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Helicopter Accidents, studies, and IF YOU HAVE AN ACCIDENT
The FAA gets some fat trimmed, but not
enough!
The Art of Autorotation
Oil levels and Consumption
HEMS safety in the US, is it
really that bad? Are you
FLYING LOW ON FUEL?
Try flying by numbers!
Check Out These Schools!
Helicopter Emergencies
Turbine Transition
Training!
How long
should flight training really take?
Commercial Helicopter
Add-on
to Airplane Private? Yes you can!!
And you Should!
Fly
yourself to the Bahamas The
Airport Traffic Pattern Wasting Time
Solo?
Hot Fueling Helicopters
- Is
it safe? Is a career
change really possible?
CONFINED
AREA OPERATIONS
Piston Engine Over-torque?
Should you train in
Robinson Helicopters?
Who can be a pilot?
 Robinson
Does it again! the R66!
Medicals and Pilot Health
- Should you care?
Are You Ready to SOLO?
PERFORMANCE MANEUVERS
The ATP and First Class
Medicals; Do
you need them?
Logging Flight Time -
Honestly?
Deciding on a
Flight School?
It can be a hard decision!
Helicopter Flight Training:
There are many flight
schools to choose from but you cannot depend on honesty from all of them.
Honesty and integrity remain paramount in the operations of those
linked here.
Links:
To some of the best sites on the
web. Make sure you check these out.
Flying:
Here you will find general topics concerning day-to-day flying. These pages
are updated daily also, so check back often. Also, here you will find information on
aviation accidents, the causes, and how to avoid them.
Information:
Here you will find advisory circulars that are pertinent to normal operations. Also included is information on the conversion
of foreign pilots licenses, as well as the conversion of
FAA to JAR licenses. Other
miscellaneous
information will also be placed here.
Communications:
There are so many problems with communications in aviation. Some of it is
inadvertent error, and some of it is taught wrong. I will post chapters of this
book here from time to time. I was going to post only one chapter per month,
deleting the past. I have now decided to post the whole book one chapter at a
time including the figures.
Maneuvers:
Contained in this text are normal training maneuvers as well as emergency
procedures and more.
News: Under news, you will find new information as it becomes available. This could
be recommended Helicopter Flight Schools, Jobs,
or some of the other news in the industry.
This site is intended to improve awareness, and to
spread knowledge to pilots, and even more to unsuspecting students who
could end up with a bad instructor or at a pilot-mill-school that does not look
out for the long term well being and safety of students which ultimately spreads the disease
of bad technique which always results in accidents. This site is here for your
benefit, and it is expensive to maintain therefore contributions are encouraged.
See: About this site.
A special thank you to those readers
who contribute to this site! Every dollar helps to
ensure this site will be here another day for others to read. Thank you, you
know who you are!!
You may make a donation here using any major credit
card or your Pay Pal account.
Please help keep this site running, skin a couple of those singles from your
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appreciate your contribution to keep this site running.
What will Helicopter Flight Training cost?
A lot of course, but keep in mind that there are a variety of
ways to accomplish your objective. 1: The lump-sum
commercial-pilot-package method, you can accomplish your training from
0-time to a paid flight instructor in 3-months at a smaller school, or about a
year at one of the larger schools, and at a cost of about $70,000
depending upon the school you choose. There are many
alternatives and financing is available. 2: The pay-as-you-go method.
This is the way I did my training combining with 3. I flew every Wednesday and
Sunday for an average of 1-hour. It was the only way I could afford to do it and
it worked. It took me longer than the lump-sum method, but I still achieved my
goal from 0-time, start to finish, in 11-months. 3: The combined helicopter/airplane rating method.
Most helicopter pilots don't really care about flying
airplanes at least in the beginning, I know I didn't, but my instructor talked me into it and I am so glad he
did. Flying an airplane is easy for a helicopter pilot so why not? It can shave
$10,000 to $30,000 off your total training costs if you do it right.
