What can I do with a helicopter?
Avoid imitations
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Going to London - fly to Battersea, overnighting somewhere, land at the hotel.
These landing fee's can be a drag, but they are also what permit you to get additional value out of the experience.
These landing fee's can be a drag, but they are also what permit you to get additional value out of the experience.
JimBall has it right - an eye-watering £550 landing fee and £300 per hour parking.
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ShyT, I was mainly referring to my experiences with NYC Heliports ($275 during peak times), not quite Battersea rates but still a lot less for a town car to the airport!
My point was not to commute into Battersea every day, I just meant as part of the experience, and yes, paying GBP550 for landing fee's will be some experience! - Probably a bad one, but one you would remember none the less!
Closest I got to Battersea was the London Heli routes, though did have a friend who worked there once upon a twice who invited me to visit.
My point was not to commute into Battersea every day, I just meant as part of the experience, and yes, paying GBP550 for landing fee's will be some experience! - Probably a bad one, but one you would remember none the less!
Closest I got to Battersea was the London Heli routes, though did have a friend who worked there once upon a twice who invited me to visit.
Last edited by birrddog; 8th Apr 2009 at 20:54. Reason: towncars are cheaper than landing fees
Avoid imitations
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I'm a regular user but thankfully someone else pays; even so I'll always remember it as a rip-off! 
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'What can you do with a Helicopter?'
Tim, I'm not qualified to respond regarding long trips, land aways or any aspect of Heli flying with regard to experience or ability.
But with 68 hours R22, 1 hour R44 and a PPL(H) I'm only a breath away from where you are now.
I think the thing about Heli flying that will hit you in the mouth is the wonderful, delicious, slow integration of all of your limbs and muscles into the machine itself.
Before 40 hours I was just a puppet with the instructors voice in my head pulling the strings.
I found that around the 40 to 50 hour mark, your body realises it has to be part of the machine. At that point I understood what Mike Smith meant when he told me that the pilot was the stabilising input.
I have hundreds of hours on Hang Gliders and (as with most fixed wings I guess) you can go hands off for yonks. They hardly need a pilot, I've seen them blown of hills pilotless and land themselves after a 360 in a raging gale.
No such luxury in a 22, one seems to be making a host of millimetric control pressures every second and having to 'A.N.C' simultaneously. And that moment when you have all controls and you manage to hover? It is totally priceless.
I can't fly anymore, hopefully temporarily, but I don't regret one penny of the 8,000 my PPL(H) cost. I knew then I would never be able to regularly fly Heli's but I wanted the experience of just doing it. That money didn't just get me a licence, it bought me an education and I found out a lot about myself I didn't know (good and bad).
I don't know for sure but I think learning to fly a Hang Glider might be on a par with learning a Cessna and for me the fixed wing memories really do pale into insignificance with my rotary memories.
You sound like a chap who likes to test himself - well there is no better and more enjoyable test then learning rotary.
It sorts the men from the boys in as much as you can for a brief time become that boy again.
Regards
Cron.
Tim, I'm not qualified to respond regarding long trips, land aways or any aspect of Heli flying with regard to experience or ability.
But with 68 hours R22, 1 hour R44 and a PPL(H) I'm only a breath away from where you are now.
I think the thing about Heli flying that will hit you in the mouth is the wonderful, delicious, slow integration of all of your limbs and muscles into the machine itself.
Before 40 hours I was just a puppet with the instructors voice in my head pulling the strings.
I found that around the 40 to 50 hour mark, your body realises it has to be part of the machine. At that point I understood what Mike Smith meant when he told me that the pilot was the stabilising input.
I have hundreds of hours on Hang Gliders and (as with most fixed wings I guess) you can go hands off for yonks. They hardly need a pilot, I've seen them blown of hills pilotless and land themselves after a 360 in a raging gale.
No such luxury in a 22, one seems to be making a host of millimetric control pressures every second and having to 'A.N.C' simultaneously. And that moment when you have all controls and you manage to hover? It is totally priceless.
I can't fly anymore, hopefully temporarily, but I don't regret one penny of the 8,000 my PPL(H) cost. I knew then I would never be able to regularly fly Heli's but I wanted the experience of just doing it. That money didn't just get me a licence, it bought me an education and I found out a lot about myself I didn't know (good and bad).
I don't know for sure but I think learning to fly a Hang Glider might be on a par with learning a Cessna and for me the fixed wing memories really do pale into insignificance with my rotary memories.
You sound like a chap who likes to test himself - well there is no better and more enjoyable test then learning rotary.
It sorts the men from the boys in as much as you can for a brief time become that boy again.
Regards
Cron.
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As your previous fixed wing instructors may have said to you when they checked you out on a new machine, "this is a licence to learn".
With 17,000 hours of airline flying I picked up helicopters late in life. It is a young mans sport, so if you are near 50 expect to double every hours requirement in the book. Also you will find that capable 21 year old instructors will tell you that you are ready to go solo. Politely decline, and go solo when you know with your fixed wing experience that you feel ready.
The R44 is an excellent training machine if you can afford it. Frank Robinson agrees with enthusiasm.
What to do with the licence? Just keep learning. The self development that you feel as you master certain aspects of the machine will keep you in a positive personal development stage for years. Try doing all the endorsement add ons that you can find. Go to Torrance and do the safety course. (It is done locally in your country but the pilgrimage to TOA will stay with you, and you meet interesting people.)
Australia will give you low flying, America (and many other interesting countries like South Africa or New Zealand) will give you mountain endorsements. Do a night rating. Learn to make an ADF approach in an R22 with a fixed card relative bearing indicator. Plan a 3 day cross country to Scotland.
On this forum years ago a wise man said, "try to fly as many different machines as you can." That has been very good advice, I get both sound experience and immense personal satisfaction for every extra type rating on my licence.
Go for it. This life is not a rehearsal.
With 17,000 hours of airline flying I picked up helicopters late in life. It is a young mans sport, so if you are near 50 expect to double every hours requirement in the book. Also you will find that capable 21 year old instructors will tell you that you are ready to go solo. Politely decline, and go solo when you know with your fixed wing experience that you feel ready.
The R44 is an excellent training machine if you can afford it. Frank Robinson agrees with enthusiasm.
What to do with the licence? Just keep learning. The self development that you feel as you master certain aspects of the machine will keep you in a positive personal development stage for years. Try doing all the endorsement add ons that you can find. Go to Torrance and do the safety course. (It is done locally in your country but the pilgrimage to TOA will stay with you, and you meet interesting people.)
Australia will give you low flying, America (and many other interesting countries like South Africa or New Zealand) will give you mountain endorsements. Do a night rating. Learn to make an ADF approach in an R22 with a fixed card relative bearing indicator. Plan a 3 day cross country to Scotland.
On this forum years ago a wise man said, "try to fly as many different machines as you can." That has been very good advice, I get both sound experience and immense personal satisfaction for every extra type rating on my licence.
Go for it. This life is not a rehearsal.
