Go Back  PPRuNe Forums > Aircrew Forums > Rotorheads
Reload this Page >

Professional advice

Wikiposts
Search
Rotorheads A haven for helicopter professionals to discuss the things that affect them

Professional advice

Thread Tools
 
Search this Thread
 
Old 20th Dec 2023, 04:06
  #41 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Australia
Posts: 120
Received 34 Likes on 20 Posts
Pticka

I’ll be blunt but please don’t take offence as that’s not the intent.
I think there is something inherently arrogant about your plan, and your perceived ability to solve the many real problems that have been raised. However I will also say I find Elon Musk is extremely arrogant so recognise that is needed for some projects. It’s a good idea to recognise your attitude going in. Maybe you areas capable as him!

Honestly having come from the industry you have clearly been successful in, would it be reasonable for someone with zero experience to enter and with a years experience successfully set up a multi million dollar business and succeed???

I have no direct experience so take it with a grain of salt but I hear with Japanese all foreign people are considered Gajin which translates to foreigner. While the Japanese are very polite and like interacting with foreigners they are outsiders. In fact my understanding is within Japanese culture they are very closed off to even there own people and have extremely tight inner circles. Real friendship doesn’t come easy and politeness does not equate to niceness. You may find been seen as a foreigner in a closed culture makes some of those hurdles hard to overcome some here have implied impossible.

Your proposed undertaking has a massive amount of risk. I would advise you work for an existing company and keep your money in much less risky ventures or as has been suggested buy into an existing business at least until you have enough experience to know what you are getting into.

If you have heard of the Dunning Kruger effect, I’d say you estimate your knowledge to be say 5-10% when it is likely 0.001%
heli sking is advanced work that takes experience that can only be achieved in the aircraft.
Setting up a business in Japan you have been warned by people in the know.
Even with 500hrs which in industry is a fledgling pilot those will be artificial. You just can’t simulate hours in the aircraft doing the real job. You won’t have 500hours experience as compared to a working pilot.

I’d strongly advise getting a regular job in industry before risking your money. Even if you buy in and then can get mentored and fast tracked in an existing outfit.

If you are crazy enough to continue who is it for anyone else to dump on your dreams. While you have been warned if you do continue I genuinely wish you good luck and hope you are back on this forum in 5 years to tell everyone they are wrong and you have a successful business.

I’d take a good look at early model AS350’s. you can always get something newer and shiner if things go well.



Last edited by SLFMS; 20th Dec 2023 at 05:03.
SLFMS is offline  
The following users liked this post:
Old 20th Dec 2023, 06:28
  #42 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Europe
Posts: 434
Received 22 Likes on 13 Posts
I will take a slower approach by training in Japan, learning the language, and forging industry connections over a couple of years before purchasing a machine.
That is a very sensible approach to the problem.
One more thing. Don't think that there are many fresh opportunities in the helicopter world. Every niche has been exploited or somebody is waiting that another operator is going out of business and taking its place. You can be absolutely sure, that the company already operating in Hokkaido, has tried everything to get every possible permission. As far as I know, they have very few landing spots, some say just one. That is all they got after many years of operating there.
The times where helicopters were new and everybody tried to find new business opportunities are over. We now know, what works and what not. The regulations are tight and that is because they have been written after we found out the hard way, what does not work. If you have your sight set on heliskiing, stay in Canada. If you go to Japan, because you want to have a life there, open your mind to other possibilities, than heliskiing, which for a pilot is rather boring and for many companies just the job for the winter. The opportunity you believe to see, to fulfil your dream, has probably already been recognised by somebody from the industry and they found out it isn't worth the hassle.
Rotorbee is offline  
Old 20th Dec 2023, 08:29
  #43 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: White Waltham, Prestwick & Calgary
Age: 72
Posts: 4,154
Likes: 0
Received 29 Likes on 14 Posts
"heliskiing, which for a pilot is rather boring"

The customers aren't so nice either....
paco is offline  
Old 20th Dec 2023, 12:36
  #44 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Nov 1999
Location: UK
Posts: 2,495
Received 105 Likes on 63 Posts
The OP's posts appear to have gone through some sort of translation process into English, because their written style and the words used are unusual.

