Originally Posted by
rudestuff
Just to throw a spanner in the works: Get a PPL(A). Even if you don't want one. You can count 20 PIC hours in an airplane towards your helicopter CPL if you hold a PPL(A). Given that FW training is about half the cost, you could get a very cheap PPL(A) out of it. If you did the PPL(A) first, you would have the additional advantage of learning radio, navigation, instrument flight etc on a much more stable platform, which should make your PPL(H) easier.
But by FAR the biggest advantage is that you can add a fixed wing IR for about £8k - and as we all know because we've all read cap804, a FW to Heli IR conversion is only 10 hours. (In other words an IR(H) with a free PPL(A)/IR is cheaper than an IR(H) on its own.
^ This! I openly regret not doing this first - now going to make it my first task when (if...) I get a decent helo job to keep fixed-wing time ticking over in the background. As many others will allude to on here, probably worth keeping at least a CPL(A)/IR in the back pocket for when the tides turn again...an 'insurance policy'...