Cheap way to get 155 hours for CPL (H) training/test
 

Hi

Can anyone suggest a cheap way for me to get my hours to 155 so I can
take my CPL (H)? I can't afford to buy a helicopter. Renting one out hour after
hour is going to be expensive. But renting one for 3 months might be possible if
anyone knows somewhere with reasonable pricing? Or is there another way?

Thanks


Thanks.

Helicopters rent by the hour. You're very unlikely to get someone to rent you one for several months, but even if you did you would still be paying per hour. Where did you get your PPL(H)? They might give you a better rate for 10/25/50 hours at a time. Personally I would do it in the States or South Africa.

Get a FAA ppl validation, go and rent a R44 in the states , dirt cheap and burn the hours

Afraid there is no cheap way, yes you can go to America and blast the hours out cheaply but do you have to factor in time off work? Accommodation, flights, time away from family, its not always as simple as just go to america and fly. Plus after you've passed your PPL do you really have much experience of flying in the UK, enough to roll straight onto a CPL when you come back, maybe - I don't know your flying history.

Where did you do your PPL? Personally I wouldn't just stick at one school for hour building, I would use the opportunity to visit various schools and get my name around the industry a bit - After all, you're probably going to be contacting lots of companies POST CPL trying to get your first bit of work ( unless you're going straight to IR and want to try get offshore? ). If they've never heard of you before it will be even more difficult to get your foot in the door.

Or are you going to FI route, still - best to get your name around different schools.

Dont just look at the cheapest way to do things, there is no cheap way in aviation unfortunately.

If I had to do my hour building again I would do 20 odd hours at a few different schools. Most will offer a discount if you buy in blocks of 10. I would also use my time wisely in the air and visit as many airports as I possibly could to increase your experience level even more, Heli Lanes etc too.

Take a look at what landing fee's schools charge, the odd school is very expensive, they will charge more than the actual Airport is charging them, which I understand during your PPL as you don't want to get charged per circuit so its simply just one landing fee per sortie no matter how many circuits you do.

However, post PPL I don't agree with schools still charging a flat fee like they do for Dual. For example - some schools will charge up to £30 per flight but during SFH you'll only likely do 1 circuit ( so should be only one landing fee ) usually around the £11-£15 pound mark. That extra money is a lot over 100 hours of SFH ( Already saved yourself 1500 minimum there )

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Seriously WOW!!! 155 hours? You gotta be kidding me. I did my CPL-H flight test with 84.8 hours total helicopter time. I'm glad I didn't have to punch holes in the sky for an extra 70.2 hours before I could do the flight test.

Nah, in my day I think you had to have 450 hours total helicopter before you could start the FI course.

TBH anyone with a PPL should know how aircraft hire works, I'm guessing the OP is just dreaming.

When I was sitting on a PPL(H) and a Jet Ranger rating they wanted 400 hours P1 before sitting a CPL exam!!!!

I spent years trying to make that work. It never did. I went to planks!

R44,...?!

He said "cheap", not overpriced!

How many hours do you have so far Bertie? Do you have your PPL yet?

Take a risk and buy a helicopter that you train/get the hours on cheaply and then sell it on.
It works out the cheapest way -
I introduced a budding pilot to such a deal and the 206 changed hands later.

CPL (H)
 

Sowait for it.

I've been flying 9 days and have 7 hours, But I am on course to finish my PPL () early January as I am ramping up the hours from next week,

I've taken a lot of knocks recently (divorce finalised, cancer op ,mother committing suicide - all in the one week, a month ago) and so decided to change my life
and do what I've always dreamed of doing. I have the money but I want to qualify fast. And fast usually means you pay a premium which is why I should have been more accurate
and said I'm looking for a not expensive fast way to do this.

I'm 55 and so speed is important!

Thanks for your replies. Keep them coming.

Where are you? If you want to do it fast, get an FAA PPL - you could get everything done in a couple of months. To be honest your biggest problem is going to be the CPL/ATPL exams. They aren't exactly easy! Then you need to consider what you can do with a CPL - You'll be 56 by the time you get the licence and you won't be able to fly commercially past age 60, so your only realistic option is to become a flight instructor. That's going to require at least 250 hours.

