Would you Rather Fly Helicopters Purely For Leisure?
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Would you Rather Fly Helicopters Purely For Leisure?
For those if you who work/are trying to work in the industry, if you could start over what would you do in the following situation.
Just say you had a sufficient income from a business which left you with a lot of free time on your hands, knowing what you know , would you:-
- just get a PPL and blast around as and when you liked because you can afford it and just enjoy the flying, or
-would you still go down the commercial route and try and go through trying to get a job in the industry while taking care of your business from wherever you are (assuming it doesnt need you there to run it)
This I know is down to personal preference, so am interested to hear what others would do if they themselves were faced with this situation
Thanks
Garfs
Just say you had a sufficient income from a business which left you with a lot of free time on your hands, knowing what you know , would you:-
- just get a PPL and blast around as and when you liked because you can afford it and just enjoy the flying, or
-would you still go down the commercial route and try and go through trying to get a job in the industry while taking care of your business from wherever you are (assuming it doesnt need you there to run it)
This I know is down to personal preference, so am interested to hear what others would do if they themselves were faced with this situation
Thanks
Garfs
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Garfs, having read your other posts, I think I know where this coming from!
To answer your question, it was my original intention to simply keep up with a PPL, self-fly hire when I could and fly for pleasure. However, things change! Commercial exams all passed and CPL flying course booked for the summer!!
Flying for pleasure will mean one of two things; self-fly hire or own your own aircraft. Since there are fewer helicopter pilots and fewer helicopters, shares, groups and syndicates are less common.
If you self-fly hire, you have the inconvenience of having to book your flying and then finding out the weather is bad, aircraft u/s etc and you can only take it away for a couple of hours at the most as the school will no doubt want to use it. Therefore, longer trips will become more difficult. Lack of suitable available aircraft for self-fly hire has been cited as one of the reasons why so many PPL holders don't maintain their licence.
Or, you could buy your own machine with all the added joys of responsible ownership; maintenance schedules, hangarage, insurance etc. Sounds good? You won't just be able to keep it on your land without planning permission (unless you plan to only fly it a couple of times a month), you won't have a friendly instructor on hand to ask advice, to give you pointers and refreshers etc.
I suspect (although 83% of statistics are made up on the spot - just as this one is!) that the private PPL-holding owner is in the highest risk group in the accident stats. If your family were having the heeby-jeebys before, they certainly will now!!!
Cheers
Whirls
To answer your question, it was my original intention to simply keep up with a PPL, self-fly hire when I could and fly for pleasure. However, things change! Commercial exams all passed and CPL flying course booked for the summer!!
Flying for pleasure will mean one of two things; self-fly hire or own your own aircraft. Since there are fewer helicopter pilots and fewer helicopters, shares, groups and syndicates are less common.
If you self-fly hire, you have the inconvenience of having to book your flying and then finding out the weather is bad, aircraft u/s etc and you can only take it away for a couple of hours at the most as the school will no doubt want to use it. Therefore, longer trips will become more difficult. Lack of suitable available aircraft for self-fly hire has been cited as one of the reasons why so many PPL holders don't maintain their licence.
Or, you could buy your own machine with all the added joys of responsible ownership; maintenance schedules, hangarage, insurance etc. Sounds good? You won't just be able to keep it on your land without planning permission (unless you plan to only fly it a couple of times a month), you won't have a friendly instructor on hand to ask advice, to give you pointers and refreshers etc.
I suspect (although 83% of statistics are made up on the spot - just as this one is!) that the private PPL-holding owner is in the highest risk group in the accident stats. If your family were having the heeby-jeebys before, they certainly will now!!!
Cheers
Whirls
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Whirls,
Posts: 3,611 - and CPL isn't even until the summer!!!! Surley that deserves some sort of award!
(unless your like that hacker that joined the forum one day with 350,000 posts!!!)
MADY
Posts: 3,611 - and CPL isn't even until the summer!!!! Surley that deserves some sort of award!
(unless your like that hacker that joined the forum one day with 350,000 posts!!!)
MADY
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Eh? I joined this site with just a trial lesson behind me and, as I said, the intention of remaining a PPL. Why should the number of posts have anything to do with my flying progression - the two are not related.
Cheers
Whirls
Cheers
Whirls
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dont get me wrong - I was just impressed with your devotion to the forum.
"A haven for professional helicopter pilots"...... Many people use this board because its a career.
MADY
"A haven for professional helicopter pilots"...... Many people use this board because its a career.
MADY
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Garfs,
I've been doing flight instruction for a little over a year now and I would have to say its like any other job - some days tedious and boring
; and other days I can't believe somebody actually pays me to do this! All I know is it sure as hell beats working in an office.
Mike
I've been doing flight instruction for a little over a year now and I would have to say its like any other job - some days tedious and boring
; and other days I can't believe somebody actually pays me to do this! All I know is it sure as hell beats working in an office.Mike
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To quote some of the younger people I know - "Well, duh!!" I would prefer, by far, to be rich enough to be able to afford to fly my own helicopter for fun. Getting up at 4AM every day, preflighting among millions of starving mosquitoes, and spending the day sweating while flying fat Cajuns back and forth isn't really that much fun. I would be doing something else if my rich uncle, Sam, had given me better skills while i was reluctantly in his employment. It's better than many jobs i can think of, but it's not better than being rich and idle. They say money can't buy happiness. I suppose that may be true, but I know from personal experience that poverty can't. Flying for pleasure, when and where you want, is a far cry from doing it as a job, at the pleasure of your boss who wants to become rich, if he isn't already.