What is an 'Approved' flight school and what does it mean
to the student? There are two types of flight schools in the US which are commonly known as Part
61 and/or Part 141 schools. There is also another worth mentioning (however less
known in the US), those conducted under JAR of the JAA. There are also numerous other variations of these
schools or the related certificates issued around the world; it really just
depends upon where you will be flying. We don't really give a hoot how they do
it in the other parts of the world since we are talking about training in the US
here which is where the majority of aviation training occurs worldwide.
A Part 61 flight school is one by which training is conducted under and in
accordance with part 61 of the Federal Aviation Regulations also and
hereinafter known as FAR. There is absolutely nothing wrong with a part
61 flight school (this is where I trained and had a good experience). A part 61
school is under which almost all single aircraft training is conducted and
encompasses the majority of small schools.
A Part 141 flight school is one conducted in accordance with FAR
part 141. This is a program where the school operators have demonstrated a
certain training program format which has been inspected and approved by the
FAA. Training at a part 141 school may be conducted either under part 61 or part
141 however the school must complete a percentage of its students under part 141
with a specified pass rate. Due to the approval process, part 141 schools are
approved to shorten their programs as compared to part 61 programs, and many
schools use this shortened program as their selling point. An example is, a
private pilot rating under part 61 requires 40-hours where under part 141 the
same rating only requires 35-hours. Ultimately, this don't mean squat for
several reasons. 1: The average student will need 50-55 hours or more to
complete the rating regardless of the part trained under. 2: No
instructor in his/her right mind would sign-off a student for a helicopter
check-ride with 40-hours much less with just 35. 3: No examiner in his
right mind is going to sign-off on a pilot with only 35-hours. Most won't
sign-off on a student with less than 50-hours. I don't care what kind of lie the
school is telling you to get your money. There
is absolutely no assurance that you have any protection from rip-offs, or that
they are any more likely to occur under a part 141 school verses a part 61
school.
In fact some of the biggest student rip-offs of all time have occurred at some
of the largest part 141 flight schools.
JAR is the European Joint Aviation Regulations under the authority of
the JAA. For students who will
eventually fly commercially in Europe, it will be necessary to convert or change
to JAR/JAA at some point. The JAA is a consortium of
European countries and is a quite uppity organization which ultimately
would like to restrict aviation world-wide if it had its way. There is a less
restrictive European counterpart known as the CAA and also known as the same in
other parts of the world. The basis of difference between the FAR under US law
and the JAR/CAA under European law is ultimately that the US and consequently
the FAR is based on freedom in the air where European law and consequently the
JAR/CAA is based on order in the air. Freedom is a key word here, once you give
it up, you never get it back. There is no place on earth where you will enjoy
the freedom as we know it here in the US and little by little, it is being
chiseled away. Enough said on the JAA/JAR, for those who will need to convert, there
are web sites/pages etc., for that purpose.
Thank you for visiting this
site, and please give me some feedback so I know where to improve. If you have
any questions, feel free to ask, I will do my best to answer. If you find links
that don't work, or material that doesn't seem right, please let me know so that
I can fix the problems.
This is an article I wrote some time ago to aid
students in their decision making process. Select the relative button to jump to
a particular position.
Who Can Be A Pilot?
Anyone who is 16 years old or older (some
restrictions apply), who can read, speak, write, and understand the English
language, and pass the appropriate medical exam, can with the proper training
obtain his or her pilots certificate. To old? Not unless you can't pass the
medical. There are many active commercial pilots well over 60.
No, in fact if you want to fly helicopters,
then that is what you should do. There is certainly nothing wrong with flying
both, and there is a definite advantage to being dual rated. There is however,
an advantage to flying helicopters first if you desire to be dual rated, but it
is not required. The only advantage is that it is easier to unlearn
helicopter habits while learning to fly airplanes than it is to unlearn airplane
habits while learning to fly helicopters. Anyone who has one rating can
easily add another category to it.
All the money you have, and all you will ever make. Just
kidding! Obtaining a pilot certificate is considerably cheaper than most people
realize. A private airplane rating will cost $7,000 or more, and a private
helicopter rating will cost $15,000 or more. Those prices are assuming an initial
rating, and are variable subject to the particular school and student.
