Helicopter Jobs?

[Eglsfootball]

I have been told by a few people that their are very few helicopter jobs and that they are hard to get. Is this true?

 

[flint4xx]

Proportionally yes. Doesn't pay but many bring you home every night.

 

[Timebuilder]

LA Police have 16 helos.

 

[jergar999]

Just offhand, I would say probably 75% of helicopter jobs are EMS.

www.justhelicopters.com
www.nemspa.org

 

[Checks]

You are right. Not many jobs, pay isnt that great (similiar to regional pay but starts higher), but you are home every night.

 

[Gulfstreamlover]

Depends what you like. If you don't mind making 85,000 a year, 10 weeks off a year, $65 an hour over time(and there's lots of overtime), and the ability to have a part time job to make more money, and a schedule 2 months in advanced, helicopter flying may be for you. But then agian that's after 20 years of flying.....

Checks I love that EMS quote

 

[wingnutt]

i dont know the reliability, but theres a buttload of helicopter jobs in the Jan 04 issue of Air Jobs Digest. i counted 14 of em on the 2 pages i have facing me at the moment. if you need, ill post a few here for your perusal

 

[Eglsfootball]

But then agian that's after 20 years of flying.....
-Gulfstreamlover

If thats how many years of flying you need to get a job like that what jobs are there to do to build hours as a helicopter pilot before getting a job like that? and the schedual you described sounds like something i would like. When i am a senior in college i am going to start taking helicopter lessons as an add on to my fixed wing license. right after college what do you think would be good job to look for?

wingnutt,
Also i wouldn't mind taking a look at a few of those jobs if its not to much trouble.

Thanks,
Eglsfootball

 

[Gulfstreamlover]

I was talking about the state police route, which you may be accepted to after 5 years on the road. You need a PPL (Fixxed wing) and they'll train you for every thing else and pay starts at 41,000 a year. Other then that you'd do it just like the airplane route. Instruct for a little while, get a job with a charter company when you can. The hardest thing to do is build turbine time. There's a company in AK that people were disscussing a while ago where they take you with 300 +/- (don't remember the exact time) and you fly a 206 for 'em. Run a search and I'm sure you'll find it. The state police job really is the perfect job. You get great pay and a 3% raise every year. The schedule is great and easy to arrange. You also have access to a 182 and Aero Commander 560 for training purposes and a King Air 200 that they fly prisioners around in.

 

[Eglsfootball]

Gulfstreamlover,

I work at a hanger for a helicopter service that is next to the Mass. State police. How many people do they usually hire and how competative is it? also would you be more likely to get hired to fly for them if you already have your helicopter licese?

 

[jspilot]

Down here in South Louisiana they are looking for helicopter pilots for offshore rig work. All of the military pilots are retiring and they need more pilots. You still need some hours but they will hire you if you have the mins. The companies are PHI and Air Logistics.

 

[Gulfstreamlover]

So far this year (phiscal year starting in July) the state has taken on 4 pilots with plans to take on 2 more. It is a little competitve, but not any worse then other aviation jobs and there are few applicants then for other because the fixed wing PPL is required as is 5 years on the force.

also would you be more likely to get hired to fly for them if you already have your helicopter licese?

No, either way you go through the same training. They train you through your Comm and Inst. which are both required. You DO NOT solo the aircraft untill you've been to school on the 206 and 407 which you go to AFTER you get your Commercial/Inst. So basically you DON'T solo a helicopter untill you are a Commercial pilot, because of a special agreement with the FAA they have. You can also get your ATP and all your instructor ratings with them as well. They also provide the 182 and Aero Commander for your training, but you need to find the CFI.

 

[wingnutt]

well after a final tally, theres almost 30 helo jobs in here...

1-ag
2-longline
1-tuna boat
13-ems
2-firefighter
3-offshore
3-misc

one of the EMS employers is Air Methods Corp and they have about 5 of the ads for different parts of the country from Nashville Tn, Whitesboro Ky, Saginaw Mi, Rome Ny, Salt Lake City Ut, and Charleston Wv. Looks like they want 3,000 hours in type for a job though.

the other popular one is PHI. they have 2 ads, one for EMS and one for offshore, but they want 2000 hours.

the lowest time was for the firefighting jobs, and that was 1500 PIC.

lemme know if any sound intriguing and ill post more details, but im not about to put up all 30

 

[350DRIVER]

I have been told by a few people that their are very few helicopter jobs and that they are hard to get. Is this true?

