Good R22 and R44 self fly hire rates

[benturner1985]

Ok so this my first post so go easy on me.

Has anybody else seen the Self fly hire rates being offered in Dublin with acompany called Skywest Aviation? I am looking at building hours to my CPL (H)and stumbled across their website. They are advertising prices of 250 euro forthe 22 and 350 euro for the 44. This seems really cheap, does anybody have anyexperience with this company? Fair enough they are looking for a 10 hour blockbooking but I might even be interested (if anybody is willing)in findingsomebody else in a similar position and sharing the hours between us?


I have sent them an email asking for more details anyway andwill post any reply I receive

Any advice is welcomed.

[Need money]

Ben, I dont know anything about Skywest... but looking at 250 Euro = approx £209 ..

...it looks like you are based in Manchester, and Sloane, Northampton (closer than Ireland) is £200 + VAT - so call it £240 if you dont get the VAT back...

Is it worth flights to Ireland to save £30 per hour, not factoring in any pre pay discounts.., or accomodation etc etc.

Where do you want to do your CPL - Ireland ? or UK ? (or US ?)..

I would be (and have) spending my money at Sloane (Well known, Robinson dealer)..

No connection except a happy customer.

I am sure there are others if you shop around....

Regards

[benturner1985]

Thanks very much for your advice Need money. Sloane in Northamptonis still a fair distance away from me to be fair and it was more the price ofthe R44 that looked the best deal to me. I gained my PPL in November last yearand have my 22 and 44 ratings. I quite like the idea of flying around Ireland fora week or so possibly with another pilot.



I got a reply from skywest this morning and it all seems prettystraight forward. I asked about the possibility of sharing the 10 hours between2 pilots and they said it would not be an issue. I think I might give this a goin the 44 as i have visited Ireland on many occasions and fancy a week flyingover it.

[lotusexige]

I see that Fly Q are advertising the 22 for £150 per hour + VAT.
Fly Q | Hours Building (http://www.fly-q.co.uk/discover/hours-building/)

[Helinut]

If something appears to be too good to be true..................

[Echo-India]

I fly G-OCON (the 44) on a regular basis (as much as the wallet will allow!) , and trained with skywest (when they were eirecopter). I'd give them a good report. Nice bunch of guys - gave me total respect even though I was only 16 when I started training.

Even if you don't decide to take up the 10 hr block, I'd recommend taking a drive down to Newcastle. It's a small field, with a great atmosphere. A great alternative to Weston.

Ben, you can PM me if you need directions or anything. I'm always willing to go up, even if I can't log anything - so if you need a guide. :ok:

[benturner1985]

Thanks echo-india for your usefull information. I have visted wicklow many times but never knew there was an airfield there. I have not been on this forum long but why is it people that obvisoulsy have no idea have the loadest voice! Helimut sounds like he has never had any experience with skywest but just wants to put people or companies down.

I dont know about anybody else but i am just looking for more usefull information which echo india was good enough to provide.

Echo india- thanks once again
Helimut- if you have nothing usefull to post then

[airwolf1091]

Benturner1985

If your looking to have a bit of fun flying, sure give Skywest a call. The rates are very good and I know 1 of the instructors. Always full of helpful advice and the machines are fairly new.

I'm sure it's grand if you want to split the hours between 2 of you, sure when I used to fly in Ireland 10 hrs in a 22 will get you from coast to coast N S E W and it has some lovely scenery on the west coast. :)

The flying is easy, only class C around the regional airports and the rest is class G. I'm sure between 2 you would have no problem getting around but also they would have someone available to hop in so you can relax flying. At a cost that is of course

Hpe this helps

If you need more info pm me and I'll make a call for you

Cheers :ok:

AW

[206Fan]

I see Skywest are planning on doing Tours around the Country this Summer. Sounds interesting. I believe it will just involve the R44 due to it's speed.

