Heli Flight School

[Skaz]

Hi guys,
I am looking for a helicopter flight school at which to do a CPL add-on and CFI rating. I have looked at Heli Adventures in Florida, but the accommodation and transport around there is a problem. Does anybody know of other big schools with a good reputation, accommodation nearby and easy to get to, i.e. between accommodation and school? Doesnt really matter which state it is located in, but somewhere like California would be nice!
Thanks

 

[The Saint]

try Boat Pics they are actually a company that does aerial photos of boats but they also do training and it is way cheaper because they train you as part of their operation. They have like 9 r-22m and one instrument robbie. the ph number i dont know off the top of my head but look it up on the net. I have flown with them and was quit happy

 

[seethru]

I would give Hillsboro Aviation a try (http://www.hillsboroaviation.com/page.asp?id=287). It's a fairly large school with a good reputation. I believe they have housing available, too.

It's near Portland, OR. I know that CA sounds a lot better, but you'll get some good training with the weather/mountains up here.

Greg

 

[na265]

HAI in TIX seems to be a good school. We spend a lot of time there with our corp job. Talk to Patrick about your concerns, he can probably work something out with you.

 

[avbug]

www.helicoptertraining.com

http://www.verticalreference.com/vertical_reference_flightinstruction.htm

 

[Skaz]

Thanks a lot for the info guys, it looks like this is a difficult decision to make, with having to consider the type of helicopter trained on (R22 vs CB300), location for wx and accommodation and transport.

Am reviewing all the site and schools I can get my browser on, and will post more specific questions about certainschools etc.
thanks for the gen so far

 

[FracCapt]

Thanks a lot for the info guys, it looks like this is a difficult decision to make, with having to consider the type of helicopter trained on (R22 vs CB300), location for wx and accommodation and transport.

I, personally, would recommend training in the 300CB. In the R22, you have the SFAR73 to deal with....which means that you have to have AT LEAST 20 hours of dual in the helicopter before you can even solo it. Some people may take that long to solo anyways, so it's not necessarily a big deal in their situation....but if you are ready after 10 hours in an R22.....too bad, gotta do another 10.

The commercial add on states 50 hours of helicopter are required, but 35 of those have to be PIC. So, to finish in 50 hours(which very few people, if any, do), you have to do 35 hours solo and 15 dual. Not even legally possible in an R22.

On the bright side, the R22 has a governor, so you don't have to manually control the engine/rotor RPM as you raise or lower collective...but, really, it becomes second nature pretty quickly when you do have to control it(as in the 300CB).

If you ever want to teach in the R22, then it would be beneficial for you to do your training in one. You must have 50 hours in the R22(per SFAR73) before you can teach in it. For other helicopters, you are only required to have 5 hours PIC in make and model to teach in them.

 

[Skaz]

My gut feeling is that I'd rather fly the 300 than the r22. Too many people have told me the thing is bad news. But ironically, its the cheapest to operate and thus more schools etc use them than any other small heli. Even though, the numbers indicate more people write themselves off in R22's than otehr light helicopters.

Just sucks for the first heli job though, if you train on the 300, then you are not as marketable as a R22 driver. Then again with 50 hours plus a few more for the CFI , nobody is gonna hire you anyway...right? So its a catch 22 scenario looks like .

Question to you FracCapt, if the law states that you need 50 hours for the add-on, why do some schools advertise their add-on CPL programmes with less that those hours? Ive seen 40, 45 and even 35 hours flight time advertised on some websites.

Also, if you go ahead and get the add-on CPL and CFI ratings, on a 300, whos gonna employ you anyway, only 300CB operators, and it seems there are not a lot of those around. So unless you land a job with the school that trained you, youre scr#wed,....again.

Or am I missing something.....

 

[IP076]

Hey,

You might want to give Guidance Helicopters in Prescott, Arizona a shout.

There is one hotel within walking distance of the airport.

I know they keep pretty busy, or at least did, but other than that, I don't know much about them.

 

[avbug]

If you're intending to go beyond simply adding the rating, then I'd give serious consideration to using the Robinson. If you train in the Robby, you can go anywhere and transition with little effort to another type, such as a 300. However, if you train in the 300 or a Bell 47, you'll still need to fly off the requisite hours in the robby before you can instruct in it. You're better off getting in the time while you're needing to pay for it anyway...it's easier cost wise to transition to other helicopters, then to transition back to the Robinson. Especially as it's an industry standard for training, and instructing initially will be your best bet.