Move to Florida, fly for Boatpix.

And don’t forget to get a class 1 medical early doors or the whole lot is a moot point even if you only want a vanity CPL

Has he heard about the age 60 rule ?

I would be surprised if you finish by early / in January with how the weather can be, the availability over Christmas and with all the PPL exams to pass, 7 hours in is too early to tell if you're going to blast through the rest easily and finish close to the 45 hours. I did mine in my early 20's 3 to 4 days per week through summer and it still took me 5 months and I passed with 50 hours. ( the weather wasn't the best that year )

ATPL exams are your next problem, I don't know your background but they definitely aren't easy and are only getting harder, if you passed them in under 6 months it would be impressive by anyones standards.

Class 1 - get that straight away so you know you can get it when you need it, wouldn't want to spend 50 odd K on your PPL, Hour building and ATPL's then find out you can't get one due to a medical issue.

You can still instruct on a Class 2 though, but bare in mind you'll need 200 hours pilot in command and still need to pass the commercial exams ( this will bypass the need for a CPL, but thats around 200 hours of hour building after you've got your PPL )

If you do manage to get all this done by the time you're 56/57 you'll only have 3-4 years left to fly commercially but on such little hours the hopes of getting any work are very slim/next to none. If I'm not mistaken and someone will probably correct me, you can fly up to the age of 65 as a co pilot providing the pilot in command is under 60. This means going multi crew and realistically having to do your IR ,then find a company that will take on a pilot who only has a few years of their career left and can only fly with another pilot present.
Sorry if this all seems a little harsh but just being honest.

If you have your heart set on it then go for it, its never too late, but just be realistic in the fact that you may get quite a way in and realise your only route is to instruct.

Which aircraft are you currently flying and where are you located?

You can move to the US where there are no age limits for FAA Part 91 and 135 commercial work, which I think represents the bulk of US commercial helicopter operations--are there any Part 121 operators? Probably not many...

How does one just move to the US and get a work permit ? Please explain...

Very difficult, Ive looked and couldn't do it. Best way is to get a VISA which allows 1 year training and 1 year of work. However after that its back to the UK and back to square one near enough. Not a great idea unless you can move and work there for many years

One doesn't. You can get married, invest money ($500,000+) or try the green card lottery if eligible. You might be able to get a student visa which allows you to train up to CFI then work as a flight instructor, but it's 2 years max.

You need to really want this: age is against you and it's likely you'll never earn back the cost of training.

Well I live in California where I'm surrounded by foreigners (who live here) everywhere I go, so you guys are moving here ALL THE TIME!,..though mostly from India and Asia.

Speed kills.
If you would be able to finish early January (which you won't with UK winter weather and other factors) then you should really question yourself about the quality of the course and how safe you would be as a pilot.
You will need to study for the theory exams, you can take a shortcut doing a 5 day theory (answer) course to get the exams out of the way but that means another 5 days gone, no flying.
With no shortcut you'll need to study at night for the exams since you'll be flying during the day. That doesn't leave much time to practise navigation planning, revise exercises etc.
Then there is the fact that not many students finish in 45 hours, you might be lucky but I would put my money on 60 hours which is still a good average. Many older students are slower taking in the theory, struggle a bit more getting it all to a good standard. I would aim for end of February/March and that still sounds ambitious...
You might have luck on your side and get it all done early January but ask yourself how much do you really understand and remember about the aircraft, the weather, navigation etc.
Since you want to go for a CPL, make sure you have a good foundation (PPL), it will make your CPL easier and most likely make you a better pilot and keeping the sky safer.
There have been other pilots who threw money into the training school to get the PPL quicker, most of them didn't enjoy the license that long....
But regardless of the above, best of luck with the PPL. Hope you're flying at a place where they give you good training and support and not just fly and take your cash.

