I want to become a helicopter pilot. I live on the West Coast of burger land and I am not sure exactly what jobs are available to me after 150 hours. Everything I was able to find requires the 2000+ hours of flight time.So, my question is, should I be under the impression I can get a novice level job after flight school, or should I plan to commit a huge amount of my time and financial resources to get that 2000+ hour mark so I can apply for those $114k+ jobs that seem to be all I can find?I am not sure what other certifications I would need, and I'm open to input, however, I want this to be my career for the rest of my life, I want to enjoy it, love my job, and possibly build a personal company around it. Can I get some advice that maybe isn't found in a youtube video on general flight school questions to ask?
>>2049178Also, what online ground schools are best?Gleim, King's School, Sporty's?Gleim and Sporty's seems to be cheapest, but King's has a lot additional options that is unclear if it is covered by Gleim and Sporty's. Do any of them help? If they help, do they all help the same way, so would just signing up for the cheapest be the best option?
>>2049178You're pretty much limited to life flights and news choppers, and they just recruit straight from the military, so unless you're planning on learning to fly at Ft. Novosel, your only prospect is tour guide until shoddy maintenance ends your career in fiery tragedy.
>>2049178Getting a helicopter slot with the army national guard is pretty easy. Why wouldnt you want to fly fixed wing though? they make way more money and you dont need to go through the military
>>2049194I've checked with jobs here and they make significantly less. But maybe I wasn't looking at the right jobs. If I hit the 2000+ hour mark, what jobs would I qualify for? I do not want to work for the military.
>>2049199>I've checked with jobs here and they make significantly lessairplane pilots? They definitely 100% do not make less than helicopter pilots. Even charter and corporate pilots make more. US Airline pilot is one of the best W2 jobs you can get in the world
>>2049178I got my PPL, CPL, and CFI on the west coast. Got a position as an instructor and tour pilot. Currently building time, around ~700 in Robinsons. Got my instrument and II shortly after starting.My advice is to get in at a school and be a model citizen. Clean the birds. Take out the trash. Wipe down the oil pans. Do not overspeed.If they like you they'll hire you. I had to wait about a month for a position to open.A lot of helicopters pilots have CFI but don't work because they pissed off their school or just have a shitty attitude. I know others who quit with II shortly after getting a job cause they realized they have poor stick skills, situational awareness, and radio work.Other pilots I know got their CPL and started work flying big birds as SIC but since they don't have PIC it doesn't mean shit. They're seriously regretting it.Unless you want to join the military (which sucks ass and their training sucks dick) you're gonna have to fork over the cash and get CFI and hope you don't fuck up your relationship with your school so you can get a position if one opens.Lots of pilots right now sending in resumes that trained from other schools so we know nothing about them and can't just let some rando skip in line in front of someone who trained in house.If you do that show up in person and talk to the owner and don't smell.You don't get paid shit ~$25 an hour. We don't get a lot of business either, work maybe 20 hours a week, 10 of those flying.Unless you have money this is not the career for you.On the bright side life is fucking awesome. You meet so many cool people, do awesome things, and see the most spectacular sights. I absolutely love it.Maybe I'll get bored of it but for now I'm having a good time and I highly recommend this path if you're skilled, diligent, and love to learn.In the future I want to get on a tuna boat
And oh yeah, airplane guys seethe HARD. Yeah they make more money but we have more fun doing off airports, autos, and actually flying an aircraft instead of riding in it.Inb4 "mast bumping", shit is a meme bro, low RPM overpitching from private pilots at high DA and heavy weight is way more dangerous. NTSB even says there has been ZERO mast bumps in the 44 but boomers and dcs huey sim pilots won't stfu about it
>>2049462Airplane pilots do not think about you.
>>2049199Look at flightradar24 and compare the thousands of airliners to the one or two helicopters flying at aby moment. You are competing against military pilots for a dozen slots
>>2049464See, look at them seethe. Maybe in the next life or your children can do real flying
>>2049464I’m dual rated & work as both there’s definitely way way way more seethe from the fixed wing world toward rotors than the other way around. Particularly from all the women and brownoids who think they are hot shit but have zero actual flying skill.Anyways, OP if you can handle getting your ass absolutely handed to you it’s become en vogue for helicopter aerial applicator companies to pay for their driver/loaders to get their helicopter ratings. You pay for that shit in pain, but for three half-summers of work you can get a commercial license without and enough industry contacts to get a good job.
>>2049507>>2049462The thing about being a airplane guy is that I can afford a helicopter for fun lel
>>2049461How many times have we seen it where SIC’s get passed over by their own companies for outside hires with the requisite PIC time. It’s fool’s gold.
>>2049199why not? don't you want to fire missiles at civilians? you were just following orders!
>>2052816military helicopter pilots are generally dogshit
>>2049461>I know others who quit with II shortly after getting a job cause they realized they have poor stick skills, situational awareness, and radio work.suddenly regretting that one heli ride I took at oshkosh
>>2049199>If I hit the 2000+ hour mark, what jobs would I qualify for?wildland fire.(possibly fewer hours with some state agency ships, I seem to have heard that e.g. Florida state forestry has a reputation as babbys first fire pilot job, but the big contractors + Cal Fire are fairly picky, I believe)come to think of it, there's quite a bit of helicopter use in ag (spraying, seeding), maybe look into those companies?
>>2055949There are more working navy seals than there are working ag pilots in America. Most of them are fixed wing too.But look if you are willing to work on the ground and endure the absolutely barbaric accident rate it can be doable. The problem is its pretty intense flying, a lot of guys cannot land on the truck nor handle the monster long days.
>>2056028>There are more working navy seals than there are working ag pilots in America. Most of them are fixed wing too.noted. there seems to be quite a bit of ag aviation, both fixed-wing and rotary, in my neck of the woods but I'm definitely willing to accept that we have a disproportionate concentration of it. Or that it's just a small number of airframes that are super visible in spraying and seeding seasons. I also heard at one point that the pipeline to flying at least small fixed-wing air tankers (AT-802s) usually involves cropdusting, so I guessed it might have been similar for rotary. But maybe not.
>>2056039Bigger water bombers have a different trajectory but basically all SEAT pilots have 137 experience.
>>2049846I dunno man, every pilot I've talked to about it says those crop duster guys don't stay healthy too long...
>>2049178Heli pilots are the best
>>2056315Helicopter is all fungicide and foliar. Maybe some insecticide but that’s in limited concentrations and though acutely a pain isn’t bad for you long-term.Herbicide is bad.
>>2056315Crop dusting can get very messy with no notice.It comes with the territory.