It is cheaper by regulation to add a category rating to an existing
certificate because of reduced hour requirements, but very few if any can
actually accomplish the add-on rating within those reduced hours. However, the
realities of it are that if you already hold a private rating in one category,
say airplane single engine land, you can
add a commercial helicopter rating for about the same cost as an initial
helicopter rating ($15,000.00 give or take), and if you hold a private
helicopter rating, you might add a commercial airplane rating for about $7,000.00.
A commercial airplane rating (with no prior
experience) will cost $30,000,
while a commercial helicopter rating (with no prior experience) will cost $40,000. There are ways to
minimize those costs, or should I say there are ways to maximize the rating/cost
ratio for those pilots wishing to obtain dual, commercial status.
Obviously it is not possible to get paid to
be a private pilot, and as a matter of fact it is strictly against the law to
accept money for flying at the private level (with certain very specific
exceptions). Also, no company is going to hire a commercial pilot with flight
experience short of about 1200 hours regardless of category.
There is however, a way for you to receive
compensation for flying as a commercial pilot with relatively low hours, and
that is for you to become a flight instructor (see outline below). There is a
high demand for pilots, and therefore many instructors are constantly moving on
to commercial jobs, which creates many CFI jobs in turn. The easiest
place to get a CFI job is at the school where you took your training.
Most flight instructors are building time for a commercial
job, and there simply is no better way to do it. Aviation is one place where you
absolutely must pay your dues; there is no short cut.
Don’t get me wrong, you will
occasionally find the low-life pilot who tried to beat the system, and penciled
in a few hours, but sooner or later they will get caught up in their own lies as
usual. If you get caught forging anything in
aviation, you will pay very dearly. The FAA can take all of your certificates in
one single setting, for one dishonest mistake, and they will. They live
for it, trust me. If you get caught
forging something you can forget about a professional career as a CFI, or a
commercial pilot (part 135, 121, etc.); that a mistake that will haunt you forever.
Pilots are expected to be of strong
character, and must exhibit extraordinary ethical behavior, especially a CFI. So
in short, if you want to get paid to be a pilot, fork over the cash, get your
ratings, pay your dues (become a CFI), and enjoy a long career of piloting. Believe me, it is great!!
(Assuming a dual rating is
desired)
The most cost effective way to
commercial aviation in helicopters is to first obtain your private airplane
certificate, and follow that rating with your instrument airplane rating. This
will result in
$15,000 spent and two ratings accomplished. Don't waste time on your
instrument certificate with an inexperienced CFII, and don't waste time with a
safety pilot; rather fly the entire required 48 hours with a well qualified
instructor and get some value out of your training. Acquiring these two ratings will result in
excess of 100 hours total time accumulated. Of that time about 20–30 hours
will have been dual before you received your initial rating, and the balance of
approximately 70 hours or more, will have been solo/PIC,
same/same. Understand that solo flight time even though you don't yet hold
a rating for that aircraft/category is still PIC time. If it were not, who
then, was the PIC? Save money, follow these procedures
before taking helicopter flight training.
Now understand this: I said the most
(financially) economical way to get your ratings. You see, I am speaking
for those financially strapped individuals who really want something, and are
not dripping money. If a person is not ready and willing to change their
daily habits of existence, and live and breath aviation while drinking water and
eating crackers, then you need to go cry to your mama because you are not ready
for aviation. If you are not willing to make great personal sacrifice, and
if you have great credit and a way to pay, visit Sallie Mae, and then talk to
the big flight schools eager to dip deep into your pockets and who don't care
how much of your time you waste partying because you are going to have plenty of
time to waste while waiting in line to fly anyway.
A commercial helicopter rating requires 150
total flight hours, while a commercial airplane rating requires 250 total flight
hours (this makes no sense to me, as helicopter is harder to fly). There are
specific hour requirements as stated in the FAR, but those are the basics. The
flight time of each category counts toward the other with certain restrictions
and/or requirements. It is imperative that a pilot maintains currency in
all of the aircraft in which they are rated or else, get current with a
qualified instructor before attempting flight after a stale period.
After you have obtained the airplane
ratings as stated above, it is time to move into helicopters for a while.
Seek out the school of your choice, and try to chose one who offers CFI training
and Check rides using their aircraft. If a school does not offer CFI
completion, then I strongly encourage you to seek out another school. You
will likely get the best treatment at smaller Part 61 operators than at a large
Part 141 school, but that choice is yours.
