SilverState Helocopters

[Vsf]

I'm no fan of Silver State, but I have heard of a number of cases where their graduates went on to fly for PHI. Last price I heard was $70K, which included an instrument ticket and CFI. Not a route I'd take, but that doesn't mean it hasn't worked for some folks. The helicopter industry is very, very hard to break into, so I'm in favor of whatever lets chopper pilots follow their dreams. And, yes, I have been a full time helicopter pilot.

 

[NuGuy]

Heyas,

Both Vsf and Avbug are right on the money.

You can get into some decent money fairly quickly depending on how/what you fly. Heilo dollars go up quick at first but then flatten out for the long run. You might make more money at first, but over time the earning power is limited.

As Vsf said, the market is very corporate like to break into. You really need to know the right people if you are going to try to break into anything but the EMS/Oil Rig scene. As for the really big stuff like aerial crane...basically someone needs to die of old age before those jobs open up.

As for looking for the dual rated jobs...I'd certainly not get a chopper rating just to chase those. Those jobs will almost always go the to the heilo guy with some airplane ratings rather than the other way around.

YMMV...

Nu