I have to scratch my head when I meet people who want to go from fixed wing and get into the copter market. Most of the more lucrative jobs out there such as executive transport and offshore oil companies require you to have a large sum of helicopter hours in order to be hired. If you did not aquire this time in the military then be prepared to spend a lot of money just to get the ratings then somehow you will need to build the time up. This does not seem like a very easy task at all. In a past life while doing the charter gig I met a few guys that flew the bigger more expensive ones at TEB & HPN and they said just to be considered you needed thousands of hours, plus some. I am sure these are the more highly paid positions versus news watch, traffic watch, etc, etc,. I would love to know what Mr. Trump pays his guys to fly him around NYC. ( I could only imagine)

3 5 0

 

[avbug]

The fire jobs at 1,500 hours are only OAS minimums...competitively, that's not very realisitic. If it's all helo, all turbine, with significant long-line and mountain/pinnacle work, possibly. But not too likely.

 

[Gulfstreamlover]

S76 pay

I would love to know what Mr. Trump pays his guys to fly him around NYC. ( I could only imagine)

3 5 0

Don't know what Trump has now, he had an Agusta untill it crashed, but I believe the starting pay for MBNA on the S76 is 75k.

 

[350DRIVER]

Don't know what Trump has now, he had an Agusta untill it crashed, but I believe the starting pay for MBNA on the S76 is 75k.

When was the crash.? Use to see his new one at HPN often while doing the M&T bank shuttle but have not heard anything since. Last week during the Apprentice they showed a few clips of it enroute to NYC, nice looking bird. I believe he also owned a CH- 47D "Chinook" at one point and it was even featured in the 1997 movie "Jurassic Park - The Lost World".


3 5 0

 

[Checks]

Ok, repeat after me. "Stay fixed wing"

A lot of guys in the helicopter market are trying to break into the fixed wing market. Thats should say it all. EMS is the "majors" of helicopter flying. The pay is just OK (Not even close to 85K, more like 50K after a few years in EMS), the benefits are horrible (no nice pension or B Fund), and you dont fly that much (150hrs a year).

Now you say, but I still would like to do that. Building hours in helicopters isnt like building hours in Fixed wing. The insurance costs are thru the roof thus the costs for you to build time are prohibitive. There are very, very few SIC positions out there.

Speaking of all those adds out there for helo pilots. I remember when I changed to fixed wing in the late 90's (for reasons see above), and while flight instructing my family and friends would say things like "Why dont you apply for Southwest? I know they are hiring" or "I saw on the internet that FedEx is hiring pilots, why dont you apply there?" ect, ect, ect, ect, ect.
Just because you spend over 70K on your helicopter ratings doesnt mean you will competitive for one of those EMS jobs. You are going to be lucky to get a CFI job. BTW, there arent CFI jobs on every street corner, good luck on that aspect also.

DONT DO IT!

 

[Birdstrike]

More Info

A good source of information for anyone who's interested is justhelicopters.com The rants there make this board look like a distinguished intellectual gathering but you can learn alot about hiring there. Just 'have a take and don't $uck' as Jim Rome says.

As far as trends go, it's true that the pool of available military pilots is smaller than in the past. R-22 pilots, previously shunned by the industry, are finally breaking in to new-hire jobs with the gulf off-shore companies at the 1000 hr mark (with their CFI). If you want to pay to play, that's what it will cost. EMS for most comes after you pay your dues in the Gulf.

Also, thanks to unions, starting pay for an offshore pilot in a Jet Ranger at Petroleum Helicopters is in the $40-45K range - low but almost-respectable.

Like anything else, if it was easy, everbody would be doing it. It can be done but you gotta start early and live out of your car for a few years, no different than a regional wanna-be.

For the record and my biased opinion, helos are worth the trouble. Even if you never fly them again, every pilot ought to go out sometime and buy an hour of dual in a Jet Ranger.
The hover alone will be worth it. But hey, I don't have any jet time and would love to advance the throttles on a Citation just once too. It's all good!

 

[starvingcfi]

what about flying for us customs? lots of excitement there. air interdiction would be awesome. just a thought.

www.customs.ustreas.gov/