Prepayment and Block Time purchases: You
definitely need to plan Block Time purchases in the amount of $5,000 if you can
afford it, it makes flight school scheduling easier, and you will get a break on
the time rates. Another point of importance here is the fact that if you
pull a no-show even once, you are worth neither the time of the school nor the
instructor. Show up plenty in advance so that you can have the pre-flight
completed by the time slot scheduled.
It is time to obtain your commercial
helicopter category add-on to your airplane private pilot certificate. You
DO NOT have to add-on the private
first; anyone telling you otherwise is lying, or just plain uneducated and wrong; you need to go somewhere
else because they are about to cost you significant money. Obtaining your
helicopter commercial will cost you about $17,000. That is a reasonable
figure, and you should ensure, yourself, that all requirements are met; you do
this by reading and knowing the pertinent and relative FAR's. At the
completion of this add-on, you should have in the neighborhood of 155 total
flight hours or more, with about 105 or more PIC hours.
Here is where the savings really
begin to mount... It is now time to complete your helicopter instrument
add-on to your pre-existing airplane instrument rating. Now keep in mind
that an instrument rating from scratch (no prior instrument rating), requires
not less than 48 (including un-hooded time) hours total flight time; however, an
add-on only requires an additional 18 (including un-hooded time) hours.
That alone is a saving of not less than $8,250 which makes more than half of the
previous airplane training absolutely FREE! You have also saved the
difference in the cost of the airplane private, and what the helicopter private
would have cost which amounts to another $7,500 making both of your airplane
ratings FREE! On top of all that, you now have four aircraft ratings in
two categories one of which is commercial. You have spent roughly $15,000
for your two airplane ratings, $17,000 for your helicopter commercial, and
$5,000 for your helicopter instrument, totaling about $37,000. Had you
done helicopter only, you would have spent not less than $43,000 and you still
couldn't fly an airplane at all.
The smart thing to do from this point is
to continue with your helicopter training, there is no time like the present,
and you shouldn't waste a minute of it. You have a total of about 175
hours Total Time (TT), and of that at least 123 is PIC. Your helicopter TT
is now not less than 75 hours with about 55 hours PIC.
Logging PIC and SIC time: All solo time
is also PIC time, and as such should be counted and included in all rating
applications. All time after obtaining the initial rating in a given
category is also PIC time even if that time is dual (with a CFI(I)) while
training for another advanced rating. Logging SIC
time in the training environment is illegal! SIC time can only
be logged in an aircraft which requires two pilots by type certificate and
requires the appropriate ratings.
Move right on to your helicopter CFI,
and CFII do both together, and take the Check rides as close together as
possible; it will save you considerable money. The amount of money that
you spend on these ratings will be entirely up to you, and the school you are
working with. In all fairness, it should take less than 30 hours to
accomplish both ratings since the only difference in these and previous check
rides is the seat from which you take them. The greatest challenge of all
is knowledge, and if you haven't been seriously studying every spare moment from
the get go, you will probably fail and you don't deserve the ratings anyway.
Follow these procedures and continue saving money on your
helicopter flight training.
At the completion of your helicopter CFI rating, your
flight school may well employ you immediately especially if you have obtained
all ratings with them, and you should seek this out. One of the stories
that you are likely to hear is that they can not insure you as a flight
instructor unless you have logged at least 200 hours PIC, this may vary from
200-300 depending on the flight school. They use this argument to justify
selling you their Career Pilot Packages. This is only partially correct,
and any school can help you if they desire. There is a way, and if you
want to know that, well that is how I make my money; if I gave up all my secrets
for free this web site wouldn't be here for you to learn from.
While you are earning money as a
helicopter CFI, you should continue your next 20 hours of training in
preparation for your commercial airplane check-ride. This will cost you $2,500. Obviously, now you have sufficient flight
time to obtain your Airplane CFI, and it would be a wise investment to do so. You can see that there are endless
ratings, and opportunities when it comes to aviation, and you should continue to
accumulate every rating that you have an opportunity to get.
