PPRUNE FAN,
Good post.
You're right, we do spend lots of time telling people how wonderful helicopter flying is, without presenting the other side. If I felt you'd gone slightly too far the other way - and I did - maybe it's about time someone did that. I'm in a quandary every time some new student ask about commercial prospects - I need more students, but am I going to lie outright to him/her? So I try to present both sides...but do I try harder to tell them how great it is? Probably.
As for me, I'm not really typical. I was older than most people starting out (this lady never gives her age on PPRuNe, and isn't going to start now
) and I had the money from a reasonable inheritance. I have other work, which is comparatively secure (I hope!), and which I can do part time and fit around instructing. And I've never worried about the future that much, and despite getting older, haven't changed much in that respect - I always figure things will work out somehow. Oh, and I'm single, so I don't have to justify things to anyone. Those things all make a lot of difference.
As for the rate at which I did it, actually it could be done much faster, if you had the money. I didn't definitely decide to go commercial till after I got my PPL, which I did over nine months, mainly flying one day a week. I did my CPL ground exams over the space of about six months. I then wanted a summer of enjoying myself before I did the CPL flying, and I took it! I then dithered about for a month or two, spent a few days in Aberdeen checking out the North Sea before discovering I was a couple of months too late for any chance of that (interestingly, I was assured that before that they were so desperate that I probably wouldn't have been too old), before deciding to go for the 300 hours and FI rating...my original choice anyway, but I hadn't wanted to pay to get to 300 hours. But I decided I wanted some fun, so I'd have a couple of flying holidays abroad to get them. I did that over a year. I then took a few months off before doing the FI course, since I didn't have the money till I got another unexpected windfall.
So, I always carried on working, only did most of it when I felt like it, and was determined that it was going to be fun and relatively unpressured...bearing in mind I like a challenge and a certain amount of pressure anyway! For anyone who's interested, the timetable was something like this:
Nov 1999 - June 2000 PPL course
July 1999 - Sept 2000 hourbuilding as and when I felt like flying.
Jan 2000 - June 2000 - CPL ground exams, self-study plus two short crammer courses
Sept 2000 - Nov 2000 CPL flying course - with a break in the middle for all sorts of reasons
2002 - hourbuilding to get to 300 hours, including trips to California and Russia.
Jan 2003 - April 2003 Instructors course, again with a break for all sort of reasons.
Oh, and I've never done any course in the minimum number of hours yet!
Where am I at now? Instructing about a day a week, though even that has died over the holiday period. Hoping for more, concerned that I may not even have that much. Trying other schools, but refusing to relocate. Loving it, but very relieved that I don't have to live off it. Pleased that I got where I wanted to relatively painlessly (only relatively!), and despite lots of people thinking I wouldn't make it. Fairly broke, but no debts. Not typical, as I said at the beginning.
charlie s charlie,
I know some who've struggled, with part time work, having to find their own students, etc. I wouldn't be likely to run into the ones who don't have work at all, so I don't know. And I wonder if they read Rotorheads. Generally the 100 hours is no problem; it's getting the 25 solo supervisions. It means you need your own students or an understanding school. And some FIs only get trial lessons in the beginning. So it's not as easy as it sounds.