hands at PHI told me that offshore-based pilots were "a little different." I soon learned why. Whereas the beach-based pilots were *extremely* conservative about the weather, we offshore guys would fly right down to minimums. Why? We didn't have to worry about getting stuck offshore - we already were! For the beach guys, RON'ing offshore was an inconvenience. Thus, we offshore guys would be flying in wind and weather that made the beach guys cut and run. And we got a reputation as being "a little different." The implication was that we were more cavalier about wind/weather.
It wasn't that. We just learned how to handle the extremes. You did that or you went home. Beach guys start b**ching and looking to cancel when the wind gets to 30 knots. That would be nice. But when it's blowing 39 knots at sunrise, and you've got a platform full of roustabouts to put out (and it's too rough for the field boat) and the very last thing on earth that you want to do is go up and try to crank, and the foreman (who knows your wind limits better than you) is looking at you with "that look"...well, things can get tense. Especially if you've never actually started a 206L on an offshore oil platform in 39 knots of wind before. So you strap in and say to yourself, "Self, you better learn how to do this right now." And you do, believe me.
Many was the time when I'd be out flying my field in perfectly clear weather, but the beach guys were getting their asses pounded by thunderstorms and such (this was in the days before you could access live radar from any computer). Or maybe the beach was socked-in solid with fog from Rockport to Tampa. The flight-followers (beach-based, of course) would answer my radio calls with suspicion in their voices. "Uhh, Sierra One-Four, how's your...uhh...weather out there?" I'd say, "Fine!" but you could tell they didn't believe me.
The craziest thing about being a field pilot were the numbers. I flew offshore for let's say nine years total. I flew about 500 hours per year - 4,500 hours. I consistently made four to five starts per hour. Let's say four. That means I started Rolls Royce 250 engines approximately 22,500 times. You think I know something about starting a 250? I could do it in my sleep.
But more startling than that (to me, anyway) is the number of platform landings I've made. I always averaged about 6 landings per flight hour. That means I've made roughly 27,000 landings on elevated structures - just while I was based offshore. On that first job, flying for Tenneco on VR245, in the summertime I was consistently making between 75 and 100 landings per day. Talk about wore out!
After I came in from offshore I spent another four years flying beach-based ships for PHI, and while the number of landings per hour decreased slightly, the number of starts stayed the same (except that I was flying a twin-engine BO105 so the number of total engine starts per hour doubled). I think back and go, "Did I really make 30,000 landings while I worked at PHI?" At least! I think I started getting the hang of it around the 10,000th.
I liked being an offshore pilot, liked the autonomy, liked being thought of as a little different. They'd hand me the RFM, the Ops Manual, and the helicopter and say, "Bring it back in one piece in seven days. See ya!" And ever other week, for nine years I did just that. Afterward, being a beach pilot and flying the twin was neat, but not nearly as much fun. All things considered, I probably should have just stayed offshore.
Have fun out there, Kerry. I'll leave you with just one piece of advice: Never, ever, ever, ever, EVER become complacent and let your guard down. Fly the thing every minute like something is about to go wrong. It's tiring, yes, because it takes a lot of mental energy. But I think the only reason I've survived this far is because I haven't let myself become complacent. Offshore is sure not the place to let it happen.
Can't wait until I get there. This just a glimpse of the GOM.
Re: Living Offshore In the GOM
FH1100Pilot
From: USA
Posts: 88
Since: 10/13/2005
I had to actually break out my old GOM chart today to see where High Island 309 is...and it is a ways out there alright. But grounded all day for wind? What are your limits? I can't remember too many days being grounded for wind, but PHI's limit was 40 knots and that's blowing! (Better to be conservative though. Those L-model blades are quite limber! They *will* cut your tailboom off if you give them half a chance.)
