Chopper School Shopper

[WRENCH]

Been thinking about getting R/W add on up to CFII. Any thoughts on what schools to look at / stay away from? Any thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[qmaster3]

www.cbhelos.com

 

[FracCapt]

It'd help if you specify what area you live in, and whether or not you're willing and able to travel elsewhere for a few months to do your training. Also, what type of helicopters do schools in your area operate? That could make a difference if you want to teach in them.

 

[WRENCH]

I can go anywhere, no attachments. Currently living in the southwest and looking at Silver State Helicopters....Anyone had any experience with them?

 

[Crimson03]

I've heard bad things about a school in NV I thought it was 'silver something' keep researching though cause I would hate to badmouth a school that didn't deserve it.
Hope your are doing this for fun or you have cash to spend, helicopter ratings won't likely ever really pay for themselves. Sure is fun though ...

 

[FracCapt]

I can go anywhere, no attachments. Currently living in the southwest and looking at Silver State Helicopters....Anyone had any experience with them?

I've heard some good, but more bad, about Silver State. It seems that people either loved the place or hated it. I wouldn't recommend it, but I can't tell you to avoid it, either, since I have never even seen the place or spoken with anybody there. Their rep isn't the best, though.

Look into HAI(www.heli.com), Palm Beach Helicopters(www.palmbeachhelicopters.com/), and Air Orlando Helicopter(www.orlandohelicopter.com/). Those are the ones I'm familiar with, all in Florida. There are also a couple schools out in Phoenix/Scottsdale area, many in California, and tons of them in Dallas/Houston areas. Think of an area you're interested in training(take into account weather for the time of year you plan to go, social life, etc), and start searching. If you come up with specific schools, ask about them here.

 

[Crimson03]

Something else to look into you might want to avoid the R22 as I believe the insurance minimums for instructing in R22s is 150 hours in type(it was ten years ago) and you should be able to add on all the ratings in less time then that.

 

[avbug]

Southwest, look very seriously at Quantum helicopters.

Going with Silver State won't be the biggest mistake of your life, but it will rank right up there.

 

[LearLove]

I've been told good things about these guys from helo friends. If I had enough $$ to take time from work and $$ for training I'd go here and do my RW stuff. I'd love to to part-time pipe/gas patrol in a helo.

Chesapeake Bay Helos in Chesapeake, VA (southwest of Norfolk)

Plus the school has Schweizer equip. IMHO better than a R-22

http://www.cbhelos.com/index.htm

Hope it helps

My soures are:

close helo friend who flies medavac and my old traffic boss who flies S-76's for a major drug company. Both have tons of helo time and exp.

 

[WRENCH]

Thanks for the comments. Seems to be a lot of negative feelings towards Silver State Helicopters....bummer. They give the impression that there is a lot of opportunity to branch off into other lines of flying (law enforcement, pipeline patrol, ect) They do have a huge student base....which would be great when one gets their R/W CFII. My biggest concern is that they say the program takes 12 mo+ Nothing should take that long if you are focused ( and hold all fixed wing ratings) Thanks again everyone and any more thoughts would be greatly appreciated.