View Full Version : Helicopters as Business
whissper
7th Feb 2005, 10:10
This is damn stupid I know but just how difficult is it to run helicopters as a business?
Not looking to make any money just enough to cover the lease costs on the aircraft, the fuel and maintenance bills and leave me enough to eat each week.
This crazy idea keep going around and around.
Basic maths tells me I need around 360 hours a year to make it work. What I don't have a feel for is just how hard it is to get 360 hours of paying time a year.
<Flame suit on> :-)
Cheers
helicopter-redeye
7th Feb 2005, 12:37
Hard in the centre of England, a small country with quite liberal aviation laws and lots of people.
Perhaps harder in a sparsely populated land (unless you will be cross hiring at Bankstown/ Melbourne/ one or two other major centres.
h-r
CHOPPER74
7th Feb 2005, 22:26
If you are in Australiia speak to Ian Tate from Aviation Insurance. He does a great presentation on how much you need to do per year and how much to charge on an hourly rate. Puts it in normal peoples lanquage, not the typical mumbo jumbo cr@#p that more technical people seem to rattle on with. He is also a really good fella.
His advice is to run it as a business, not just to get by like you are talking about.
helipedro
8th Feb 2005, 07:28
That's what you will end up doing.....Eating once a week:O
belly tank
8th Feb 2005, 10:47
Heli Pedro...love the nickname!!
and if you manage to eat once a week its only baked beans on toast!!!..no butter!......oh how synical!!....pilots are rich you know!!
chopperchav
8th Feb 2005, 12:04
I was advised that to make a small fortune in helicopters you have to start with a large one!
Chop your 360 up and see where you can get the bits...
can you get say 10h/m in aerial work, 10h/m charter, and 10h/m scenic.
As the 360 is your lower level, build in some safety, demand 420 or so per year.
If you plan to scrape by, you'll scrape by at best. It's not easy especially if you have well entrenched competition, as they will raise barriers quick smart, and you'll need a heap of wedge to get over them.
You need to put some metrics in place to build a model of what you require for success.
i.e. I need a resort with 50k visitors per year, and a local population of at least 80k, difficult surface travel etc etc etc
Make the descision based on numbers not emotions.
Good luck.
PEAR is right about his statement. Furthermore if you do not have a serious financial backer, you are wasting your time and health. Most of the people who tried, found it very hard to get by, unless they had LUCK and a big bank account to start with. You better check the competition out, as they will do their hardest to drive you out... Knowledge, experience, etc are not sufficient. You will NEED CAPITAL to get you by for over 2 years before you can see a meagre return. I 've been there and did it the hard way despite advice from more astute people. My advice is fly for someone or simply enjoy being a Private weekend warrior with a normal income (non flying) during the week. Commercial Rotary Pilots are not rich people....
Steve76
13th Feb 2005, 09:18
Being rich isn't everything and you have to be plenty rich to be bothered to fly circuts at the aeroclub or swan around in your R22 thinking you know what you are doing when you really don't...
Flying helo's privately is a slow way to waste money. Get a PPL (A) and drive something faster. What are you going to do with a helo in the UK anyway? Fishing in the mountains? Hunting?
??
As for making a living from Helicopters? First learn to drive one and operate it for 10yrs and then take that experience and reputation into a business. Maybe you might survive and make some coin. Goodluck.