My first offshore job was on Vermilion 245E. The ship *never* saw the beach; they ferried me and the mechanic out and back each week in whatever happened to be going that way. Huge, triple platform with interconnnecting catwalks. We used to pee off them onto the Vietnamese shrimpers tied up below. Hey, what else could we do for entertainment? This was in the days before satellite t.v.
I used to think VR245 was a long way out, but really it was only about 40 miles from the edge of the marsh south of Intracostal City. But then, anytime you can't see the beach is "a long way out." It was disconcerting at first, flying around so far from land. But I knew that if I just put my compass on "N" I would hit something solid sooner or later...if I had enough fuel.
Later, I moved over to a Shell Oil Company platform just off the mouth of the Mississippi River. Spent the better part of nine years there. Nice place. Big platform but few people. I had my own room with only one bed(!) and a desk. Basically three flights per day: Put 'em out in the morning; run lunches at 1100, then clean 'em up just shy of downtime. The foreman's edict was to keep the flight time down to 3.0 per day tops. Okay by me! Man, I loved that job.
In the beginning, the older hands at PHI told me that offshore-based pilots were "a little different." I soon learned why. Whereas the beach-based pilots were *extremely* conservative about the weather, we offshore guys would fly right down to minimums. Why? We didn't have to worry about getting stuck offshore - we already were! For the beach guys, RON'ing offshore was an inconvenience. Thus, we offshore guys would be flying in wind and weather that made the beach guys cut and run. And we got a reputation as being "a little different." The implication was that we were more cavalier about wind/weather.
It wasn't that. We just learned how to handle the extremes. You did that or you went home. Beach guys start b**ching and looking to cancel when the wind gets to 30 knots. That would be nice. But when it's blowing 39 knots at sunrise, and you've got a platform full of roustabouts to put out (and it's too rough for the field boat) and the very last thing on earth that you want to do is go up and try to crank, and the foreman (who knows your wind limits better than you) is looking at you with "that look"...well, things can get tense. Especially if you've never actually started a 206L on an offshore oil platform in 39 knots of wind before. So you strap in and say to yourself, "Self, you better learn how to do this right now." And you do, believe me.
Many was the time when I'd be out flying my field in perfectly clear weather, but the beach guys were getting their asses pounded by thunderstorms and such (this was in the days before you could access live radar from any computer). Or maybe the beach was socked-in solid with fog from Rockport to Tampa. The flight-followers (beach-based, of course) would answer my radio calls with suspicion in their voices. "Uhh, Sierra One-Four, how's your...uhh...weather out there?" I'd say, "Fine!" but you could tell they didn't believe me.
The craziest thing about being a field pilot were the numbers. I flew offshore for let's say nine years total. I flew about 500 hours per year - 4,500 hours. I consistently made four to five starts per hour. Let's say four. That means I started Rolls Royce 250 engines approximately 22,500 times. You think I know something about starting a 250? I could do it in my sleep.
But more startling than that (to me, anyway) is the number of platform landings I've made. I always averaged about 6 landings per flight hour. That means I've made roughly 27,000 landings on elevated structures - just while I was based offshore. On that first job, flying for Tenneco on VR245, in the summertime I was consistently making between 75 and 100 landings per day. Talk about wore out!
After I came in from offshore I spent another four years flying beach-based ships for PHI, and while the number of landings per hour decreased slightly, the number of starts stayed the same (except that I was flying a twin-engine BO105 so the number of total engine starts per hour doubled). I think back and go, "Did I really make 30,000 landings while I worked at PHI?" At least! I think I started getting the hang of it around the 10,000th.
I liked being an offshore pilot, liked the autonomy, liked being thought of as a little different. They'd hand me the RFM, the Ops Manual, and the helicopter and say, "Bring it back in one piece in seven days. See ya!" And ever other week, for nine years I did just that. Afterward, being a beach pilot and flying the twin was neat, but not nearly as much fun. All things considered, I probably should have just stayed offshore.
