Considering the pilot profession, am I crazy?

[J-Rod]

I'm mid 30s, family, with 12 years of experience in software sales. After bouncing around from job to job, I've decided that I can no longer tolerate the corporate sales world. I'm looking for a career change.

Helicopter pilot is one of the professions I'm considering. It was recommended by a couple of friends. I visited a local school to see for myself and paid for a quick demonstration /orientation. We spent about 30 minutes in the air and I was hooked. I even got to take the controls for short periods.

My plan would be to enter a program and fly every day to achieve my Private and Commercial License as quickly as possible. From here I would start working as an instructor to begin earning money, and gaining hours, so that I can build experience for other jobs.

So, I'm looking for some advice from the people that have gone through this. What are some the pitfalls and holes is this plan? Where might I be disappointed?

A couple of things.....

I'm taking a huge pay cut, but hoping I can make a good living 3-4 years down the road. I'm not interested in flying for an airline, but more interested in flyin jobs for law enforcement, news stations, transportation, rescue, etc.

My location is the San Francisco Bay Area.

Can anyone share their experiences? Or, please tell me if I’m way off here.

[jb2_86_uk]

Hi J-Rod and welcome to PPrune.

You might want to check the rotorheads part of the forum to meet all the... well, rotorheads! Its a part of the site dedicated to whirlybirds.

I dont know the situation in the US, but in the UK there are a few flying colleges that provide integrated or modular courses to get you into a career as a chopper pilot.

I had my assessment for a college called Cabair in England with a chap who was going for the helicopter route, and he was asking the same sort of questions as you just did. If I remember rightly, the answers he was getting were along the lines of:

You will need experience before you can consider Police/Air-med/Fire etc - Basically the very specialised jobs. He would likely gain the experience required flying out to the Oil rigs in the North Sea.

As i have said, I dont really know much about the scene in the US, but perhaps the equivelent jobs would be pleasure flights.

I got the impression that to get to the exciting stuff, you have to endure the mundane to get those all important hours.

Anyway, Good luck and I wish you all the best!

JB