No way will you finish in Jan !
The best way to fly is do 3 half days a week ( day on day off ) flying 2 lessons in each session. That makes about 6 to 7 hours a week, any more then the training becomes counter productive ! So with 9 weeks to end of Jan then theoretically yes but with factors such as weather, aircraft availability, instructor etc etc plus the weather for 10 hour solo you are really pushing water uphill. If the school says no problem I would go else where
Well my pony worth

Just to pitch in here, but I managed to finish my PPL(H) in 10 weeks from first trial lesson till skills test. Albeit this was from June - August so the weather was rarely an issue in the south of England (I enjoyed flying when the weather was poor with an instructor as you learn more than always flying in perfect conditions). I did however pretty much do it full time between the theory and flying during my summer break from Uni, so if the flying is gonna be part-time for you I wouldn't hold my breath on finishing in less than three months.

Me too, November to January in fact.

,...though I was in the Arizona desert :-)

Thank you for all your responses. I'm recallibrating my time-horizon as I type.

CPL(H)? Ok. I'll have to look into that more. As I say, I'm new so didn't realise there was an age 60 cut off. Did an Ironman for my 50th. Does that
count towards taking a few years off?

Exams/maps etc. Not too worried. I've got a first class degre in engineering and did and Msc last year and the brain still works.

Not working at the moment - in fact I'm a private detective so work comes along as projects and I've stopped taking on stuff for now - sabatical to get this done - so would fly during the day read/revise like mad during the evening. i'm used to hard work. Ran a company with Debroah Meaden for many years (for those Brits who know her) and that was not plain sailing.

Safe pilot in short time span training - point taken.

Medical - point taken. I'll get that done asap-.

Weather crap - point taken.

I'm learning as I go along and am very happy to be criticised. I respond positively to abuse and learn quicker!

My real aim is to just tell my 19 and 17 year old sons one day next year that I'd like to take them out for a day.. Then drop into Battersea Heliport, pick them up., whip them over London, then off somewhere for lunch.

By the way - does anyone know of anyone that might be looking to sell an R44 come Feb/Mar? Or a syndicate that needs another member? I'm based in London and depending on which woman is going to abuse me of an evening i either turn right or left at Hammersmith Broadway but either way 10 mins from Battersea.

Thanks everyone. I'll oush on for the end of Jan and let you know just how far short (or long should say) of that target.

Cheers.

am flying an r22

Without wishing to sound macabre, it's those family day outs (and weddings) with a newly licensed pilot that tend to find their way onto the 6 o'clock news.

Now that is macabre! Is the inference that all PPL's need 1000+ hrs before they can take friends and family up? Yes, in some rare cases, a new PPL comes to grief, but no more than the other end of the bell curve of experience\accident likelihood.

No inference what-so-ever. I've done flight reviews on 10,000+ hour ATP pilots who I'd never in a million years let fly my kids. But newly minted PPL's and family jollies can be a recipe for a bad day out.

One can but hope in this day and age the flight school would instil a sense of duty of care and flying within ones abilities.

Before you get too excited about landing at Battersea, do note that a quick stop/go there will not leave you much change from £500.

A "hot" turnaround (15min slot land & go) for a R22/R44 is £305+VAT = £366; then add another £100 to bump your helicopter liability insurance cover up (for one day) to their required £15million which your helicopter will most likely not have by default.

On the brighter side, a landing at the Paris heliport (Issy-les-Moulineaux Heliport) will only set you back EUR 28.50 and you can park there all day.

RMK

Not sure you would want to go to Paris at the moment as the heliport is probably on strike !

And don't forget the instructor/safety pilot required for the first trip who must be Battersea current and the tower visit you have to make to be approved for Battersea ops...................

SND

No, surprsingly Battersea don't charge for the initial training/checkout flight landing.

However, the same (checkout) applies to Paris Issy; you must first go in with an instructor and learn the procedure for which you get a certificate. You can't just "rock up" to either location.

I'm not sure of the point of your last post.

You offer no constructive help.

You are non-specific with your criticism.

In fact it left I'm left wondering why you bothered to type anything at all.

I would hope that you would credit me with a little bit more common sense when it comes to safety.

So please do me a favour. Either make yourself clear or shut up.

Thank you.

very helpful. thqnk you.

i think our friend in NZ missed the bit about me being a private detective which brings requires a certain sense of responsibility if the of 55 years I've managed to get to hasn't already given me that