Rotary or fixed wing?

[vooley12]

Hi

I need some advice folks....

I have long held a desire to be a commercial pilot...but fancy fixed and rotary wing equally. I've had trial lessons in both...found the rotary easier.

So I need to decide which path to go down, and part of the process is, I guess, job availability and pay rates.

So...:

Which pays best...rotary or fixed?
Which has best job availability...rotary or fixed?


Would appreciate all thoughts.

Richie

[SkyCamMK]

Joijn the Forces they will decide for you and pay for it all too!

[r44flyer]

If you want to do rotary, and you or your parents aren't loaded, then you need to seriously consider the forces for your training. Rotary costs between 2 and 3 times that of fixed wing training, it can easily top £100k to get to the same level (CPL, ME/IR) if funding it all yourself. This could be a real deciding factor.

Which pays best? Generally fixed wing, if you go into the airlines. Job availability is more tricky, in my opinion you are more likely to get a job as a commercial fixed wing pilot when on low time (experience). Insurance often dictates things with rotary, meaning you have to start much lower down, generally speaking. 200hours on fixed wing and you can realistically apply for a FO jet job of some kind, depending on various factors of course.

I'm not doing the forces as I'm too old now, so I'm doing fixed wing and aiming to fly rotary again on my PPL at some point in the future, just for the fun of it.

[Whirlygig]

Which pays best...rotary or fixed? Fixed wing
Which has best job availability...rotary or fixed? Fixed wing

These threads might also help

http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?t=297459

http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?t=281150

Cheers

Whirls