At my flight school we frequently have stuck-wing pilots with various
advanced ratings (commercial, instrument, instructor-airplane, etc.) wanting
to add rotor to their bag of tricks.

If you want to go the CFI route, you'll need at least a commercial add-on,
after which you can go directly for instructor-helicopter. There is no
requirement for a helicopter instrument rating to get your CFI-H.

We advocate getting a private pilot helicopter add-on first rather than
going directly for commercial. The reason for this is, to meet the
commercial add-on requirements you'll need 150 hours as a pilot, 100 of
which must be in powered aircraft (you already meet these) of which 50 must
be in helicopters. You also need 10 hours of PIC time which includes at
least 35 hours in helicopters.

Meeting the 35 hr. PIC requirement and the 50 hr. helicopter time
requirement in exactly 50 hours isn't going to happen, because the only way
you can log the PIC time before you get the commercial add-on is flying
solo. So that means 35 hours of solo, leaving 15 for instruction? Uh-uh.
Try double that. Additionally, the solo time is not very useful to you.
Flying solo you won't be able to practice emergency procedures, since you
won't have an instructor in the cockpit, so you'll end up with 35 hours in
which you didn't learn anything new. You'll be behind the curve.

I believe it makes more sense to first shoot for your private add-on and
THEN go for the commercial add-on. This way, all the time you fly after the
private add-on is PIC time, and PIC time is king in helicopters. You'll
need anywhere from 200 to 500 PIC hours to get hired as a helicopter
instructor, so why short yourself? Skipping the private doesn't really
help. In my opinion, an attempt to jump right to comm. will actually slow
you down. Most importantly, that 35 hour PIC requirement (you'll have flown
some PIC as a solo student, so it'll be less than that when you start on the
comm. add-on) can be met while flying with your instructor (you'll be PIC,
unlike in the former scenario.) Now you can spend that 35 hours honing your
autos, running landings, stuck pedal recoveries, etc. You'll be in much
better shape to knock out the CFI right after you finish comm going this
route.

The cheapest way to get your rotor CFI starting from where you are now
is... well, heck. There is no "cheap" way. You can shop prices, but be
careful. You may wish to read up on the Robinson R-22 vs. the Schweizer
300CB. I think the latter is a vastly superior aircraft for training
(namely in the safety department), but you can come to your own conclusions.

You didn't state where you're located, but there are a lot of good
helicopter schools in the state of Florida. My school (Orlando Helicopter
Training, gotta plug it!) is one, with 2 300CBs and one 300CBi online;
Tropical Helicopters in Leesburg is another; and HAI (Helicopter Adventures,
Inc.) is the largest, out on the space coast in Titusville with a fleet of
25 or so helicopters (not sure of the exact number.) All will offer
programs to get you finished up as rapidly as possible.

Since you're looking at 30 hours minimum to get your private pilot rotor
ticket, then maybe another 30 for commercial, and finally maybe 10 for your
CFI, and prices average around $200-$220/hr. in these parts, I'd guesstimate
you'll spend around $15k-$20k depending on how quickly you go.

Yes, you can rent helicopters solo, usually at the school you trained with -
or at other schools, with a checkout. Oftentimes the requirements to rent
solo at a school that didn't train you will be more burdensome than it would
be if you were renting stuck-wing aircraft. A checkout plus five dual hours
in their aircraft isn't uncommon.

I'd advise not jumping into the helicopter ownership game with anything less
than full attention to the matter at hand. Things can get extremely
expensive faster than you could imagine.

Good luck!

-Ryan
CFI-IA/MEI/CFI-H

rotorcfiwannabe wrote:

Question for you experts out there...

I am a fixed wing pilot with 1000+ TT, MEI, CFII, CFI

I have a couple of hours helicopter time. I would like to eventually
get my rotorcraft CFI rating. I understand this would require getting
my rotorcraft add on.

1) What is the best way of getting from where I am now to a rotor CFI ?
(by best I mean cheapest)

2) Do I go direct to Commercial rotorcraft or do I have to get Private
rotorcraft ?

3) Do I do a ride for the rotorcraft CFI ?

4) Is there a good school where I can get all of these ratings quickly
and efficiently in an intensive training program ? I don't want to do a
couple of hours a month.

5) Any guesses as to costs ? $$$ ?

6) Does anybody anywhere rent a helicopter anymore, or is it just dual
instruction ?

7) Does it make more economic sense for me to buy a used Hughes 269 and
train in it, then sell it when I am done training ?

I am not doing this as a career, just because I love helicopters.

thanks in advance for the help !