I hope they are not assuming that they can interact with Japanese speakers and Japanese companies in the same way*

I would suggest that believing that you will be able to learn to fly helicopters to a professional standard, AND do so in a very challenging area - both geographically and meteorologically, AND start a business, AND do so in a distant country, AND in a very different language to your own*, are far too many factors.

Any one of these factors is difficult individually, but added together, I would caution that success seems extremely unlikely, and might very well lead to a substantial loss of money.

You really shouldn't jump into any of this until, at the very least, you have passed the appropriate aircrew medical and learned to fly turbine helicopters with a suitable commercial rating, OR have got your business up and running by employing proper, experienced commercial pilots.

Being able to operate complex machinery; (a hydraulic platform maybe, or a crane perhaps?), is no guarantee of success - nor even an indication of an ability - to fly an aircraft. There are many, many more factors to flying than merely operating the machine. There is no overall emergency stop button on an aircraft ! - you have to be able and competent to fly out of any airborne failure or emergency

*(unless the OP is actually Japanese? Maybe Canadian born Japanese?).


Last edited by Uplinker; 21st Dec 2023 at 06:01. Reason: Edited to remove random double line spacing inserted by the forum software.
Uplinker is offline  
Old 20th Dec 2023, 17:45
  #45 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Feb 2002
Location: EU
Posts: 196
Received 58 Likes on 33 Posts
I think you are all being way too polite?

The whole story is preposterious! It has to be a wind up. How can you all be taken in by such a made up fantasy by someone without even a single hour of flying experience?

I can't stop laughing!
happyjack is offline  
The following users liked this post:
Old 20th Dec 2023, 18:51
  #46 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: SE of there
Age: 43
Posts: 261
Received 51 Likes on 35 Posts
Keep laughing.
While this might be wind up, it is also possible that OP is genuinely interested in starting heliski company and doesn't know any better.
You never received help learning something new?
admikar is offline  
Old 21st Dec 2023, 05:33
  #47 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Dec 2014
Location: Africa
Posts: 535
Received 9 Likes on 6 Posts
Originally Posted by happyjack
I think you are all being way too polite?

The whole story is preposterious! It has to be a wind up. How can you all be taken in by such a made up fantasy by someone without even a single hour of flying experience?

I can't stop laughing!
Maybe it’s an AI program believing it is natural, trying to create prompts for those Humans that it thinks are (limited intelligence) AI Bots, compelling them to come up with a good answer .
Hot and Hi is offline  
Old 21st Dec 2023, 05:58
  #48 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Nov 1999
Location: UK
Posts: 2,495
Received 105 Likes on 63 Posts
There is certainly a strong smell of ChatGPT about it..........

Or a teenager dreaming maybe.
Uplinker is offline  
Old 21st Dec 2023, 06:24
  #49 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: UK
Posts: 2,960
Received 24 Likes on 14 Posts
Originally Posted by Bravo73
The more that I read the OP’s posts, the more that I start to feel that ChatGPT might be helping ‘him’ draft them.

If not, well, there have got to be more fun ways of trying to burn through $15m than this one…

Keep up at the back. 😉
Bravo73 is offline  
Old 21st Dec 2023, 08:09
  #50 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: South East Asia
Age: 54
Posts: 321
Received 32 Likes on 21 Posts
Originally Posted by Hot and Hi
Maybe it’s an AI program believing it is natural, trying to create prompts for those Humans that it thinks are (limited intelligence) AI Bots, compelling them to come up with a good answer .
So AI is picking our brain, trying to compile the knowledge and wisdom of the best helicopter experts in the world, right here on PPRune.
Is it time to start feeding fake information? and give it a bunch of "likes" to goof AI up.

Last edited by Agile; 21st Dec 2023 at 08:27. Reason: spelling
Agile is offline  
The following users liked this post:
Old 21st Dec 2023, 22:33
  #51 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Sep 2015
Location: Aberystwyth
Age: 47
Posts: 1
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts

How to make a small fortune in helicopter aviation.... start with a large fortune!


Someone had to say it!

By the way I'm sure you emailed me the other day about an inheritance!
heliwales is offline  
Old 22nd Dec 2023, 01:56
  #52 (permalink)  
Thread Starter
 
Join Date: Jul 2019
Location: Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Posts: 10
Likes: 0
Received 4 Likes on 2 Posts
Insulting the manner in which I express my thoughts seems odd at best. However, in order to make the information communicated by me more intelligible to you, I will use shorter words, bullet points, and visuals in any further posts that I make.

