I’ve been flying as a PPL(H) since 2006 and still love flying; I try to get out as much as possible. As you live in the UK, disregard the US posts as (unlike their fixed-wing brethren) the US doesn’t have a real private helicopter scene; it’s more about “CPL Mills”. The UK (and France) have the best private helicopter scenes you will find.
Some notes:
- Living in/near London, you will find around 5-6 places to rent helicopters (self-fly-hire) upon getting your license, doesn’t matter if you train there or not. If you’ve not flown there before, you’ll require a check flight which for me, over the years, has ranged from as short as 15minutes upwards of 45minutes (I once hired near Liverpool and the owner, upon looking at my license/ratings, noted the person who did my LPC in the prior two weeks and said “I know X and if X says you’re flying is OK, I don’t need to see more; here’s the keys). In the US, you will find FBOs that require 10hrs checkout; avoid those jackasses and find somewhere better to hire.
- You may also find some private owners who may offer you rental and intermittently you may find a base that has some hours “to burn off” before an overhaul and offer a reduced price (there was one west of London this past autumn)
- Where can you fly to? Have a look at
www.helipaddy.com for some ideas. We are actually very fortunate in the UK to have an abundance of places to visit by helicopter with just PPR. While the fixed-wing crowd will be in some dreary airfield café having a bacon sandwich and mug of tea, you’ll be at any mix of hotel/restaurant/resort/pub of your choice often landing on the lawn just walking in.
- Clubs? I’ve never actually seen a helicopter “club”, but many locations may have the feel of a club; visit HQ Aviation www.HQAviation.com and see what you think. About 50ish helicopters and some great people.
- Further afield? You will be able to fly to France and all of Europe on your EASA license. Get a stand-alone or “piggy-back” FAA license and you can fly on trips to the US (however note is damn hard work to find an R44 for SFH in the US, but possible). On your EASA license, you can get “License Validations” for both South Africa and Australia which opens up some other great flying.
- Aside from the usual “lunch runs” to differing locations, being near London you have the London Helicopter Routes (yes, you can fly down the Thames as a PPL) see chart: https://www.caa.co.uk/WorkArea/DownloadAsset.aspx?id=4294978749 you can also so the same in Paris and land within sight of the Eiffel Tower.
- For group/special trips have a look at www.helisafari.com who run a great list of annual trips and one-offs.
Last edited by RMK; 5th Jan 2019 at 20:55.