As many of you know, I recently qualified as a helicopter flight instructor. I have work with Hields Aviation, at Hawarden...if I can find my own students. So would anyone like a trial lesson...or more? Hovering is fun! If so, send me a pm, email me at [email protected], or call me on 07813.651722. Hawarden, for those who don't know, is near Chester, and just off the A55.

John Farley, in a recent copy of Flyer magazine, suggested that all f/w pilots should have a go at flying a helicopter at least once...shouldn't you take his advice?

BTW, before any official or self-styled moderators complain at this piece of blatant advertising, it's been okayed by Capt PPRuNe, PPRuNe Towers, and Heliport; in fact, two of them suggested it!

BRL, any chance of making this a sticky for a short while please?

One bit of infomation missing, how much does it cost to hover?

Good question Bluskis. I am a member of Chester Flying School, at Hawarden, so this is local for me. Yes, I am interested, but need to compare how much P1 flying I can do by comparison.

Sorry people, posted rather late after a long drive home, and forgot important things like costs! Here are the rates (in R22):

Trial lessons: 30 mins £145 ; 60 mins £250 (including VAT and landing fee)

Flight Training - £210/hr (plus VAT and landing fee)

Whirly,

F/W is making me poor enough as it is!

The thing that stops me is the fear I will love it, but won't be able to afford it, I will then torture myself and go mad....

Good luck to you anyway, when I start making some money I will take you up on the offer

Any discount for PPRUNErs?

Hi Whirly,

I would love to do a PPL(H), but have not the money - FW and doing IMC making me too poor!!!

Had an hour's introductory lesson at Sherburn a few weeks ago, though, and found hovering 'interesting ...'! (There was, apparently, some improvement during the session, but I too easily got into an oscillation and had to re-establish!)

Still, better not go for another lesson too soon, otherwise it will be curtains for the bank balance.

Good luck, though, with finding students: there must be many wanting to take up hovering.

Best wishes.

I'd LOVE to learn to hover - but at the moment I'm not even managing to keep current on fixed-wing, and so any money I do get to play with will have to go on that...

(The joys of being a student again! )

Whirly...
is your place at Hawarden a TRTO?
I need an R22 type rating or I won't be able to renew my ATPL(H) when it runs out next year...
FL

Good one Whirly, nothing like being up front....

On a technical note, what are the hours required for a PPL(H), if already in possession of a PPL, assuming that the fixed wing skills are well developed?

Your rates are the usual UK "bleed 'em dry", here in Malaysia its RM1500 per hour for a R44 all inclusive.

Wish you luck, and if you want to come over to Malaysia for a couple of months, I'll be your first pupil for the PPL(H).

Sultan Ismail

Right, let's see; how many questions to answer there?....

pilotwolf,
I would LOVE to give PPRuNers a discount, but don't see how I can, apart from taking it out of my pay. Free cup of coffee for PPRuNers perhaps?

Floppy Link,
To my shame I can't think what TRTO stands for, but I'm fairly certain that you can do an R22 type rating at Hields Aviation at Hawarden, which is what you really want to know. However, I don't think I can do that yet, not sure.

Sultan Ismail,
PPL(A) holders get a 6 hour reduction on the course, bringing it down to 39 hours (takes most people a little more) and only need to do the Helicopter Technical ground exam - exempt from all the others. And I agree, it's not cheap. Malaysia? Nice idea; I'll think about that one.

Floppy Link,
Hields at Hawarden isn't a TRTO, sorry, just checked.

Welcome to PPRune!
When you've contributed as much to this site as Whirlybird, your unkind and sarcastic comments may not be deleted.
Until then ................


Heliport
Super Moderator

Whirly,
after re-reading my post it is apparent that it could be taken that I doubt your abililty to teach so I'd like to take this opportunity to clear things up.



Best of luck with your career,
NS

I was once doing a flight test job for/with a flying school and had to drop them a note one friday asking them to list their intended FTOs. I got a very confused phone call on Monday - turns out whilst I wanted to know who their flight test observers were, they couldn't understand my demand for a long list of flying training organisations.

Whirly has my sympathies and support - it's a mnemonic minefield out there. And she has to teach it!

G

Give the lady a break.

If the mechanical palm tree FI course is anything like the fixed wing course its full of holes in the knowledge base about pratical everyday stuff.

And if a pilot has been renting all the time previously the first exposure to all the maintence paper work is a real shock to the system.

And whirly stick to your guns and always be honest if you don't know something. Nothing worse than a FI trying to bull!!!! a student when its the blind leading the blind. If you cock a demo up admit it then explain to the student why you cocked it up. And if you do something which isn't in the normal order of events again explain why you did it.

After getting a couple of students through, the whole syllabus becomes alot more transparent, the theory becomes alot more off the cuf without having to think about it.

There is no better method of learning a subject than teaching it.

If I wasn't a skint FI I would luv to be your first student.

MJ

Nimbostratus,

whatever you do, don't take the p out of Whirlybird. I made a tongue-in-cheek remark about sexism which she took far too seriously and the whole thread got deleted!

Women. Honestly.

Just out of interest Whirly, (and please note that this is nothing personal at all and I have no objection to your advertising your services and being awarded a "sticky" for doing so) but how did you circumvent the PPRuNe rules regarding advertising? Others have been severly reprimanded for advertising, even when they are not doing so for personal gain but for general information purposes.

Do you think that the fact that you are such a prolific and popular member of the PPRuNe community in this forum (and no doubt the Rotorhead forum as well) helped you to win over the moderators?

Just a question - I hope that you do not take offence since none is intended and as I said, I have no personal objection to your advertising - indeed I sincerely hope that your instructing is going well and profitably!

Southern Cross,

It's OK, no offence taken...I'm not that over-sensitive.

I really don't know. It wasn't my idea; one moderator suggested it to me, and when I ran it by two others at the Gatbash, they said it was absolutely fine. I think the general feeling was that I'd helped some people on PPRuNe in the past. I didn't know that actually; I just thought I was posting too much as usual. But if you really want to know the answer, you'll have to ask the mods.

I think there's a certain relaxed attitude towards posts which may get a PPrune member gainful aviation-related employment. And why not !

G