litle help here! ICAO JAA

[SAND BALLS OF FIRE]

Hello folks,
Can anyone give me some opinion about what should I do in this situation?
I am currently a airplane flight instructor in Brasil with about 500 and soo hours IFR multi engine and ect .... However my dream is to fly offshore helicopters.... I never started because here in Brasil it is virtually impossible to get an IR rating for it, so I went fixed wing ways, which I like as well but not my dream job, the helo industry here is booming like no other, and still only for IR/H guys to get in... so I was thinking in get all my licenses converted to EASA and try to go e to the north sea, as I do have An ICAO PPL H as well and I am also an Italian Citizen, I am Allowed to work and live in Europe, does anyone knows if a pilot rated IR for Helo JAA ATPLH and about 80hours in helicopter and 600/ 1000hrs in airplanes have any chance to get employment in the
North Sea? I've checked DAncopters and Bond Helicopters and they are not asking for 500h helicopters only.......plus Any idea about salary and living standards for a New F/O in the north sea???


Thanks for attention!:ok:

[Jet Ranger]

Hard question.

But, the shortest answer is something like this:

-at least, you must go for JAA CPL(H) with ATPLH frozen theory, and ME/IRH (if you want to go offshore);
-aeroplane flight time = 0 point, but it will help you to save some time (you only need a bridge for ATPL theory from A to H), and some money (when doing IR-H, you will need to do only 10h transition from IR(a) to IR(h);
-when you will go for ME/IRH, try to do that on some "popular" type, for example EC155, after which you will easier find an offshore job in EU, or on B412 (in Brasil);
-all that is not so cheap job, but you probably know that; maybe the best place for you is Bristow Academy Florida;
-if I was in your place, when finish all that, I would go for job in Brasil (I think, easier and better solution for you); because that market is quite closed for all others;
-remember, you must do all this steps in the process


But, my question to you is, are you really at the age of 63?

Regards,

JR

[SAND BALLS OF FIRE]

thanks soo much for your time,
I am 28 yrs old soo not too young.
So, this is the deal in brasil it is soo hard to get IR/H that we actually have to pay the whole couse meaning 30 plus hours.... here the A109 hour is about 3k usd and it is the cheapest IR/H u can find. , in my case 10hrs about sum 30kusd plus checkride fees etc etc..... it goes up to about 35kusd at this price I rather to pay a real type rating in a sk76(most popular heli in offshore) for example.... besides and I am having a dificult time to adapt myself in the brasilian culture, all dough I am brasilian I lived most of my time between north america and middle east, so i was thinking in try europe, since my family comes from there..... from what i've search into the internet, bond, dancopter, nhs, norsk helicopter, and one or two more companies ask only 500 hours total time,(including airplane) and as per their website they are looking for pilots..... anyways I am planning to have all my licenses converted before I am ready to make any move.... and yes I'll try to "survive" here for more couple of years till the olympics at least so i can gather enough flight experience and a s92 or ec155 type rating to get ready to head north sea.... another question..... how much is he avarage salary for a co-pilot / captain in the North Sea? Here in brasil is quite good, they are making about 75k usd and 110kusd per year, how about europe?
I am also curious about the leaving standards of those people since i do have wife and a lil daughter.... I heard the the airline industry there is very attractive in salary, is that true????
anyways thank you soo much for your time in replying !!
good luck and fly safe!:D

[Jet Ranger]

Well, some answers you will hear from somebody else, I hope.
My suggestion, please, go to your "profile settings" and change "age" number, which is now 63, and a little bit confusing...:ok:

Cheers JR

[MartinCh]

The 500hrs for European jobs is the more recent OGP requirement for copilots, not strictly licensing. It's HELICOPTER time, btw.

I'd sell one kidney for your 'rights of abode' all over the place including Brazil, haha. Almost.

If you want to fly twin helicopters insted of F/W and save on starting out, with generous experience credit, I'd go the FAA route and THEN convert to European ratings if necessary, as you'd have reduced CPL training requirements (not so much with ATPL theory, but flying/expensive bits wise) and IR training, although if you convert to European IR(A), the cost saving is negligible with Euro IR(A) to IR(H), compared to FAA IR(H) to Euro IR(H). As said, if you do fw ATPL, it's reduced theory for (H) and can use the IR(A) for credit. Anyway, EASA regs don't stipulate minimum conversion training, but you may come across some 'past practice' ie the 10hrs fw to heli IR with European licenses.

Not to mention, if you don't have GA/instructing/scenics job flying helicopters in USA or Europe, there seems to be OK job market for R44 charters in Brasil. At least that's the impression I got from past reading, before people get to 500hrs rotary for the twin offshore jobs.