SkyWest Aviation Tour of Ireland 2012 - SkyWest Aviation (http://www.helicopters.ie/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=157%3Askywest-aviation-tour-of-ireland-2012&catid=115&Itemid=435)

[Echo-India]

Their facebook is usually fairly active. I've never had to ask anything there myself, but I usually see people being replied to within a day.

If you're looking for information it would single yourself out from any other emails they might be getting.

[benturner1985]

Thanks for all the info guys, The guys at Skywest told me about their tours when I contacted them about self fly hire. They sound interesting, they plan to have one of their instructors in each 44 to guide people on what to do. It does sound like a good idea as I guess people like myself have not got the confidence to head out on a tour and having an instructor on board would make things more relaxed. They also said they will show everybody how to file all the forms etc.. Which again I have not done much of.

Is anybody else interested?
Does this seem a good deal or is it just me being suckered in?

[Echo-India]

Are they doing any special rates for the tours? (essentially booking block hours?)

I might actually do one of these for my summer flying rather than just up and down the coast!

I'm assuming they're 1 day trips?

[206Fan]

Yea I'm guessing the Tours will be a Full Day thing and popping into different Hotels for some grub on route. The 44s won't be long getting about. Regarding the costs, you will need to Contact them.

[benturner1985]

Hey Davy, the impression I got from them was that the tours will last a few days calling in at varius places of interest. They said the cost and flying will be split between the participants.

[206Fan]

Hi Ben,

You are more than likely correct. I only Contacted them briefly about it on Facebook to see what Aircraft Type was involved. I'm ruled out of this one. The Tours sound like an excellent idea.

[benturner1985]

I just received an email about the tours and they are planning on having ameeting within the next few weeks for anybody that is interested. Apparentlycost, planned landing places, places available will all be discussed. I askedif i had to attend this meeting to take part in the tours and they said thatthey will write an overview after the meeting which will be available foranybody that is not able to attend.

Hope this helps anybody that may also be interested.

[benturner1985]

School boy error, i have just worked out how the private messages work on here, i hope monl2507 does not mind me copying it here but like i said before some people on here obviously just want to put companys and other people down:

Deleted

A Private Message is just that: private.

Senior Pilot

[Helinut]

Well Ben,

For someone who indicated that any advice would be welcome you seem to be a bit sensitive if advice given does not suit you.

You need to be careful posting on here because you never know whether people are telling the truth about their situation. I have been in the helicopter industry for over 20 years: started on the R22, 2000+ hrs on Robinsons mostly instruction. Owned 2. Worked for a number of flying schools. Gone onto other things. Not flown a Robbo for over 10 years, but i don't think the cost of operating will have gone down.

I know nothing specifically about the company you mentioned, but I do know more than you about the costs of running helicopters, if you are a newbie as you say. Consider my advice as general rather than any comment on the particular company.

The operating costs are largely unavoidable and there is very little scope for running a SFH helicopter cheaper than the competition if we are talking about operations in Europe. There is also very little margin between the operating costs and SFH rates, so even if an operator chooses not to make a profit the SFH rate is unlikely to vary much.

There is perhaps one exception to this rule which is peculiar to the Robinsons. Because they get "rebuilt" on the basis of either a flight time or calendar time limit, you can get hold of some Robinsons which are close to needing a rebuild on the basis of Calendar time, but have a lot of flight time to run. In such cases, the "rebuild cost" element per flying hr WILL be much lower than normal. You might get such an aircraft a bit cheaper than normal, but the difference will not be great.

Finally, take a look on PPRUNE Rotorheads and look at the stories of other flying schools that have gone bust. You will see that many people in a position like yours have been suckered into paying ahead for some advantageous hourly rate. Understand that if you do that and the company concerned ceased trading you may lose a lot of money. Lots of people have.

Please feel free to accept my advice which could alternatively be summarised as "be careful" or you can do the other thing...........

[bolkow]

To be honest the helicopter seems cheap enough, its the price of food and beer there is really over the top!