More on instrument training: It is required that a pilot receive 15 hours
of training in actual instrument conditions, or simulated instrument conditions,
and that this pilot then log another 25 hours of simulated instrument time with
a qualified safety pilot on board the aircraft. There is significant difference
between simulated instrument conditions and actual instrument conditions,
therefore it is
of my opinion that the student should request of the instructor, that they
actually fly in some actual instrument conditions whenever possible. There
is no doubt that the instrument rating is one of the hardest to obtain, but also
one of the most rewarding ratings. For that reason, I recommend that the student
fly the entire 48 hours required with an instructor so that he or she can obtain
the most knowledge (I did it, and I am thankful that I did). The cost difference
is only about $1,000 for a top-notch instructor, and it is very well worth it.
Top
There is nothing wrong with that, it will cost you $38,000 to accumulate up to and including your CFI rating for airplanes, and
then you can begin your career of instructing, and build your time and ratings
and achieve what ever level of flying that you desire.
Follow these procedures
and now you can save thousands on your helicopter flight training.
Well that is ok; get your rating, but don’t sell yourself
short, if you can fly a helicopter, you can fly anything! But what it comes down
to is what you want to do. You can start your career with an investment of
$65,000.00 accumulating all ratings up to and including your CFII helicopter
rating, and you can begin your career.
There is nothing wrong with that, and it will be most
enjoyable, and the approximated costs are listed above. Fly with a good safety
margin, and maintain a high level of currency. A private only rating in
helicopters can be obtained for about $15,000.
I tried in the above statement to present an accurate cost
estimate. The fact remains that the individual student will determine the
ultimate, and final cost. The costs stated above are the average cost, and I
recommend that no student push himself or herself for an early solo or rating,
and they should not let a school or instructor push them either.
Be very cautious of a school or instructor
that promises you a rating for a low and set cost. It is absolutely impossible
for anyone to know the final cost to you; all anyone can do when it comes to
flight training is present you with an average or estimated cost.
Many schools advertise a rating for a
package price, and sometimes they try very hard to get you through in that time. No school is going to let you fly their aircraft for free, so what that means is
that either you will be pushed through before you are ready, or you will be
paying extra.
There is no feather for a student who solos
early, and furthermore, an early solo is absolutely no indication of which
student will make the better pilot. There are 200-hour pilots who fly like they
have 2000 hours, and there are 2000-hour pilots who fly like they have 200.
A serious pilot who spends every spare
moment at the airport every single day can accomplish each and every rating
within 5 weeks or less. You are not to old to become a pilot unless
you simply cannot ever pass the necessary medical exam, and they are not that
hard to pass. You can learn to be a private pilot with good concentration, in
about 6 months, flying 2 times per week. You can become a commercial pilot in
less than 2 years flying the same schedule. You can earn your CFI certificate
about 60 days later. Don’t get me wrong, it takes a lot of studying, and hard
work, but with the right motivation, you can do it. It is certainly possible,
flying everyday, to earn your certificates in considerably less time.
How often do I
need to fly to make the best progress?
Obviously a student who flies everyday is
going to make the rating faster than a person who flies only 2 hours per week.
Ideally in the early stages, a student should fly not more than 3 (helicopter) 5
(airplane) hours per day, and not less than 2 hours per week.
During flight training, you should fly at
least 1 hour, at least 2 times per week (2 hours per week). If you can fly only
1 hour per week, that is fine, but the training will take longer, in hours that
is. The reason being that if it is to long between flights, some of what is
learned is lost, and you have to spend some of each flight refreshing what you
had learned the last time.
It is not usually beneficial to fly more
than 3-5 hours per day because you will become worn out and congested with
information. Some schools insist that their students fly more hours per day, but
I personally don’t think that is good for the student.
Each time a student flies, there is a period
of time after the lesson when that student continues to learn significantly.
During this time, the student is digesting the information that he or she took
in during the flight.
The length of the lesson can also be
variable. For example, a student may have a tense day, and perhaps the lesson
should end before an hour. On the other hand, the student may be having a very
good day, and the learning may be just beginning to peak in an hour, and it may
be beneficial to continue for another 15 to 30 minutes.
I just don’t have the cash!
