Airplane To Helicopters

[NW_Pilot]

Any good books or videos on this subject? or should one just go and give it a try?

 

[JB Bus Drvr]

Before investing in any books, find a local school and get an intro flight. It may seem like you have two left feet and hands when you start, but once you get the hang of it, helicopter flying is unlike anything you've ever done before. It's actually the most fun you can have with your pants on!

 

[spudskier]

What's typical time for a commercial pilot (airplane) to get a rotocraft? One guy said 10 hours (obviously depending on the person/conditions)?

 

[YGBSM]

Before investing in any books, find a local school and get an intro flight. It may seem like you have two left feet and hands when you start, but once you get the hang of it, helicopter flying is unlike anything you've ever done before. It's actually the most fun you can have with your pants on!

Actually, it's pretty fun without pants too.

 

[sardaddy]

It does depend on the pilot but in all seriousness, it will take an airplane pilot a lot longer to learn to fly a helicopter than it takes a helicopter pilot to fly an airplane. Not that helicopter pilots are flying gods, well ok we are but besides that, it is just that there is a little more to think about when learning to fly a helicopter.

I have had to teach an airplane pilot to fly a helicopter and it was a bit of a challenge. He did fine. It took about 15 hours for him to settle down and get comfortable. I have also seen seasoned airplane pilots not make it through helicopter training. The hardest part is hovering, in the case of the student I trained it was still a challenge when he left the program but flying around wasn't too bad. Once we had forward motion in the aircraft it didn't take him too long to get the idea.

As for reading a book about it, go ahead but it won't help too much. You can get an understanding of what goes on but there is no substitute for the real thing.

There is an old saying that goes: give a helicopter pilot a 10 minute course on flying an airplane and on his first flight he will be able to do it. Give an airplane pilot a 100 hour course on how to fly a helicopter and on his first flight he will get in and crash it.

Again, it is only because a helicopter has a few more tricks it can throw at you than an airplane but once you get the hang of it you can do it without thinking which is a good thing for most of us.

 

[Rick1128]

What I have found out so far in my helicopter training is that you have to throw out much of what you learned to fly an airplane. Plus many things you were told to disregard in an airplane, you have to pay attention to in a helicopter. What is one of the biggest problems is when landing and your instructor is telling you to fly slower, HE!! I taxi faster than this!

 

[Fly2AK]

spudskier What's typical time for a commercial pilot (airplane) to get a rotocraft? O

The min time to get the Comm. RW is 55 hours. Look at the break down 150 hours total time in powered aircraft 50 hours of that in RW 100 hours PIC of which 35 hours has to be RW, in addition to this you have to have 20hours dual. So add the 35 to 20 and you get 55 hours minimum. You can get the private with a min of 30 hours RW. Like you said depends on the person.

 

[slackass]

I'm a regional airline Captain. Did my commericial add on and it cost me about $15,000 about 40 hours. Quantum helicopters in Chandler, AZ. Could have bought two 737 type ratings with that. All that being said I would do it all over again! All you do in airplanes is land and takeoff. You fly a helicopter! Whatever you would do in a fixed wing to get out of trouble will kill you in a helicopter. Lot of bad habits to break. Especially the sight picture on landing. I'd love to find a job where I could use both skills.

 

[Sim Sweat]

I'd love to find a job where I could use both skills.

I did, finally.

But what he says is true, sort of. I wouldn't necessarily say it quite that way, but fixed-wing pilots have to be particularly attentive in a helo ... certain fixed wing reactions have no place there.

Still, do it if you can. How cool is it to just say, what the h=ll, I think I'll land by that stream there and have lunch.

 

[Lostdog65]

Damn...I need to get me one of those whirly bird ratings!

Eric