You may want to get on the web site for the International Association of Oil and Gas Producers - I recently sat in on a presentation by a gentleman from their aviation safety office and when they compared the records of the offshore helicopter flights they contracted with commercial fixed wing operations they were on par will commuter operations and if I remember correctly better than air tour operators (I can't seem to find the presentation or I would PM it to you), either of which you would probably have to perform on your way up to the majors. A lot of the helo statistics come from training; an apt comparison might be the rates between Robis and Cessna 172s and then offshore ops to the commuters. EMS pilot is the most hazardous job in the US but you don't have to be an EMS pilot... that eliminates a lot of risk right there. I think if you can find the stats and present them effectively you should have a shot. (I always find pulling up the monthly lists on the NTSB web site to be an effective training tool... FW, FW, FW, FW, RW, FW, FW, FW, FW, FW, FW...)
Also I'm not sure where this rumor fixed wing boys (and ladies) are rolling in cash comes from... that may have been the case in the past but doesn't seem to be the case for my classmates. So far the only time my best freind from school (pilot) has made more than his wife (nurse) was when she was looking for work after a relocation... and he doesn't expect that to change for years. I went the safety side (flying the mighty desk) rather than flight ops and it will be a decade or so before he catches up with me as well. You may want to work out a future earnings curve for both sling wing and starch and see if there really is a monetary benefit in the end...
Last edited by jolly girl; 18th Apr 2008 at 22:28.
Reason: speliing