Become a Private/Commercial Helicopter Pilot

Bust_A_Move

Hi All,

I was hoping someone could help me out with some advice. I would really, dearly love to become a licensed helicopter pilot, but I don't have any idea of the cost and time required. I've only ever done one introductory lesson, and it really made me question whether or not I was happy in my current job, or if I was going to have a mid life crisis and take a really sharp career change to become a commercial helicopter pilot.

I have a number of questions related to this.

1) I know it will take a minimum of 45 hours and more like 50 to 60 hours to get my private licence. AFAIK, a commercial licence is more like 120 hours. I assume that if you get your private licence, all those hours count towards getting your commercial licence. Is that correct?

2) How much am I looking at in terms of cost? I'm looking at several thousand as far as I understand, and I don't know how people typically come up with the cash for this. What's an estimate on budget to get my private licence, and how do people normally get this (I.E. Would AIB give me a loan to get my license, and how much would I be looking at loan wise).

3) Is there a place I can go to spend a week working towards this? Like, I was hoping I could maybe take a week of work, go to a center, and work towards getting the license. Even if I wasn't going to get the licence in a week, I could take one holiday and do 1 week, then on my next holiday when I take my next week off do week 2..... etc, if that makes sense.

4) What are my chances of getting a job as a commercial pilot in Ireland? Are there many jobs? Would I have to move to definitely get a job?

5) I've seen advice in the past on making sure I get my medical done first. Is there a place in Cork that I can get this done?

I'm sure I'll have more questions, but I don't know what else I'll need to know right now. Any advice is really appreciated. I tried googling a lot, but the only real thread (Apart from various companies offering lessons) was an old boards.ie thread that I can't link to because my account is too new to post links, but it was opened in 2008 and last updated in 2011, so I'd really appreciate any new/updated information on it.

pepe the prawn

I'll just throw in what I know, I'm sure others will be able to add to it.

1) Yes, the hours you build getting your PPL will count towards the requirements you will need to meet in order to begin your commercial training, but they will not have anything to do with the actual CPL course itself. Bear in mind the CPL course is a seperate course to the PPL, so while your hours will count towards solo hours for example, you will still need to do the CPL training which is a seperate course altogether. Step one is get your PPL, then do your hour building towards meeting the CPL entry requirements, sit the ATPL (H) exams, and once you have enough hours and your ATPL exams passed, you can begin your commercial training.

2) Financing it is tricky, whether or not AIB will lend you money depends on your own unique financial circumstances, but I wouldn't hold my breath unless you have lots of savings or a property that you can offer as security. Hard work and saving like a maniac is how I'm putting myself through training. (Fixed wing)

3) as for time, the training will take quite a while due to weather, your ability etc. A week won't get a whole pile covered to be honest, it will be progress yes, but you won't be finishing after a week with either a PPL or a CPL.

4) Jobs, I don't know what the heli job market is like, but there are quite a few helis starting to appear around the country again in recent times, and they all need someone to fly them. Some owners fly, others hire a pilot. Others are helicopter companies who do aerial photography, charter, surveys etc.

5) Log on to the IAA website, look for a list of authorised aeromedical examiners. If you intend getting a commercial licence you will need a class 1 medical, which can only be done in one of two authorised facilities in Dublin.

With regard to cost, helicopter training is considerably more expensive than fixed wing training. As far as I know, Skywest in Cork charge in the region of €450 per hour for training on their Robinson R44, but i'm open to correction on that price. Then after your commercial licence you will need an instrument rating, possibly a type rating, it can get quite expensive.

For training, have a look at Skywest helicopters in Cork and Dublin, and also Sloane helicopters in the UK, and there is also a helicopter training school in Northern Ireland. They are the only ones that I know of but I'm sure there are many more, in the UK especially.

martinsvi

I was interested in PPL(H) for a moment, but I went for PPL(A) instead and never regretted it. There is only one school in Ireland that does heli lessons - it's Skywest and rate per hour is 470 euro. It's a pretty good rate, they get customers coming from UK because it's cheaper to do it here. Job market is nonexistent, market is saturated with ex-military guys with hundreds, if not thousands of hours on their books. No VIP charter company will let their VIPs/helis be flown by some new guy. Some believe that the only way to advance in helis is to work on oil rigs in north sea for a couple of years - they use the large helis there that require 2 pilots, so one of them can be hired with low/no experience. I might also add - there are a couple of companies in Northen/Eastern Europe that contract for UN and do humanitarian missions if Africa on Mil-8. But again, no guarantees at all, competition is huge, the chances are absolutely against you. Much easier to get into airlines than in helicopter companies