Ireland Pilot Training: no two seaters!!

[Chris The Sheep]

Strange,
There doesnt seem to be any R22's or HU269's left in Ireland for Training on!
Seem's all training is done on 44's nowadays :confused:

What's going on?
Mabey Im wrong, But I couldnt get a lesson in a 2 seater chopper when I got in touch with the schools in weston, cork or even galway for that matter!

Look's like, I'll have to take my business up to a school in the north of Ireland

[206Fan]

Yea I heard that recently myself.

The only schools left with R22s in the North is, Aero Heli in Newtownards, Unique Helicopters in Enniskillen and Cutting Edge Helicopters in Derry. Even at that Aero and Cutting Edge only have 1 R22 each if I'm correct. Unique only has two.

[HeliPilotNIre]

Cutting Edge does not have an R22 at the moment. They lost their R22 in a training accident last summer at Eglinton. Only operating R44 at the moment.

[feathering tickles]

Chris the Sheep, have you thought about jumping on the budget airlines to Liverpool instead?

Helicentre.com has been training a number of student pilots from Ireland recently and they've both R22s and 300Cbi as well as all the usual bigger stuff.

FT.

[fuktifino]

AeroHeli in newtownards have 2 R22's, 2 R44's, 1 Hu269, open 7 days a week, all available for training and self fly hire.:ok:
They also have an AS350 B3 but its for charter only.

[Huwey]

New R22 coming online this month... Call Jason at Cutting Edge in Derry for more info.:ok:

[Low G]

Why on earth would you head North to train in a 22, when you can train in a 44 in Weston for an extra 3k?Minus hotel and travel costs.

[Whirlygig]

for an extra 3k?That's about another 10 hours and if it takes more than the minimum hours, then an R22 will be an even bigger saving over the R44. That's why, at a guess?

Cheers

Whirls

[FSXPilot]

Yeah but the R44 is nearly a proper helicopter as opposed to the R22 which is a bloody death trap.

[tu154]

Have training standards improved in Dublin?

[206Fan]

Speaking of Dublin this week..

Home | Irish Helicopter Owners and Pilots Association (http://www.ihop.ie/)

[airwolf1091]

People may find that the reason there are no 22s or 269s around anymore is the simple fact that nobody is training, id be surprised to find any school in Ireland with more than 4-5 students.
If they do, evryone nearly always wants to convert straight onto the 44. So, anybody doing a cost effective breakdown of figures, ( and when i mean cost effective i mean tests, examiners fees, 44 grondschool etc ) there is barely nothing in it price wise, BUT you get the benefit of having all the experience in the 44.
For an operator, i know first hand it costs serious money to insure the machines, so if the schools pull 22s offline and offset the insurance against 44 running costs, everybody comes out happy!!

[icecloud]

Yes Chris ,they are scarce on the ground and in the air but flight training in Ireland has very expensive ,why not try the US, it is more pilot friendly.

regards Icecloud

[Chris The Sheep]

Found one !! :ok:

In Knock of all places !!

Thank you god

Oh and its an R22

[Chris The Sheep]

R44 Dual Rate in Ireland now €399 Per Hour.
R44 Dual Rate in Northern Ireland now €535 Per Hour !
:confused:

[HillerBee]

€399 where? That's a good price...

[Monski]

I thought Executive Helicopters in Galway gave training in their 22 Betas but I could be wrong

[krypton_john]

The reason there are no 2 seaters is the new regulation in Ireland to have both an instructor and a second safety pilot. When asked for the reason, the Ireland Minister of Aviation said "To be sure, to be sure".

I'll get me coat....

[scbltd]

do executive in galway have a 44 for training or self fly hire at present

[206Fan]

Haha good one John :E

If there's a flight school accepting 399 Euro Per Hour on the R44 things must be bad. I'm guessing it's the flight school in Knock??!

[krypton_john]

Davy, I do have to admit I've never actually heard an Irish person say "to be sure, to be sure" or even "begorra"!

[Low G]

A 44 for €399? An owner cant operate one for that, never mind a
flight school.

€399 -
Vat @21% 83.79
€315.71-
fuel €130.00
€185.71-
Instructor @ 50
€135.71 left for-landing fees/ hangar/insurance/maintanance/depreciation,
finance/ a rebuild fund and the flight schools margin?

Buyer beware! Corners are being cut.

[Pandalet]

You've miscalculated VAT - the VAT component, at 21%, on a total cost of €399, is about €69.

Just sayin'.

[heliboy999]

You could hop on the Air Aaron flight into Southend on sea. We have a lovely 300 CBi here.

