Helicopter School / whats in a name

[Chachie]

Hi there I am about to embark on a new career as a helicopter pilot. I
have taken a couple of lessons and have found that I love it, and
want to do it for the rest of my life. I am 24 and newly married to a
wonderful woman who is ready to take on this adventure with me. I have
a few questions that I need answered for me to make the final decision
to do this.

1) Is there any room in the helo business for civilian pilots. From
what I have heard its heavy on the X-military side. Can I make it as
a civilian pilot?

2) Is it better to get my license from a well known school or a
smaller school. The school I found here in Chicago has some great
instructors, enough choppers, and a great atmosphere. Is that good
enough, or do I have a better chance at another school.

3) When I am done with my flight school, and have all 5 flight
ratings, how do I get my 1000 min hours to start a job?
I have talked to people and most of them said "become an instructor
and teach till you have enough pilot in command time.
Is there a better way? What about to get turbine time?

4) When I am done with school I will have to start paying back the
lone I took out to fund this. Will I be making enough as a
Instructor, or whatever I do to make my hours, to be able to pay
regular bills and start paying off the loan, or does my wife need to
be working 2x as hard during that time?

5) From what you have experienced, where is the best place to get a
loan for what I need. I have found a few places with a SLM loan from
Salliemae being on top. Any advice on where else to look?

5) What is some advice you could give me that would help me on my
journey, and career?
aka "if I could do this again, I would do ______"

I really do appreciate all who post comments on this. I am really
excited and ready to get started. I know it will take a lot of work,
but I am ready and dedicated to do what it takes.

Thanks, Aaron

[Elzee36]

On Jul 31, 10:32 pm, Chachie > wrote:
>
> I really do appreciate all who post comments on this. I am really
> excited and ready to get started. I know it will take a lot of work,
> but I am ready and dedicated to do what it takes.
>
> Thanks, Aaron

I dont know how much feedback you'll get here as it is a pretty
quiet board though there still
are some knowledgable people still around. But if you want feedback
on those questions and
have a thick skin go to http://www.justhelicopters.com and check out
the Message Boards.
They have two and the Alternate Forum is where you might get straight
answers but on the Main
Forum you'll have to wade through the bull****, insults, stupid jokes
just to find a decent reply.
Good luck.

[JohnO]

