Hello Banjo (& All)

I came on to pretty much ask the same question and this forum has been pricless.

Banjo I'm in a similar sort of place as you, I've saved and saved, had 2nd jobs etc to do this. I have finally booked a PPL(H) course and CPL(H) course with HAI, www.heli.com. and I'm crapping myself! But it is only money, I know I have to try because I have already spent three years picking up drunken gits in cabs and working 18 hour days and hell if that's all been for nothing! If nothing else I'm going to have a great year of flying helicopters and living that dream and at the end I've lost nothing. If I don't do it I will regret it for the rest of my life, oh and own a flashy car for while...big deal! My brother is a FW pilot and I've seen him struggle, but now he's laughing, he said to me "You can't not do it because you're scared of failing" and that ticks me over on times like now when I look at the price of those courses.

So go for it mate and enjoy that year if nothing else!

Thanks to everyone who replied to Banjo's thread, there are many encouraging and forthright views, and thanks banjo for being another me!!!

Good Luck:ok:

Hi Banjo George,

Good on you for giving it a go.........I did the same and got my CPL after I was forty. Now doing my instructors (in a few weeks) and have to job when I've got the piece of plastic. Life is too short not to give what you want a go. I'd always wanted to fly since about 12.......but being a female (you know marriage, kids etc) stopped me until the kids were old enough to take care of themselves.
I would encourage you to come to NZ to do hour building. You'd get more bang for the pound. (Doesn't sound as good as bang for buck).
Then go back to England to finish off your CPL and exams. I know an English guy that trained with us that did that. PM me if you want his addy for info.

Best of luck..........

Cheers Helinun ;) :p

One of These Days

The only thing that'll change will be the price of your cab, then.

Guys,

Once again, I'm somewhat overwhelmed by all the advice, encouragement and good wishes - thanks to everyone.

I'm definitely going to have a crack at it and the doubts I had at the beginning of this thread have been all but eradicated. I've always known it would be a tough change of direction, but as so many have pointed out, you work hard at it and the benefits will accrue eventually (albeit probably NOT financial). Toss in a splash of luck too.

Next step is the class 1 medical on Friday - that is make or break for me - flying simply for pleasure would be great, but I want it as a career rather than a pastime.

Letcha all know when me bits are prodded and tested. Don't suppose all the Docs at CAA are gorgeous young ladies willing to marry and support a trainee pilot ??????????

Thought not ...........................

Anyone know how soon after the class 1 you find if you've passed or not ? I've read through the medical thread and that's the one thing not covered. Cheers,

I can not remember much of my initial exam, but I think it is rather instant.
All the renewals are definitely instant.
After all they do all the testing there and then.
Good luck and do not fret.

regards Brilliant Stuff

Banjo,

I just spent a week where I did mostly non flying work, doing my bit for an IT product launch and preparing a bunch of helicopter technical exams for students. Five days without flying - the l longest for years without a hover - can't bear it. Flew this morning and it's just like the first time all over again. Magic carpet time !

'To fly is heavenly; but to hover is divine.'

You don't really work (except if you go into the grey soup often) once you start flying helicopters. Somebody just pays you to do what you would do anyway. Ask yourself what you would do if you won the lottery (lotto - whatever). Most of us would just carry on with what we do already, except maybe get a couple of new ratings and drive to work in a nicer car. Makes you think...

Oh, and discobeast, I didn't think of Linda buying her own helicopter. It was someone else but there you go anyway. There's another person who did it.

goaround7 wrote:Makes me think you're a complete ****, is what it does.

This was a troll, right? I mean, you're not serious; you can't be. We don't really work? Somebody just pays you to do what you would do anyway??? Not me, mate. If I won the lottery, I would quit flying helicopters IMMEDIATELY, if not sooner. I might never fly (or even fly in) one ever again. (I guess that means that I don't love helicopters enough for you and should therefore leave this industry at once, eh?)

But thanks for perpetuating this situation in which helicopter pilots are not fairly remunerated for what we do. Your co-workers, many of whom have not even entered this industry yet, appreciate you devaluing their careers for them and turning our profession into nothing but a mere hobby. ******.

(Please tell me that goaround7's post was just a troll and that I am, typically, missing the "joke.")

Probably just means you've been flying for too long!

Still, a PPF1 reality check never did any of us any harm.

Apart from the usual "**** and ******" name-calling, which I would never condone on a thread like this, I have to say for once I agree to some extent with PF#1.

In UK the price of a heli pilot's services has to some extent been artificially held down. Historically people have worked for less than they perhaps ought to be paid, especially in light of the training costs of a self-improver. This is in part due to the fact that military folk some years ago were appearing on the market in droves and were desperate for a job outside. Unlike a fixed-wing pilot, they were employable without an IR. Some of them also had pensions. Figure it out for yourselves.

I speak as a dual qualified (fixed and rotary wing) ex-military pilot. I chose the rotary route. Had I not, I would perhaps be retiring a few years (10?) earlier. :\

P.S. PF#1, Wanna go halves in a lottery syndicate? :E

Fair enough PPF#!, I see your point - as always, very eloquently put!

However, how about I train you to be a Chartered Accountant; it's very easy and money is very good and then, when you've qualified, I can have your job?