Many schools offer a pay as you go program;
you don’t have to pay everything up front. Not everyone can afford to buy the
whole lesson program in one lump. It is better if you can because you will get
your rating faster, but hey, it is what it is. You can always purchase block
times, and that may reduce the cost somewhat. Block times are when you pay for 5
or 10 hours at one time, and fly them as you go. Also, you can check out
financing options available at pilotfinance.com.
Keep in mind that you must purchase
certain training materials, and these things will include: study books, a
headset, a flight computer, charts, a plotter, etc. You will spend about $200 on
supplies for your first rating, and about $100 per rating after that. Also,
keep in mind that you will never have to many books to study. The more you read,
the better you will do in your flying and your tests.
You are who can become a
pilot!
There are four levels of pilot certificates (excluding CFI),
Recreational, Private, Commercial, and ATP. Pilot certificates never expire;
they are validated by medical certificates, which do expire. You must have both
certificates in your possession every time you fly, and you must also have a
photo identification.
The recreational certificate requires less training hours
by regulation, but in reality, it takes the same number of hours to master the
aircraft as it would if you wanted a private pilot certificate. The
recreational rating is
also considerably more restrictive.
The private pilot certificate allows you
complete freedom in aviation with compliance of course to the FARs. With this
certificate, you may carry passengers, but not for hire. You absolutely may not be paid for any services with the exception of equally
shared expenses. This is the first step in the sequence of certificates in
the climb to becoming a professional pilot, and this certificate requires a
third
class medical certificate.
The commercial pilot certificate
requires a second class medical certificate if you will be exercising the
privileges of the commercial level, but you need only a third class medical if
you not be flying commercially. With the combination of these two
certificates, you may now be permitted to fly for hire. There are still
restrictions, but they are not restrictions by the certificate. Simply put these
restrictions are that (when being compensated for the flight) you may not land at
a different point than that which you departed from, and you may not fly more
than 25 statute miles from your original departure point unless you are flying
under a part 135 (air carrier) certificate.
The ATP pilot certificate requires a
first
class medical to exercise the privileges at the ATP level,
but you need only a second class medical
to fly commercially, or third class medical if you not be flying commercially.
With this certificate, you are qualified to fly for part 121
air carriers, and any other employer who requires this level of certificate
provided that you have the required number of hours (by regulation or employer).
There are three levels of medical
certificates; First class, which is required to exercise the privileges of the
ATP pilot certificate; second class which is required to exercise the privileges
of the commercial pilot certificate; and third class which
is required to exercise the privileges of the private pilot certificate.
If you hold a first class medical,
and an ATP pilot certificate, you can exercise the privileges of the ATP
certificate for six months, and then you must renew the medical to continue ATP
privileges. If you choose not to renew after six months, you may continue to
exercise the privileges at the commercial level for another six
months. After those six months, you can renew or you may continue to
exercise the privileges at the private level for another year if you are 40 or
older, or another four years if you are under 40.
If you hold a second class medical,
and a commercial pilot certificate, you can exercise the privileges of the
commercial certificate for one year, and then you must renew the medical to
continue at the commercial level. If you choose not to renew, you can exercise
the privileges of the private pilot certificate for another year if you are 40
or older, or another four years if you are under 40.
If you hold a private pilot certificate,
and a third class medical, you can exercise the privileges of the private
pilot certificate as the 40 over and under rule applies (five or two years).
The CFI certificate is only valid when it is accompanied
by a commercial or ATP pilot certificate, and does not require a specific medical
unless the instructor will be teaching a student who does not hold a rating in
the aircraft being flown. This means that a helicopter instructor can instruct a
private pilot for the commercial helicopter rating without his or her own valid
medical certificate, however this same instructor would need to hold at least a
third class
medical to instruct a private pilot, or a pilot who is not rated in the aircraft
being flown. Note that only a third class medical is necessary when acting as a CFI.
**The check-ride fees of about $500 per
rating have not been added in to the above cost estimates.
This web site was initiated November 1, 2003
Contact Information
Email is my only method of contact. This is a private site, therefore there is
no associated business phone number. Please send editorial comments to the email
address below
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General Information and all correspondence:
info@helicopterflight.net
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