Have fun out there, Kerry. I'll leave you with just one piece of advice: Never, ever, ever, ever, EVER become complacent and let your guard down. Fly the thing every minute like something is about to go wrong. It's tiring, yes, because it takes a lot of mental energy. But I think the only reason I've survived this far is because I haven't let myself become complacent. Offshore is sure not the place to let it happen.
Can't wait until I get there. This just a glimpse of the GOM.
scottyboy75
Well-Known Member
Look at all that room you guys have, shocks, pegs...lucky.
Whats your glide ratio in those?
Whats your glide ratio in those?
I_WANNA_BE_ATP
New Member
ChinookDriver said:
With regards to the pic on the right. It looks like there is a disagreement in the cockpit!!
Something like this:
Pilot: Trust me the sunbathers are to the left !
Co-pilot : You are wrong the Burger King is left, the sunbathers are right !
I_WANNA_BE_ATP said:
Yeah.... that was a posed pic. Story is, we were both Captains (the rank, not position) and both PIC's. A lot of guys in the Army think it's weird if there is no warrant officer on the flight. So we staged that pic to make it look like we were lost so we could show it to the warrants after we landed.
We were enroute on a scenic flight from Ft Polk, LA to Baton Rouge via the gulf coast. We had been training for weeks and got to take a load of soldiers into Baton Rouge for R&R.
UH60driver
New Member
Best aircraft to train in?
The OH-58. It is doors off and in the hot south that is golden. Plus, that is the only time two students get to go out solo and demonstrate how much they can bend the rules.:nana2:
I flew to Acadiana Regional today and saw the R-22s from Vortex on the ramp. Man, I wanted to try one of those babies. I bet it can be challenging for a lazy feet pilot.
Chinook, I know what you mean about tail wheel landings. Doing nose down slopes on the H-60's tailwheel is not a pretty feeling. That rotorwash makes the aircraft shake all about.
Chinook, how about two lieutenants in the cockpit:rawk:. We sure did raise some eyebrows. When where you in LA? Katrina or JRTC?
Welcome gatorFC. Sure you can play. Where 'bouts the bayou are you from? Have you considered joining the Guard?
The OH-58. It is doors off and in the hot south that is golden. Plus, that is the only time two students get to go out solo and demonstrate how much they can bend the rules.:nana2:
I flew to Acadiana Regional today and saw the R-22s from Vortex on the ramp. Man, I wanted to try one of those babies. I bet it can be challenging for a lazy feet pilot.
Chinook, I know what you mean about tail wheel landings. Doing nose down slopes on the H-60's tailwheel is not a pretty feeling. That rotorwash makes the aircraft shake all about.
Chinook, how about two lieutenants in the cockpit:rawk:. We sure did raise some eyebrows. When where you in LA? Katrina or JRTC?
Welcome gatorFC. Sure you can play. Where 'bouts the bayou are you from? Have you considered joining the Guard?
We once made a fuel stop in Walnut Ridge, AR (if memory serves correct). There was a flight of 6 Blackhawks, though one had a MX problem and remained on the ground. I was amazed at how the 5 departing hawks started their rotors, started taxiing, turned onto the taxiway, and then departed at the same time. Everything seemed perfectly synchronized. My only complaint was that their strobes were not flashing at the same time 
. My hat is definitely off to you military pilots for the precision of your flying. It was truly a beautiful sight. Keep up the good work.:rawk:
. My hat is definitely off to you military pilots for the precision of your flying. It was truly a beautiful sight. Keep up the good work.:rawk:
UH60driver said:
Ha! I've done the 2 LTs in the cockpit too... one particular time I remember was picking up a load of senior Division staffers in Bahgdad. Before we cranked I introduced me and my PI to them making sure they heard the "lieutenant" in each of our names... they started to look a little green at that point.
Last time I was in LA was for a double rotation at JRTC... early 05 I think. I was at Rucker during Katrina for AVCCC and really wished I coulda got into the mix down there.