Well, can't do any harm to give them a call, especially as my info was second hand. But the one thing that's clear is that whatever they tell you today may be different tomorrow.
I'm saving my pennies to get another 100 hours and do the instructors course. Part time instructing, pleasure flights etc was all I ever planned to do from the start; I like what I do already - freelance research and writing with a huge amount of freedom to work as and when I want. I just want to get paid to fly helis too. <img src="smile.gif" border="0"> But when I got my CPL last November I tried to check out what else was available, just to keep my options open. Seemed like if I didn't pay for my own IR there weren't any other options right now, so I went back to Plan A. A good excuse for a couple of flying holidays anyway - LA in April, probably Oz in the autumn, and that should get me the hours. <img src="smile.gif" border="0">