Im hooked! A little advice?

[MikeH_83]

Hi everyone,

I have always wanted to fly for a living and always thought it out of my reach due to qualifications from school years and thus low paying jobs. I have managed to score a few trial lessons though over the years, going from Gliders, to Planes and then the other week I had my first helicopter trial lesson and oh boy am I hooked!

So I've spent quite alot of my weekend doing some research and looking up topics on here (the So you want to be a Helicopter Pilot .......... by Heliport really helped alot so thanks for that) I have decided that being really expensive I really want to try for a career in Helicopter piloting, not only because I love flying but I want to also make something of my life.

Anyhoo I still have a few more questions and im thinking about attending the Helicopter pilot career seminars at Leicester Airport Helicentre Aviation : Helicopter Pilot Career Seminars (http://www.flyheli.co.uk/seminars/) to ask some more questions and try and get a feel for how feasible it is to get a career in this line of work nowadays and the best route to go down. Has anyone been on this seminar and would you recommend it?

Many Thanks

Mike

[Peter-RB]

Good morning MikeH

One tip :- do your checks well on the training establishments, some may tempt you to part with a Block payment and offer a discount indoing so, remember the words "Caveat Emptor" it means Buyer Beware!! and is attached to every House purchase in the UK, it is saying check everything before you part with your cash, ..many trainees in the past have lost an awful lot of money in being so keen as to not see the signs of a small ..struggling (financially ) Flight training establishment.

Check out as many as you could drive to in say a 50mile radius from your base (home)..and when you make your choice.. weekly or twice weekly lessons are far easier to handle , for you dont spend time on the next lesson trying to remember what it is you do next! Get all the books on the technical side of helis and read up well on radio and how to use it, it is important for you to know as much as you can absorb regarding the tech side of the machine that you want to fly, your walk round pre flight check is so very important look at everything that moves, or spins or is attached to the electrics, adopt the attitude that if it dont look right ..then it probably isn't.

But most of all enjoy the training it opens up your mind and heart to a totally new way of life/enjoyment and you will meet some cracking people, especially here on Pprune Rotorheads.

By the way, Planes are normally used to smooth wood! ;)

Many regards

PeterR-B :ok:
Lancashire

[902Jon]

Hi Mike,
Also very close to Loughborough is East Midlands Heli's based at Costock.
And no, I don't work for them and never have, but they are a good well respected operation.
I also live in Costock, and if you wish to meet for an independent chat please pm me. I've been been in helicopters since 1985, don't profess to know everything, but have done a lot of varied jobs.

[stingerdinger]

Hi Mike,

I've been flying for about 10 years now. Best life-changing decision I ever made, so if you want to do it, go for it.

As for the career seminar, is it free? If so you might as well go along and take a look but my advice would be to shortlist a few training organisations and go and visit them. You need to see them in action. Talk to the instructors, talk to the students and most importantly find out if they will give you a job once you have qualified. Are they busy? What is their fleet like? There's no point spending the money if there's not much opportunity for you once you are qualified and a busy school will help you progress much faster. It's also worth finding out if they have an AOC so that you can do charter work. Most operators prefer to use pilots they have trained themselves, particularly the case with flight instructors.

Don't part with large amounts of money upfront unless you are training intensively and you've checked them out on companies house. Find out as much as you can about the company - who runs it, what their history is, what their plans are for the future. Both the companies mentioned above are well established and have been around for a long time. It's a big decision so take all the information on board and go in with both eyes open.

Good luck!

SD

[muffin]

I would second the above comments. Both Helicentre and East Mids helis are good well respected outfits and you would not go wrong with either of them. Visit both and see what you think. I trained at Costock and would recommend them highly.

[MikeH_83]

Hi everyone,

Thanks for everyone's replies, There is alot of good info there. Yeah the seminar is free so I think its worth going to just to find out the best route to go down to potentially help me find work after all is done. (if at all possible at low hours)

902Jon, thanks for the offer and I have sent you a pm :)

I do want to go for it and I will do it, Just a case of looking at how far to go on training etc based on job prospects

[BAe 146-100]

You can get commercial work if you are lucky but to get qualified costs more than fixed wing, I'd budget for no less than 50K, and that's doing it in minimums in a R22.

