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Old 18th May 2013, 13:38
  #12 (permalink)  
AdamFrisch
 
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Los Angeles, USA
Age: 52
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I never finished my PPLH (plan to sometime in the future), but I have about 25hrs on them from back in the mid 90's. All I can add to is the consensus here is that helicopter flying challenges you much more than fixed wing flying and therefore it's much more fun and rewarding. I had my PPL FW before my first heli lesson and after that it was like I lost almost all interest in FW. However, I did rediscover FW and long range touring (which I absolutely love), and here FW rules. Helicopters are useless for travel and cost a lot to operate.

Last year I took about 3hrs of instruction in a Schweizer 300 again, just to see if I any of the skills were still there or retained in my brain. I can tell you they were, but just barely. By the end of it I could just about hover, but my death grip of the cyclic was not pretty. You're kept well busy in a helicopter in almost all phases of flight.

Truth be told, if a bigger fast 150kts twin helicopter like the Sikorsky S-76 had a range of 1000nm, cost the same to operate as a light twin FW, then I wouldn't bother with FW. That would be fast enough for cross countries and it would have all the conveniences of a heli. But the fact is that a S76 will cost closer to operating a big exec jet per hour - they're absolutely ruinous.
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