Heliocopter pilot as career change?

Hello All,

I was hoping I might be able to get some feedback/advice from people who
have experience in the commercial aviation field. I am trying to make a
decision on whether pursuing a career, as a commercial helicopter pilot
is realistic.

First a little (I promise) bit of background. I am a 34 y/o man in
good health and I currently work as a software engineer. My education is
that of a Biochemist but I entered the computer field, and left graduate
school, writing software during the "Dot Com" boom of the late 90's. As
most everyone knows when the bottom dropped out of the "Internet" era a
lot of jobs went with it as well as the security I had in the field. The
fact is that with economy still recovering and many, many software
development projects going over seas, jobs are still hard to find and
the salaries have been literally cut in half. All that being said, I
have started looking at possibly switching to other careers.

I am a private pilot though I do not have many hours flying solo. In
fact, after I got my ticket I barley got to fly at all, mostly because
of money. In fact is has been about 5 years since I have flown solo and
I would need some instructor time in the cockpit before being ready to
go up on my own again.

I have always looked at careers in aviation as something that I would
enjoy but since I never went the military route I figured I never had a
chance. Also the regular long time away from home that airline pilots
endure is something that would not be right for my wife and children.
Plus after what my flight instructor told me regarding the low pay that
pilot's get while trying to get their Multi Engine, and Turbine, etc...
Ratings? Let's just say from what he told me you don't start making good
money as an airline pilot until you are flying the 737 size jets and
higher.

In any case I had the opportunity to speak to a helicopter pilot
instructor at my local airfield. He made it sounds as if civilian
helicopter pilots can get hired without military experience. Contrary to
what I had thought, he said that non-military pilots worked for
medieval, police, and news organizations as well as others. He went on
to mention tourism related professions out in Alaska and other
locations. I asked him if one had to own their own helicopter to be paid
as a pilot and he said not at all. He said that in his situation he
started instructing by leasing a Robinson helo and the business just
grew and grew. Now he owns 4 R22's and hires others to instruct for him.
Now this all sounds nice but he does have an incentive to get someone to
take lessons from him, hence why I am looking for outside opinions from
those who are already in the field.

What I am looking for is a career that I would love going to everyday
and one that might allow me to support my family. I still enjoy writing
software and have had limited success writing commercial programs and
consulting, but if it were realistic to think that I could find a job as
a commercial helicopter pilot to provide/supplement my income I would
invest the time and money (approx $20,000) it would take to earn my
commercial rating.

Thank you in advance for any advice or comments.

- David )