R44 Hourly Cost in the UK?

[R44training]

what's the cost of a 44 per hour in the UK?

[ITARMAN]

It seems to vary but a rough guide would be around £330-£340 (assuming you mean self-fly):)

[Whirlygig]

Does that include VAT and landing fee?

Cheers

Whirls

[H500pilot]

Wow, do many pilots come to the U.S and do your flying? Here its around $450 per hour WITH AN INSTRUCTOR.

[windowseatplease]

What about flights, hotel, travel insurance, food, airport transfers, car hire etc. Are they free in the USA?

[Arm out the window]

Probaby not, but at about $230 per hour saving at an exchange rate of about 2 pounds to the greenback, there's $23,000 bucks for accommodation and airfares over 100 hours flying, say.
Not a bad prospect for someone getting their licence, but there's the FAA to JAR thing if they want to come home to fly afterwards. Are there American schools approved to do JAR training?

[Whirlygig]

Are there American schools approved to do JAR training?
Yes. One for helicopters; Bristows.

Cheers

Whirls

[Pandalet]

just gone £400 all in where I hire from

[206 jock]

My mate has just bought an R44 with lots of years/few hours left (equates to c.60 hours a year). He reckons it will cost him £200 an hour to 'own' it. That's depreciation, fuel, insurance and maintenance.

We shall see......

[biggles99]

I think somewhere between £250 and £300 is realistic, depending on how lucky you are and how many hours you fly.

The cheapest-to-run machines (for leisure flying, home-based, fair weather pilot) are the ones with lots of years left and less than 500 hours to go.

Lower initial cost, lower depreciation and not bothering with hull insurance are the main factors in keeping the costs down.

There's a good case to be made for renting if you fly less than 50 hours a year, but a lot of people are prepared to pay for the undoubted joy of having your own machine in your own barn at home.

The difference in the way that we view a car purchase and a helicopter purchase has always fascinated me.

You buy a car for 75k, it's worth 45k 2 years later, and you get all excited as you part-ex it for another 75k car.

You buy a helicopter for 100k, it's worth 80k 2 years later, and everyone says "blimy, that was a very expensive hourly rate."

Apply the same costings to the car, and I bet it comes out at several quid an hour, and it would be cheaper to go by taxi!!

Big Ls

[windowseatplease]

I'm not sure Bristow academy does JAA R44 training.

[Whirlygig]

It doesn't. But I'm not sure that that was the question being asked!!!

Pandalet's £400 per hour all in is probably the most realistic for UK R44 hire.

Cheers

Whirls

[windowseatplease]

It's about £460 inc VAT/fees etc at some London-based schools for R44 SFH.

[H500pilot]

I know of a company that does time building in Oregon for foreigners. You have to be a rated pilot already, but they do $15,000 for 20 Hours of R44 flight time, hotel, airfare, transportation. You just pay for food. Its not for training, its just to get rated in the -44 or receive your SFAR 73 Sign offs.:ok: