The bottom line might be supply vs demand. There was a time when you couldn't swing a dead cat without hitting a helicopter pilot, thank you "Vietnam era glut". Having flown for the US military for the last 18 years and starting to look into civilian employment, as military retirement approaches, I see a lot of demand for rotorheads. A friend, who recently retired from the military had compainies calling him. He got picked up as an EMS pilot starting at $64K,USD with great benefits. The US FAA released some interesting stats two years ago and show a "significant" decrease in the number of commercial/ATP helicopter pilots. With helo ops on the increase and pilots on the decrease it's a good time to be a rotorhead, at least in the US.