On Aug 2, 4:34 am, The OTHER Kevin in San Diego <skiddz "AT" adelphia
"DOT" net> wrote:
> On Tue, 31 Jul 2007 19:32:11 -0700, Chachie >
> wrote:
>
> >Hi there I am about to embark on a new career as a helicopter pilot. I
> >have taken a couple of lessons and have found that I love it, and
> >want to do it for the rest of my life. I am 24 and newly married to a
> >wonderful woman who is ready to take on this adventure with me. I have
> >a few questions that I need answered for me to make the final decision
> >to do this.
>
> >1) Is there any room in the helo business for civilian pilots. From
> >what I have heard its heavy on the X-military side. Can I make it as
> >a civilian pilot?
>
> Sure there is. Yeah, there are a lot of ex-military pilots working
> out there, but I personally know a half dozen guys who learned on
> their own dime that are working as pilots right now.
>
> >2) Is it better to get my license from a well known school or a
> >smaller school. The school I found here in Chicago has some great
> >instructors, enough choppers, and a great atmosphere. Is that good
> >enough, or do I have a better chance at another school.
>
> Go talk to the school. Talk to several instructors. Talk to current
> students. Take everything with a grain of salt. If it sounds too
> good to be true, it is. Hit upwww.justhelicopters.com(Alternate
> forum),www.verticalreference.comand any other heli based web sites
> you can find and ask there.
>
> >3) When I am done with my flight school, and have all 5 flight
> >ratings, how do I get my 1000 min hours to start a job?
> >I have talked to people and most of them said "become an instructor
> >and teach till you have enough pilot in command time.
> >Is there a better way? What about to get turbine time?
>
> Unless you've got a quarter million dollars lying around, there's no
> better way to get your 1000 hours. Since you mention 5 ratings, and
> two of those would be instructor certificates, why would you not
> instruct? As for turbine time, you'll get that with your 1st real job
> after instructing.
>
> >4) When I am done with school I will have to start paying back the
> >lone I took out to fund this. Will I be making enough as a
> >Instructor, or whatever I do to make my hours, to be able to pay
> >regular bills and start paying off the loan, or does my wife need to
> >be working 2x as hard during that time?
>
> This is the crappy part of the industry. You'll spend about $60,000
> getting your ratings only to get a job that might make you $18/hour
> when you fly. However, once you get your 1000 hours, the income comes
> up quite a bit. For example, my former instructor now flies S76s down
> in the Gulf Of Mexico and makes about $500/day on a 14 on/14 off
> hitch. That's close to $60k/year.
>
> >5) From what you have experienced, where is the best place to get a
> >loan for what I need. I have found a few places with a SLM loan from
> >Salliemae being on top. Any advice on where else to look?
>
> SallieMae is probably your best bet. Stafford Loans are also an
> option. The flight school folks will know about the financing options
> available.
>
> >5) What is some advice you could give me that would help me on my
> >journey, and career?
> >aka "if I could do this again, I would do ______"
>
> ...NOT fly with Silver State Helicopters. I won't go into why, but
> only because I have pending litigation against them. You can do your
> own research on them and form your own opinion.
>
> The big thing is, fly at least twice a week. Anything less and you
> tend to forget what you learned the previous lesson. Conversly,
> flying too much gets overwhelming at times. Above all, study, study,
> study. It's not difficult stuff, but there's a lot to remember. If
> the local community college (or the flight school) offers ground
> courses, take them. The King DVDs are pretty decent as well.www.ipilot.comhas practice tests you can take as doeswww.mywrittenexam.com. I didn't take any of my writtens until I could
> score 100 on 5 practice tests in a row. So far, my lowest score on an
> actual test was a 95.
>
> >I really do appreciate all who post comments on this. I am really
> >excited and ready to get started. I know it will take a lot of work,
> >but I am ready and dedicated to do what it takes.
>
> YOU may be dedicated, but you WILL need the support of your wife and
> immediate family. It's a big undertaking and without that support,
> it'll be difficult to say the least. If you've got kids that are old
> enough to read (Say 4th/5th grade) make up flash cards and keep 'em in
> the car. When you're driving, have them drill you with the flash
> cards. I had my kids do this and they actually learned quite a bit
> about flying helis, so much so, that 2 of the 3 want to learn to fly
> when they're old enough. That's year after next for my oldest.
>
> Again, do some research before you dive in. You'll be on the hook for
> 15 years with that loan and it'd be a waste to earn your tickets and
> never do anything with it.
>
> Good luck!

One more thing - find an ENG chopper pilot who will sell his spare
seat. From what I've heard you can get turbine time for around $100/hr
with luck.

[Stefan Lörchner]

>1) Is there any room in the helo business for civilian pilots. From

I know ONLY one ex-mil. The rest is predominantly self-made.

>2) Is it better to get my license from a well known school or a
>smaller school. The school I found here in Chicago has some great

Personal preference. In the end it comes down to your instructor -
hopefully you have one responsible for you. You can find good
instructors in small as well as in large schools. But a lot of very low
time just-fly-with-me-to-get-some-hours instructors, too.

>3) When I am done with my flight school, and have all 5 flight
>ratings, how do I get my 1000 min hours to start a job?
>I have talked to people and most of them said "become an instructor

At the moment, with a bit of luck you can get other jobs with less than
1000h, but you have to start as CFI anyway. And this is not a bad job
(except for the payment). Maybe you stay with that job longer because
you like it and you learn a lot.
You get turbine time automatically with later jobs. Sometimes also as
CFI at some schools. Don't pay for it!

>4) When I am done with school I will have to start paying back the
>lone I took out to fund this. Will I be making enough as a

Don't do that!!! Not with a loan. If you don't have the money, forget
it. No guarantee. One of the worst things you can do with your money is
flight training - economically!

>5) From what you have experienced, where is the best place to get a
>loan for what I need. I have found a few places with a SLM loan from

Forget it. Don't do that. Better take all your money to a casino - if
you are lucky you can pay for the training afterwards - if not, at least
you don't have a loan to pay back.