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Old 11th Dec 2007, 07:03
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Whirlybird

The Original Whirly
 
Join Date: Feb 1999
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You can certainly learn on a turbine helicopter if you want to. Quite a few schools have JetRangers, and it's not at all unusual to learn on those.

The trouble with learning on the EC135 is that it's a very complicated machine. It's twin-engined, and also has a glass cockpit...and I'm pretty sure this is standard. This means that there is a huge amount of information to absorb, apart from actually learning to fly it.

Your best bet might be to learn on the single-engine EC120, which is fairly similar, but a lot simpler. You ought to be able to find one or two of those around, though you might have to travel a bit to learn. Conversion from that to the EC135 ought to be relatively easy.

I'm not an expert on either of these machines, though I've flown them both to write flight test articles for Today's Pilot magazine. But you may well get a more detailed answer from someone with more experience on these helicopters.

Finally, some of us on here aren't "gents" - we belong to the other half of the human race.
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