[MikeH_83]

Thanks BAe, Yeah I think i'd have to do it on minimums and do abit of saving I think. It'll be painful on the old pocket now but hopefully in the future it will put me in a much better place

[Colibri49]

Please take the same advice which I give to anyone who asks. Before you shell out a significant amount of money, go and get a CAA Class 1 medical.Then contact GAPAN Aptitude Tests - GAPAN (http://www.gapan.org/career-matters/careers-information/aptitude-tests/), or whoever runs proper flying aptitude tests (not the ones which you can find on-line).

Rather spend a few hundred on the above items, than waste tens of thousands to discover that there isn't a career for you in helicopters.

Have you considered doing your licence at the Bristow Academy in Florida, where the flying is considerably cheaper, the weather is far better and you'll be trained for both British and American licences?

If someone has suggested all this already, I apologise for not seeing it.

My helicopter background is both military and civil and I've been a North Sea helicopter captain for decades. Best wishes and I hope you're as fortunate as I have been.

[pdoyle]

Hi mike
Seminar is a waste of time lots of promises if you part with the,cash They will offer A job but your in the queue . They cant possibly employ all students on the course who qualify
Also have you considered the guys at Sywell cost effective first class and no cowshisa
Just be carefull with your head in the,clouds and your cheque book open

I have the,T Shirt
It may be a little worn now but don't want you falling for the usual spin.

Bristows advise should be taken on.board and much better prospects for employment if you train with them

That said good luck chap we all have to jump in,eventually!

[Colibri49]

Mike,

It's been written elsewhere many times over, but maybe you haven't seen it, so here goes. When you come away from a helicopter school with your new CPL/H, you're 99.99% unemployable. This is because no operators want to employ someone without operational experience and their insurers won't let them touch you with a barge-pole.

There might be a tiny handful of opportunities for those who excel on their courses to be kept on as instructors, if they can afford to pay for an instructors qualification, but I wouldn't risk something around £80k, depending on where and what one trains on, to get a bare CPL/H and then to find that I'm regarded only as useful for sweeping the hangar floor.

This is the big benefit of training at Bristow Academy; you are a known quantity to them and stand a better chance than those who aren't academy graduates of being considered for a North Sea job as a copilot. After about 5,6 or 7 years, you become eligible for a captaincy.

Whichever route you choose to follow, you'll sooner or later need to spend a few more tens of thousands on an instrument rating to get one of the better jobs, or spend it on building your hours to become worth considering. Those "romantic" glacier and mountain and volcano tourism jobs don't pay very well and you might have to live something of a gypsy existence. I believe that working off billionaires' boats isn't all that appealing either.

North Sea copilots currently start on around £50k and senior captains are well over £100k, sleeping in their own beds almost every night. I know which route I'd choose.

[pdoyle]

Good advise re bristows
A good buddy I was at school with went the rig route , just got his,captain and raking in the cash.
Where as I have the time to sit here writing this waiting as usual for self loading freight. Who as we know can sometimes ruin your day

If I could do it all again Bristows

Hope that helps you mike
but please don't be fooled into thinking once you have 4 bars on your shoulders you re a pilot

[MikeH_83]

Many Thanks for all the advice given. After reading what has been said on here and after a chat with a pilot from here ive decided the best route is to get the class 1 medical done first, then train via Bristows either in the uk or America.

Time to get saving some more :)

[Reely340]

@Colibri
Aptitude Tests - GAPAN (http://www.gapan.org/career-matters/careers-information/aptitude-tests/) states:
"The validity of the tests declines rapidly for those who have in excess of 150 hours of pilot flying."
got any idea why? What precisely are they testing, and why can experience harm the validity of the tests?

[Colibri49]

Reely340 I guess it's like IQ tests done at school. When I was getting towards the end of primary school, we had IQ tests done (by the way, were never given the result). But my best mate's father was a teacher who conducted those tests and he said that the older you become at school before the tests get done, the less accurate they are. Probably because your life experiences and stuff you pick up from various sources mask your natural underlying intelligence.