@Whirlybird
I think you are right in not doing the flattering with your students in the future. In some way it takes away some trust a student should have in his instructor. And with the hover: Well, i was just thinking about a stable hover on a sunny day with zero winds =:-) On a sidenote: I did always enjoy reading your posts about your 'helicopter career' and i am following your way to your FI. Press my thumbs for you and keep on going.
@helipilotnz
The NZD/EUR crossrate is 0.5070 which makes your $40k kiwi equivalent to EUR 20k. I have to say flying in New Zealand is not really a bargain compared to Germany (80 hours here in a R22 is then about $47k kiwi) but still much cheaper. Due to my situation (privat and business) i will not be able to travel around. I am not even sure whether accomodation abroad together with the costs of conversion (FAA to JAA) makes it that much cheaper to get a licence outside of germany. But for building hours you are definately right.
I would really like to know whether here are some pilots from germany around who did their licence abroad.