10 things to consider, based on my own experience;
1. Decide if you are going to fly helicopters for a career and if not it doesn't really matter where you go, as long as you are comfortable with the school and can afford it. There is no guarantee that there will be a job after you recieve your qualification with any company, but I would strongly suggest that if you are looking at flying helicopters as a career, you investigate those companies that can get you that first start. Ask them if they have contacts or assured routes to employment opportunities.
2. Look to your home country to train in first, regardless of cost. It's becoming much harder to enter countries like the United States due to immigration and language barriers. Additionally, some places may appear to be cheaper on the surface but to give you an example, going to Panama, central America, to gain a license could take you as long as a year due to bureaucracy and lack of available aircraft. Also costs for travel, accomodation and food will eventually equal that of just plain staying where you are. Additionally, you stand a better chance in Europe, North America, Canada, Australia and New Zealand of flying a machine that meets true ICAO airworthiness standards. Better to be safe and work on your flying than worrying about all the other things that could affect your ability to succeed/fail.
3. Don't make the hourly cost or the type of aircraft available an issue. Getting a license is only a license to learn more and most companies will train you thier own procedures. I've flown the R22 and Huges 300 and they will both challenge you. If you can afford to do all your flying on "Turbine" so much the better, but this will still not guarantee you a future job.
4. Get a "medical" before you even start flying, especially if you will need a class 1 certification. You don't want bad news at the end of your training.
5. Be aware that no school will spoon feed you everything you will need to know or study. Some are better than others but you will need to read the books and study. That should be part of your commitment to yourself.
6. Once you have an ICAO license it is easier to get another and it is often a good idea to hold the 3 major ones; JAR, FAA and Transport Canada, Australia or New Zealand.
7. Hour building can be done in many ways. Many people who can afford it try to get to 500 hours as this is perceived as a magic number for operators. However, this is not necessarily true and certainly hasn't been the case for me. Again look for the company that will give you the best opportunity to work, even if it's on the ground initially.
8. There is the option of joining the military if you want do it at the taxpayers costs, but it's not all that easy to get a job with some compaines after being trained the military way. Even if the cost of converting to a civilian license is covered on exit from the service, you will have to learn new tricks in the more commericial civilian world unless you are looking at flying for Law Enforcement or another more similar acitivity.
9. Last peice of advice. Never pay everything upfront no matter what your told. You are customer of the school and they are after your money because that's how they survive. If your not sure about spending more money on a suggested skills session, first consider it's real benefit until you actually have your license in your hands. Your instructor is not always your best freind even if you belive him to be a god in the air.
10. Almost anyone can obtain a helicopter license, but that does not give you the right to a job after and if you or your school have any doubts about your ability to complete the course, think seriously about whether you want to continue. The helicopter world is competitive and its not a good place for those who are uncertain about their commitment to it.
Hope this will help some folks, as no one told me any of this when I started out!