When you are too bitter to enjoy your job, then that is the time to get out, just as there are Project Managers and ACAs on this site wanting to retrain in a different career because THEY realise it is time to get out.

PPF#1, there are other things you can do, if you really want to.

Cheers

Whirlygig

'There may be trouble ahead, but while there's moonlight etc ...............................'

Oh yes, one more thing - Schweizer or Robinsons - I know they cost different to learn in I'm tempted by the Schweizer 'cos it's dual stick (I'm told), though more expensive per hr.

Anybody got any views or advice ? Thanks a lot.

BG

PPf#1 Sounds like you are getting hyped up over another persons perspective. I enjoy flying, and am doing the commercials so I can get paid to do something I enjoy, more concerned with enjoying work than living a life of misery, even if it will be a long slog. If some people do for the enjoyment, they may not consider it as working as they would possibly do it as a hobby otherwise if they could afford to, I know I would - but then I guess I am young and foolish.
Most of the guys and gals in the industry started because it is something that they always wanted to do and enjoy it, not because they thought that they would get rich from it.

In terms of the robbos and schwiezers, can't comment on the schwizers, but the robbos have the teetering cyclic, so dual is no isue, but it is an expensive career change, so costs you should take into deep consideration.

I only know about the R22 which I can highly recommend, especially after having been to the factory safetycourse.
I was told if you were to own an R22 it would cost you something like £100 an hour to run it and if you manage to hire it to your training organisation it earns its keep.

Regards to making a mint in this rotary business I believe the young ones are flying Helicopters because they love flying and quality of life.
Now how can one put a price on quality of life?

Also do not forget you already bought all your toys, you already own your house and I imagine you own a car so all you need to earn is money for food and the mortgage.

And somebody is paying to fly helicopters which can be worth millions, with views which are priceless.

regards Brilliant Stuff

Robbo v Schweizer
 

Banjo,

The advice I received (which I took) from a number of reputable pilots, was that if I had any thoughts about taking my PPL further to CPL, then learn on a Schweizer. It has a "proper" cyclic (please, Robbo flyers - don't have a pop at me for that!!) and is robust aircraft that was designed for training whereas a R22 was designed more as cheap, personal transport rather than as a trainer.

There is also a theory (and I don't have any figures to back it up) that an R22 is harder to learn on and could therefore take more hours to pass which could wipe out the hourly savings compared with a Schweizer.

On the other hand, there are more R22s in the country from which to choose. If you want any info on the place where I trained, please PM me.

Cheers

Whirlygig

I have to agree with PPF1. For a professional pilot to make comments like those that prompted PPF1's post, sends shivers down my spine - it stinks of complacency. The moment you stop working when you are flying is the moment you open yourself up to disaster.

I hope that Goaround's post was misinturpretted. It might not seem like work, but being a professional pilot is no walk in the park.

For those of you starting out in a career in helo's, the most important attribute is attitude. Just about anyone can learn to fly a helicopter. Many will have the grit to pass the CPL exams. But it takes a professional attitude to get a job (in the UK at least).

Personally, I feel Goaround was just trying to explain that flying is perhaps more than just a job, but I fully accept that consuumate professionalism is required at all times.

If I cock up a project plan or a financial breakdown, I live to see another day. Not so in a heli potentially.

That's a thing I admire about Cabair - whilst it may be superficial to some, I think having uniforms and keeping the machines clean after usage shows a degree of care and method.

As I am wholly new to all this, I can't speak with any authority on the matter, but that's how it seems.

As a very new CPL and FI(R), I have to agree with that. I'm still at the point where it's all new and exciting and I can't believe I get paid to fly. But walk in the park it is not! When you're a PPL, you fly when you want to, when you feel like it, when the weather is nice - it's only down to what YOU want. The very moment you start getting paid to fly, commercial issues come first. I was doing trial lessons last Saturday, with a nasty wind 14kts gusting about 28 and changing direction all the time. I was told to take up this succession of people for 0.4 hour trials, in an R22 which gets thrown around by the wind, to get back on time, and don't scare them! Not easy (at my level anyway) and doesn't fit into most people's definition of fun flying. I enjoyed it actually; must be a masochist or something. Actually, what I enjoyed was proving that I could do it; the satisfaction of a job well done.

But the point I'm making is that unless it actually got to the point of being dangerous, I couldn't turn round and say that actually I didn't like the weather and didn't feel like doing it. And that's something that no-one pointed out to me when I was a starry-eyed PPL thinking it would be great to get paid to fly.

Hmmmmm, all jobs have crap bits or very crap bits.

There's probably only a handful however where potentially, you're putting your life on the line.

Would it be fair to assume however that if anyone was really really unhappy about going up, then the job would just have to be sacrificed if some bean counter was saying 'go up or else ?'

Yupp, if you are in any way unhappy or get a funny feeling before you get in the maschine stop there and then and return later. If you can talk to somebody who might be able explain your concerns.

If you are in the air and the weather changes and you feel uncomfortable land and wait it out.
If your passengers start to complain just point out to them they are paying you to deliver them safely and alive at their destination and weather is unpredictable.

Just because we see the Job not as work does not mean we are not unprofessional or lax in our attitude. It just means we are looking forward to going to work and do not dread Monday to Friday.

regards Brilliant Stuff