Again, thank you to all those posters who made a meaningful contribution to the thread. I will re-read your posts as I'm moving forward.

I do agree that there are a number of obstacles to overcome. Ad augusta, per angusta! As I've indicated in one of my earlier replies, I plan a thorough recognizance mission to evaluate the feasibility of all the aspects of my plan. I think that an underdeveloped market in a highly developed country presents many opportunities. The reasons for its underdevelopment are what I intend to assess as a part of my business idea validation.
Ptichka is offline  
Old 22nd Dec 2023, 07:28
  #53 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Dec 2014
Location: Africa
Posts: 535
Received 9 Likes on 6 Posts
Mine was not meant to insult or ridicule you. It was more directed at those who wondered whether your OP was serious, genuine, competent, informed, arrogant, or simply trolling. It seems that many of us 'old hands' at PPRUNE are only too happy to comment on any topic as long as it is related to rotorcraft. My point was that it could even be a Bot that gives us prompts, we would still welcome the opportunity to express our views or share our war stories.

I could point to many OPs that on face value seem entirely naive, yet we answer. Mostly with a lot of patience, and often the ensuing discussions take turns and allow senior members to debate nuances of answers provided that the OP certainly had no idea existed. So it becomes a learning opportunity for all of us.
Hot and Hi is offline  
Old 22nd Dec 2023, 08:25
  #54 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Oct 1999
Location: Den Haag
Age: 57
Posts: 6,259
Received 333 Likes on 185 Posts
recognizance
You have used this word at least twice - it is actually a kind of bail. A legal term. I think you mean ‘reconnaissance’.
212man is offline  
Old 22nd Dec 2023, 12:26
  #55 (permalink)  
Thread Starter
 
Join Date: Jul 2019
Location: Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Posts: 10
Likes: 0
Received 4 Likes on 2 Posts
Originally Posted by 212man
You have used this word at least twice - it is actually a kind of bail. A legal term. I think you mean ‘reconnaissance’.
Thank you for the contribution! That mistake did elude me. Oh well, English is my third language and I am a perpetual student of it. Perhaps this is why the study of an additional foreign language does not seem intimidating to me.
Ptichka is offline  
The following 3 users liked this post by Ptichka:
Old 22nd Dec 2023, 14:16
  #56 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: London/Atlanta
Posts: 446
Received 13 Likes on 10 Posts
This gets better the OP speaks 3 languages and has $15m to throw down the drain I can smell the BS from here.

Didn’t the OP ask for the thread to be closed a while back?
nomorehelosforme is online now  
Old 22nd Dec 2023, 17:29
  #57 (permalink)  
Guest
 
Join Date: Dec 2004
Posts: 1,264
Received 180 Likes on 106 Posts
Originally Posted by nomorehelosforme
This gets better the OP speaks 3 languages and has $15m to throw down the drain I can smell the BS from here.

Didn’t the OP ask for the thread to be closed a while back?
To be fair, 3 languages in the non-english speaking world is pretty common..it's just us English speakers who reckon it's weird!

​​​
PPRuNeUser0211 is offline  
The following users liked this post:
Old 2nd Jan 2024, 16:24
  #58 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Mar 2018
Location: Central UK
Posts: 1,633
Received 135 Likes on 64 Posts
Originally Posted by Ptichka
I want to purchase an IFR-rated Bell 407 GXI for the operation. I have spent countless hours comparing it to the venerable Squirrel and Koala, and it seems that it is the best fit for my target market, being able to take six passengers and a large utility basket. Would you agree with my choice? Do you have any other type suggestions? My budget is $4.5 USD.
Try one of these, but you'll need to double your budget just for the purchase and do without any training at all...
Best of luck, Walter!
Amazon Amazon
meleagertoo is offline  
Old 4th Jan 2024, 14:39
  #59 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Avon, CT, USA
Age: 68
Posts: 470
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
If Internet Postings were Available in the 1980's

Steve Jobs and Bill Gates would be shift managers running a McDonalds.

ATPMBA is offline  

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off



Contact Us - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Terms of Service

Copyright © 2024 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Use of this site indicates your consent to the Terms of Use.