Helicopter pilot career?

Question

i just graduated and as a possibilty for future plans i thought i could maybe be a helicopter pilot. what i want to know is costs, schools that offer it, job opportunity, lifestyle, and anything else important hat i should know before making any decisions

Answer 1

Silver State Helicopters, formerly the biggest helicopter training school in the world, filed for bankruptcy, terminated all employees, and abandoned all students as of Feb. 4, 2008. There were about 2700 students and 600 instructors nationwide. Now all these students are looking for training elsewhere, and all the former instructors are looking for jobs. The industry is temporarily flooded. Wait it out for a year or so, then look into a local training school near you.

Try copters.com, specifically the page on learning to fly helicopters. It will answer all of your questions on costs and what to look for in a school.

Pretty much the only way to get into a professional career as a helicopter pilot, short of military experience, is becoming an instructor. You can realistically get a job as an instructor with 200 hrs flight experience, whereas almost all other commercial jobs will require 1000. You can build the other 800 while training students. It will take you a year or 2. Starting pay for an instructor is about 45-50K a year, when you have a commercial job later you can make up to 200K a year.

Good luck. It's a lot of fun.

Answer 2

There is increasing demand for pilots, especially fixed wing but rotary wing as well, across the world. There are plenty of private training organisations that will train to a commercial level beginning on an R22 or similiar single engine building up to twin engine aircraft like the A109. The cost, however, will be in excess of $50,000 for training, and with fuel prices getting higher...

The more affordable way is to find a cadetship which are sometimes offered from organisations like Metro. police or air ambulances.

Or just join the Armed Forces, both the Army and Navy operate helicopters (some nations' Air Forces manage rotary aircraft too, ADF doesn't)

Answer 3

Go join the US Army and fly their helicopters. They're the pro's.  They have the best flight school and the best helicopters. I know, I went to Ft. Rucker a long time ago.

Answer 4

I chanced upon one of your other questions and it looks like you are in Canada? Below are a couple of random schools located in Canada. Browse through their sites because they offer some good general information.

http://www.chinookhelicopters.com/

http://www.gatewayhelicopters.com/traini...

Here are additional flight school listings:

http://www.sacusa.com/1directory/states....

http://www.verticalreference.com/MoreStu...

http://www.bestaviation.net/helicopter_s...

For more information about training and the helicopter industry in general, check the following:

These two include useful discussion forums, as well as school and job listings.

http://www.verticalreference.com/

http://www.justhelicopters.com/

This one has good information on helicopter flight and some discussions about training.

http://www.helicopterflight.net/

This is my usual lengthy answer about training in the US.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;...

You can find salaries from example companies here:

http://www.helicoptersalaries.com/

I think you will find that Jason's estimates are a bit optimistic for the average pilot or instructor.

This is a pretty good description of the basic process for flying helicopters in the US Army. I imagine that other countries would have similar processes.

http://usmilitary.about.com/od/armytrng/...

My main message to you would be to do your homework. Aviation is an awesome and rewarding career, but you can get burned if just dive in head first. Talk to pilots, research schools, get information from several different sources, figure the costs, and go into it fully prepared and knowledgeable about every possible path towards your goals. Don't start until you can prove to yourself that the path you have selected is the right one.

Good luck!