[206Fan]

Back to this topic. Out of curiosity is there anybody on here training in the North or South at the minute?

[TRTR]

Aeroheli, Newtonards

[500 Fan]

I don't think too many are training in the Republic at the moment. As far as I know, there is no one training on helicopters in Weston currently and the situation might be the same in Cork. Skywest Aviation is the new name of the Eirecopter-Blue Star join-up but things seem to be quite at the moment. Executive Helicopters might have a few undergoing instruction at the moment. The last time I was in Galway I saw one of their R22s out and about. Hopefully the Irish heli-industry is at the bottom of this downturn in business and things will turn around soon. It can't get any worse!

500 Fan.

[206Fan]

I was out this morning in the 300. We landed in Newtownards for Fuel. Very quite up there aswel. Aeros R44 was out for a while, not much else going on!

[Rotorhead412]

Aeroheli in Newtownards are the busiest school in Ireland at the moment, with approx 7-8 students the last i heard.

There are no R22's left in the Republic of Ireland and approx 4 x R44's.

Works out alot cheaper up north anyway, £280-£295 per hour up North and €399 down here for an R22 (when they were still around that is).

[206Fan]

Good to hear Aero are busy. Yea it's £290 in the North at the minute.

500,

I noticed one of Skywest / Eirecopters Schweizers (EI-DNU) up for sale on the Internet the other day.

[airwolf1091]

Guys, i have been reading this thread and i dont know for sure but some ppl on here have their heads up there own holes. :ugh:

I happen to know one of the instructors who works for Skywest Aviation, based out of Weston, and i chat to him on a regular basis when im home. He has told me that he has had the busiest january in all his years working as a instructor and totalled over 40 hrs tuition in this month alone.

500 fan i have no idea were your sourcing your info from but i suggest you find a new one..:=

On another note yes the 300cbi has been sold i am reliably told and it was done for a reason which was to purchase another R44 which they now operate out of there new approved base facility down in Newcastle airfield. Concidering they now operate in 3 bases in the republic, have just been approved for the first ATO in Ireland and a brand new integrated course, i would hardly call this shutting up shop.!!!!! :ok:

I know for definite that they also have a Robinson R22 which they would put back online for any serious people wishing to undertake a full time PPL/CPL/FI course or hour building.

I know from my own experience the rates Skywest charge are the cheapest in ireland including the north. Packages are also available for serious enquiries with regards to SFH and block booking hrs.:)

Folks i think people forget the name of this site and the words included it and i would emphasise and focus on the word Rumour, seriously, if your going to post on here at least get some facts correct or if you cant be bothered to find them out stop posting rubbish!!!!!

AW

[111M]

Skywest have sold their 300Cbi, they have just bought a Raven 1 which is currently based at their newly approved base at Newcastle Airfield, Co Wicklow. Doing great rates on self-fly hire with it from Newcastle. They also have a 22 which they use for full time courses from any of their bases.
They currently have three full time instructors so they must be doing ok.

[airwolf1091]

Out of curiosity, were are people getting all this information from, ie - no 22s left, also €399 for a 22 in the republic, no training out of Dublin. There seems to be a lot of misleading information appearing on here.
:ugh:

[500 Fan]

Welcome to PPRuNe, Airwolf. Here is one (alleged) definition for the word "rumour";

"A story or statement in general circulation without confirmation or certainty as to facts."

If it is absolute facts you want, you had better have a look at PPFaNe instead.

Anything I have said in relation to the topic of this thread is what I have heard: it may be correct or it may be incorrect. I qualified what I said with the phrase "As far as I know" so that should have alerted the reader to the veracity of my statement. I believed what I said to be near enough to the truth but if it isn't, you have my humblest apologies. I doubt any of us lowly PPLs have deliberately stated anything here that we know to be absolutely untrue.

In any case, I am delighted to hear that I am in fact wrong and that Skywest are busy training people. Long may it continue and I hope the training sector here gets even busier.

500 Fan. (A suitably chastened rumour-monger.):ok:

[airwolf1091]

500

By saying " things seem to be quiet at the moment " Is hardly a rumour, it sounds more to be that of a personal opinion. Like you said yourself, as a lowly PPL, exactly how much time then would you spend in the airport were they train.

Ppl should find the time to actually find out what is happening and provide good info to pass on to others, instead of using the title of this forum to gossip :ok:

[Low G]

It is great to see such an upstanding member of the community investing more of his hard earned cash into the aviation business in Ireland!!! :E