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Well if you fly private you also got to take into account that you will never do any of the more challenging and fun missions, like Police, Medevac, Movies, TV, or fly regularly in some of the amazing helicopters like the A109E or AW139.
I wouldn't do it all over again. If I had the money, i'd SFH whenever I wanted to and leave the costs to someone else, ie insurance, hangarage, servicing, maintenance, purchase costs, etc etc.
As for earning a living doing it? It'll take a few years yet before i'd actually be 'earning' a living. £110k is a lot to pay off. Just make sure you do it all for the right reasons.
As for earning a living doing it? It'll take a few years yet before i'd actually be 'earning' a living. £110k is a lot to pay off. Just make sure you do it all for the right reasons.
I wouldn't go as far as to say that but at the end of a day, it is just a job, which many people would love, but it has it's downsides and yes, things like flying offshore will never pay enough when you compare the risks to say flying an airliner. eg First officers in one UK airline get very nearly what some captains get offshore.
It's all horses for courses. I wouldn't fancy doing the pre-flight amongst mosquitos tho. You can keep that part of it. I think many people think ooh, flying out in the GOM, great. When you hear the small things like the post above, I think it makes you think more.
It's all horses for courses. I wouldn't fancy doing the pre-flight amongst mosquitos tho. You can keep that part of it. I think many people think ooh, flying out in the GOM, great. When you hear the small things like the post above, I think it makes you think more.
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The best way is to fly someone else's private helicopter then get them to pay you for it.
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I instruct part time, and if I had lots of dosh, I'd still do that. But instead of doing other work and struggling to pay the bills, I'd leap in my new R44 Raven II to fly to the airfield a couple of days a week.
I love instructing - it's a great combination of flying and people skills, which suits me fine....part time. Fulltime it was becoming just another badly paid job...which was a shame.
I also learned a tremendous amount doing the CPL and FI courses, and instructing since then. I wouldn't like to have missed that.
So if I had the money I'd do exactly what I'm doing now, but fly everywhere as well, using the helicopter which would be waiting on the helipad outside my front door.
I love instructing - it's a great combination of flying and people skills, which suits me fine....part time. Fulltime it was becoming just another badly paid job...which was a shame.
I also learned a tremendous amount doing the CPL and FI courses, and instructing since then. I wouldn't like to have missed that.
So if I had the money I'd do exactly what I'm doing now, but fly everywhere as well, using the helicopter which would be waiting on the helipad outside my front door.
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I think in my position it wouldnt matter if my job flying didnt pay lots of money, as I will have the business to fall back on (but I know if the business takes a downturn then I am f*cked), and it would be more for my own interest in flying.
If I only have the PPL tho as someone else pointed out I will never get to do the more exciting work such as EMS, filming, and so on (but thats assuming I can get a job in the first palce)
If I only have the PPL tho as someone else pointed out I will never get to do the more exciting work such as EMS, filming, and so on (but thats assuming I can get a job in the first palce)
Last edited by Garfs; 22nd Apr 2008 at 13:13.
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I don't agree that flying someone else's private helicopter is a good choice. He will wake up one morning and the market has taken a downturn, and sell the helicopter with no notice, leaving you unemployed. If you plan to fly for a living, fly for a company whose core business is flying, not for one (or an individual) which flies as a sideline. I've seen it happen many times.
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I would never change it. Like Blendderpilot said, flying privately is so restrictive in what you can do and what you can fly. There is only so much of flying round the place with your friends that you could take, it would become tedious and boring after a while.
Flying as a profession allows you to fly all sorts of aircraft, doing all sorts of missions, in all sorts of places, what a pleasure. I love coming to work, its fun, exciting, I get to fly awesome machines doing great and challenging work and I get paid for it. What more can you want?
Flying as a profession allows you to fly all sorts of aircraft, doing all sorts of missions, in all sorts of places, what a pleasure. I love coming to work, its fun, exciting, I get to fly awesome machines doing great and challenging work and I get paid for it. What more can you want?
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Many Moons ago, I was sort of where Garfs seems to be.
Did my PPL(H) - a complete revelation (Way pre-JAR-FCL)
It rapidly became clear that to get to any decent standard as a hele pilot you needed to do MORE flying than a normal PPL does. You also need to do flying or operate to a higher standard than just taking friends/relatives for an expensive orange juice and lemonade. I was encouraged to go the PPL instructor route by the guy who was my flying mentor. It was exactly the right thing for me - taught me a hell of a lot.
Lots of hoop jumping later I am doing one of those dream jobs and no regrets. I still try and keep the "other" business going, but I have no interest and it is just an insurance policy......
No significant pension and a lot less money, but no tormented "what-ifs?" as I settle onto my porch and reflect on my life.
Life - full of choices, if you are lucky.
Did my PPL(H) - a complete revelation (Way pre-JAR-FCL)
It rapidly became clear that to get to any decent standard as a hele pilot you needed to do MORE flying than a normal PPL does. You also need to do flying or operate to a higher standard than just taking friends/relatives for an expensive orange juice and lemonade. I was encouraged to go the PPL instructor route by the guy who was my flying mentor. It was exactly the right thing for me - taught me a hell of a lot.
Lots of hoop jumping later I am doing one of those dream jobs and no regrets. I still try and keep the "other" business going, but I have no interest and it is just an insurance policy......
No significant pension and a lot less money, but no tormented "what-ifs?" as I settle onto my porch and reflect on my life.
Life - full of choices, if you are lucky.