career: rotary or fixed wing?

[zeronine]

hey!

im 21 years old, i have my ppl (A) with 125hrs, im doing a degree in aviation mangement and working at london city airport in ground services and it is my ambition to become a commercial pilot. i intend do the theory in the summer of 2006 and to self finance my training probably using a bank loan to train intensively for my CPL in the states in 2006/2007.

however i am unsure as to whether i should aim for my fixed wing or rotary commercial licence! ...as i understand it rotary is much more exciting and varied both flying and work but training cost is greater and salaries are less in comparison to fixed wing.

how does the industry compare for rotary and fixed wing? - are my assumptions true and which is has the greatest level of employment?

ps. im putting this down to a trial lesson i had for my 21st birthday in an r22 at egsh and having recently finished reading chickenhawk! :)


craig

[eoincarey]

Hey zeronine

First off, hope you liked Chickenhawk; an absolutely class book!

I was in pretty much the same situation as you for a long time, and if I was truthful Id say I still am! I presume you've done your homework regarding the different lifestyles and difficulties involved, and they have been explained much more thoroughly elsewhere, but I could give you it in a (rather long) nutshell!

Fixed wing is bloody difficult to get into at the moment!! You'll have to go to the considerable expense of an ATPL + CPL/IR before anybody will even consider you. Assuming you do manage to get a job, it will be a long time before you get that 737/A320 job youve probably thought of. You will most likely spend a large chunk of time as an instructor building hours, and there is the possibility that you may never get there! Sorry to sound so gloomy but thats life im afraid. Assuming you do get to the airlines, the pay is pretty good when compared to the whirly birds, but you will most likely spend time away from home. As to the lifestyle, there is some dispute about it. Some love it for the flying and the travel, but some quickly get bored of the routine and some simply quit after a while. What you think of the lifestyle is something only you will know! As you know, the airline industry is in pretty crappy state right now, with far more applicants than jobs. There are some who say that it is picking up, but you should make your own mind up on that before spending loadsa dosh.

On the other hand, rotary wing is very interesting as you said, but you are not likely to get that oil rig support job or hollywood stunt pilot job all that soon. The salaries for helicopter pilots are lower than for fixed wing (dont really know why), and wherever you end up in the pecking order you are unlikely to earn more than your fixed wing counterparts. Jobs are also few and far between here (sorry for this gloomy outlook, but I have friends in both camps that tell me these stories), and you will probably start by instructing on R22's before perhaps moving up to turbines, and then hopefully jumping across to the larger companies.

Hope this has helped. Again, sorry for the pessimism, but I have kept tabs on the industry for a long time and its been a while since I was encouraged by anything I saw!

Regards

Eoin Carey