Commercial Helicopter Training in the US
Ok, we 've all seen those ads promising you to become commercial helicopter pilot in just 4 months for only $ 20.000.
A lot of us european pilots, including myself, went to the US to become Commercial Helicopter Pilot. Promisses were made and we believed in what we were told. ("You can start working as CFI at our school once you are finished" etc) We spent a lot of money, worked for peanuts, returned to our home country and had to find out that our licence was worth nothing. So we had to go through the entire process again, joined ground school had to take various flight lessons, the entire written test and another fligt test. We were smiled at ("Oh, so you learned to fly in California... quite a difference in wx" and " stop doing this typical Californian Giant Flare") etc....
So, what was your experience. Did the training in the US actually save you some money? What were your experiences returning to your home country as far as converting your licence into a national/JAA one? Did you save time or money...
Positive and negative comments welcome...
And for the US guys out there.... Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that either way is the better one. I just made some really bad experiences on my way to get where I'm at right now...