I learned to fly about 10+ years ago, I was very much like you by the sounds of your post a bit bemused by all of the commitment to a choice of who/how/where methodology.
To be fair not much has changed in the likely training aircraft candidates except the introduction of the Cabri.
I had advice coming out of my ears and in a lot of cases, contradictory statements so I took some advice that turned out to be really bad for me.
I'm not claiming I know whats best for you but I would say I leaned some tough lessons quickly. I'm happy to say what I found for myself and my situation.
Whilst I haven't read every post in this thread I have had a decent scan through and a lot of the advice given I would 100% concur;
- Aim to learn to fly what you think you'll fly - so that's most likely to be an R44 for most peoples "budget" multi passenger aircraft - if you think you'll fly something else then all these points can be ignored
- If the economics of learning on an R44 are too hefty then as many have said the transition from R22 to R44 is best*
- I would expect the cost of learning on R22 then doing (even say 8h) type rating on a R44 is likely to be less than learning on an R44 - so whats the most important budget or safety/consistency??
- Does R22 have some shortcomings - yes obviously most aircraft do - so learn about the situations (look at training course to learn about dangerous conditions) that could (are more likely to) arise in an R22 that are dangerous - such as loss of engine and loss of blade inertia & negative pushovers
- I would agree with the comment about getting the money first then doing it as one hit - even then its hard work over time to stay focused if you've got a busy life like most people - one hour a week is about a year commitment or two hours a week is about 6m
But think about when you start and plan your "hours" as much as possible as things will change - I ended up getting close to my test but struggling to fly as it was winter weather in hindsight I would have started and done enough hours a week to finish in August/September
I was also driving an hour having 2x 1hr lessons and driving an hour back nearly every Saturday - that really is enough and sometimes I was so tired on the way back I was at risk of falling asleep so location is important
* = I actually learned on a H269/H300 and it was really great to learn on very docile and I would suggest probably the best to learn on but I ran into continuity issues when my original instructor couldn't continue - hence why I would suggest the R22/R44 as they are ubiquitous.
Some people have suggested choosing the helicopter based on the instructor/school -
I absolutely agree that the instructor is a massive part of the equation but chosing an obscure helicopter because of an instructor is not a school of thought I subscribe to because;
- The things some people like are not always the things other people like - example one of my instructors "didnt like" flying near London because of the ATC & restrictions but flying helilanes is great (with experience)
- Not everyone gets on with everyone, so some instructor that your mate reckons is the best thing since sliced bread could really annoy you - its not until you are 5-10+ hours in that you'll feel the love or not
- If its a one man band instructor what happens in they go sick/awol/retires/has a family emergency
- If its a company your preferred instructor could leave them or the company could go bust - it happens even with big companies
- If you go with a company and they have multiple instructors you want to check you'll get continuity BUT it sometimes helps to fly occasionally with a different instructor they'll pick up on different things
And for those reasons I would NEVER pay more than 10 hours upfront even if the discount were massive - this is one thing that bit me as my one man band instructor stopped flying
I would also be quite pedantic about checking through your training record with your instructor as you learn - if you do need to change you need everything documented
Imagine the situation that you start learning on a random aircraft that you really like the instructor (say a Enstrom or a Bell47 or whatever) and after 20 hours your instructor fails their CAA medical and cant instruct, thats a sticky wicket, if you're learning with a company on an R22 they'll just roll in a different instructor and everything caries on as before! If you want to do something like this - have a back-up plan IMHO!
Now I would say there's a lot of individual instructors that are very good and you'll probably pay more with a company but I started with an individual and I ended up completing my training with a company.
I didn't see anyone talking about going to the states to learn - I don't know about the economics or logistics of that these days but you might want to into it for the weather if nothing else
I didn't see anyone talking about buying into a shared aircraft scheme - I did that and it took a lot off my overall costs - not for everyone but worth a look
Hope that helps
CC