Would you spend £15,000..........

[KNIEVEL77]

........in this current financial climate to fulfill an ambition to fly Helicopters or just keep the money for a rainy day (new car, loss of job, etc)?

All opinions gratefully received.

[clear prop!!!]

15k to learn to fly helicopters???....tell us more!!!

Obviously you don't mean with a view to flying commercially?

[KNIEVEL77]

Average licence pass time 60 hours at £250 per hour £15,000.

Then of course onto stage 2 but thats another £35,000.

[Flintstone]

I'm guessing that this being the forum titled 'Professional Pilot Training Clear Prop thought you were suggesting that you could get a CPL (at least) for £15,000.

[PilotPieces]

Yes. Oh wait you said if you had £15,000...:(

[Shunter]

You might get your PPL for that money... going commercial is a whole other fortune. That said, I believe CPL/IR(H) holders are still in demand despite the current climate.

As you old saying goes, if you need to ask the price you can't afford it. That counts double when you're talk about flying egg-whisks.

[Vone Rotate]

Whats the crack with these rotahead boys and girls concerning an IR?
I've been told on a couple of occasions now that you don't need an IR for the majority of chopper jobs??.....

I'm guessing they stay below the cloud base? Not much fun!!

[Shunter]

Well firstly, IMC in single-engined egg-whisks is illegal. So your point about IRs is potentially true in regard to general air taxi type jobs.

Most of the guys I bump into at Gatwick doing IR(H) exams seem to work exclusively for people with serious wealth who aren't interested in the weather, they just want to go where they want, when they want. If you've got an employer like this who is happy to pay for your instrument training then you're very lucky, because an IR(H) in an approved twin is bloody expensive! (http://www.tigerhelicopters.co.uk/irprices.htm)

[GS-Alpha]

Would I keep the money for a new car or holiday or some other luxury other than the PPL(H)? No, I'd definitely do the training. I'm currently half way through my heli training, and am absolutely loving it. However, I have no strong desire to change careers and fly helicopters for a living, it's just a hobby for me.

If I was worried about my job, I'd certainly make sure I had sufficient savings to pay all essential bills for at least six months before splashing out the cash on such a luxury. Holding onto one's house and being able to survive should one lose one's job in a recession certainly needs to be planned into the equation, no matter how much you love helicopters.

If you are saying it is your ambition to change careers and become a helicopter pilot; I would hold my horses just at the moment, unless I had a good sized pot of money.

GS

[Whirlygig]

Knievel, you can ask the question a thousand times over but only you can answer it.

Cheers

Whirls

[MartinCh]

considering the amount of posts, one would think K77 sold his beloved car and already working towards CPL.. Don't I repeat myself? :E

Seriously, I'm just past 50h TT in R22, cut my stay in the US touch short (not that I couldn't go to about 70-80h TT max, banging all savings plus maxing up my CCs..). I didn't want to overspend (though should have finished PPL at least, now it's haunting me a bit, extra paperwork later on) as I need bit too much time to finish up. Just cash thing.
If I do my PPL (A) for fun and keeping the blues away - hiring Cessna's easier, when not gliding, I may do CPL A before heli CPL. Hmm. I'll get there eventually.

Well, would I rather not fly Robbies? Negative. Does it s:mad: that I'm grounded by UK heli dual incl VAT prices? Oh YEAH. I love flying in general (except in cattle truck airliner as SLF) so I'd make do with other ways for some time.

As many mentioned, if you scrape to get rotary PPL, it may not be worth (just as yet) due to keeping oneself current. One good reason I have my 50+ R22 time past me (for some future instructing in the US, though things get tighter and tighter, exchange rate and paperwork-wise), know I could manage.

The lurking thought of not being able to finish up to CPL/CFI in 'one go' isn't very nice. But you don't think of it when caressing cyclic and collective.

There's a thread on Rotorheads about hoops some had to jump through to finish up their CPL (H) and get heli job.
I think FWhingers wouldn't be inclined to share your (and mine) desires.

Better stay in Rotorheads. Gosh, I'm the same. Moaning about me not flying..

[helimutt]

I'm slightly biased here. If I had 15k which I could spend on flying helicopters, or put away to save, then i'd fly helicopters and do a ppl(h).
Done that already.
BUT, it all depends what you want to do afterwards. Is the ppl what you want? Do you wish to go further, ie CPL?
The CPL is another £2.5k for exams, then an initial class one medical £400+, then the hour building to 155hours, 100hrs x 250 = £25000, then add on the cost of the CPL course, say another 30 hours at £300/hr. ie another £9k
Then you have a freshly minted CPL, with 185hrs TT, no experience, only rated on an R22 and joining a long queue of people with more experience and hours, chasng the same work.
Then really you need an FI ticket. Another 65 hours away £16k ish, and another £8k course.

So adding them up, ballpark, gives you a sum of £70k+

Then you are still chasing non existent jobs along with many others.
So you decide to do an IR, there's another £35k+ because you'll need a multi type on your licence as you can't fly IMC in a single eng heli in UK.

Even then you'll have minimum time and the only peole who will employ you are the offshore operators who aren't hiring right now.

So, how do I know this? Because this is exactly what I did, but I was lucky enough to get a job a couple of years ago when the North Sea was desperate for pilots.

Think long and hard about it. That 15k could take you and your girlfriend on an amazing Maldives holiday for a few weeks and still buy you a car to play with.
BUT, if like me initially, you just want to fly helicopters and get a PPL for the challenge in your life, then do it. Why not. Not many people hold a PPL(H) and what's 15k?


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