Learning to be a helicoper pilot

Sorry if this is a FAQ - a friend of mine heard a commercial on the radio to
learn to be a helicoper pilot from Silver State Helicopers. He doesn't know
much about the internet, but asked me if I could find post on this group for
him.

* Is learning to be a helicoper pilot a reasonable thing to start to do at
53 years of age?

* How long does it take before you can start earning a living doing this?

* What would I expect to spend in tuition?

* Any other recommendations for schools?

Thanks!

Scotty

"None" wrote in message
news:%w6ee.3293$Fa1.2299@fed1read02...
Sorry if this is a FAQ - a friend of mine heard a commercial on the radio
to
learn to be a helicoper pilot from Silver State Helicopers. He doesn't
know
much about the internet, but asked me if I could find post on this group
for
him.

* Is learning to be a helicoper pilot a reasonable thing to start to do at
53 years of age?

You're never too old to learn, it just takes longer. In some cases MUCH
longer.

* How long does it take before you can start earning a living doing this?

AAAHHHHH, a completely different question and one that I suspect he won't
like the answer to. Think "1000 hours experience" as a minimum and then
think "How am I going to log all those hours?"


* What would I expect to spend in tuition?

"I"? I thought this was for your friend? :-)) Anyway, the simple answer is
"Lots". Over here in the UK, we'd expect to pay around 15,000 GBP (around 30
grand US) just for starters.



--
Beav

Reply to "beavis dot original at ntlworld dot com" (with the obvious
changes)

"Beav" wrote in message
...

* What would I expect to spend in tuition?

"I"? I thought this was for your friend? :-)) Anyway, the simple answer is
"Lots". Over here in the UK, we'd expect to pay around 15,000 GBP (around
30 grand US) just for starters.



--
Beav

Personally, I think Beav's being "real" conservative here if you're talking
about gaining enough experience to attract employment! :-)

I would think that "the OTHER Kevin" could give you a pretty good idea. Has
he answered this one and I missed it?

Fly Safe,
Steve R.

"Beav" wrote in message
...

"I"? I thought this was for your friend? :-)) Anyway, the simple answer is
"Lots". Over here in the UK, we'd expect to pay around 15,000 GBP (around
30
grand US) just for starters.

£15k will get you the PPL easily, but bear in mind he's asking about how
much it would cost before he could start earning from it.

Considering the two popular routes available, instructing or straight to
charter, the costs would be more like:

£13,000 PPL
£27,500 to build up to 155 hours
£9,000 to complete CPL
£20,000 to build up to 250 hours (which I think is the new legal min for
instructing)
£9,000 to do instructor course.

So, that's £80k just to earn about £25k a year, if you're lucky as an
instructor.

Or,

£45,000 to do full-time study and training up to CPL.
£30,000 to do IFR on a twin-turbine.

Of course with this option you still wont find work unless the North Sea
operators get desperate and hire you as a co-pilot, though at 53 that's
very, very unliekly I'm afraid. (£35k starting salary seems to be in the
ball-park these days.) No one else is going to hire you to fly their
turbine helis with so little hours as a single-pilot captain, unless you're
*extremely* lucky or well connected.

Put bluntly, it's a joke. It'll take the length of a full career just to
make your money back, not forgetting you'll likely need to spend a good deal
more on type conversions just to make yourse'f more marketable. I can think
of no other career that costs so much to do and returns so little. If you
look towards doing training in the US or South Africa you can pretty much
half all those costs.

Si

"Simon Robbins" wrote in message
...
"Beav" wrote in message
...

"I"? I thought this was for your friend? :-)) Anyway, the simple answer
is
"Lots". Over here in the UK, we'd expect to pay around 15,000 GBP (around
30
grand US) just for starters.

£15k will get you the PPL easily, but bear in mind he's asking about how
much it would cost before he could start earning from it.

Too right Si, which is why I added the "for starters" bit. At 53, it's not a
"career path" I'd be lusting after anyway.

Snip informative rest


--
Beav

Reply to "beavis dot original at ntlworld dot com" (with the obvious
changes)

"Beav" wrote in message
...

"Simon Robbins" wrote in message
...
"Beav" wrote in message
...

"I"? I thought this was for your friend? :-)) Anyway, the simple answer
is
"Lots". Over here in the UK, we'd expect to pay around 15,000 GBP
(around
30
grand US) just for starters.

£15k will get you the PPL easily, but bear in mind he's asking about how
much it would cost before he could start earning from it.

Too right Si, which is why I added the "for starters" bit. At 53, it's not
a
"career path" I'd be lusting after anyway.

It's hard to get hire into ANY new career at 53, much less one that would
take a few years to build up enough experience to compete with people 20
years your junior.

"Matt Barrow" wrote in message
...
It's hard to get hire into ANY new career at 53, much less one that would
take a few years to build up enough experience to compete with people 20
years your junior.

Having said that, I do know of one woman well into her fifties who is now
recently qualified and earning as a part-time helicopter instructor, but
it's not her primary source of income.

Si

"Matt Barrow" wrote in message
...

"Beav" wrote in message
...

"Simon Robbins" wrote in message
...
"Beav" wrote in message
...

"I"? I thought this was for your friend? :-)) Anyway, the simple
answer
is
"Lots". Over here in the UK, we'd expect to pay around 15,000 GBP
(around
30
grand US) just for starters.

£15k will get you the PPL easily, but bear in mind he's asking about
how
much it would cost before he could start earning from it.

Too right Si, which is why I added the "for starters" bit. At 53, it's
not
a
"career path" I'd be lusting after anyway.

It's hard to get hire into ANY new career at 53, much less one that would
take a few years to build up enough experience to compete with people 20
years your junior.

Agreed, but anyone who's not dipped his feet into aviation could be forgiven
for thinking that it's not a lot different for any other career. They soon
discover the costs are more than the likely rewards and that time really IS
an issue, so age is a barrier.

Those questions do make for a discussion though, and seeing as RAH has been
a bit "light on the skids" of late, that's a good thing

Beav