Heilcopter Pilots? Anyone?

[muerto]

I was wondering any of you are helicopter pilots.  If so, can you please give me your opinion of the following:

Is it difficult to find a job as a helicopter pilot?

Is there a general shortage of helicopter pilots in the US?

Have you ever heard of Silver State Helicopters?  (And if so do you know anything about them, good or bad.)

Thanks

[Nilsen]

I think Gixer is a Niki pilot

[Wolfala]

Originally posted by muerto
I was wondering any of you are helicopter pilots.  If so, can you please give me your opinion of the following:

Is it difficult to find a job as a helicopter pilot?

Is there a general shortage of helicopter pilots in the US?

Have you ever heard of Silver State Helicopters?  (And if so do you know anything about them, good or bad.)

Thanks

1.  Yes i'm a rotor head as well as fixed wing.

Job placement - most of the guys getting jobs for corperate heli and government (i.e. police, fbi, dea) are ex Army or USMC heli guys. If you are trained as a civi, you are at a serious disadvantage because all of the time the military guys will have is heavy turbine.

2.  Helicopter guys are specialists - i've heard that there is a glut and a shortage, but I think the reality tends towards the shortage because there are so fewer heli pilots over fixed wing.

3.  Silver state - no. where are they located?

Wolfala

[muerto]

Wolfala,
Nevada is "the Silver State" so as you might guess that is where they are headquartered.

However, when they move into an area, their business model has them train non-pilots who already live in the area to be pilots whom they then hire; thus bringing jobs to an area.  They say they do this because in the past they have been unable to find qualified pilots who they wanted to hire.

They have recently come to San Diego and say they are looking to hire 35 people to become pilots.

The deal is one of those where you have to think "Well, it sounds too good to be true, so it probably is."

However, they have been at it for several years and I can not find anything negative about them.

They claim there is a helicopter pilot shortage, (something like only 16000 commercially licensed heli pilots in the US) and that consequently helicopters have stopped flying all but essential missions so the shortage isn't as apparent as it should be.

Their goal is to create jobs (everything from sightseeing tours, law enforcement, border patrol, charter flights, etc, etc) for the pilots they train and hire.

From what I can tell, they seem to have been successful in Las Vegas, Utah, and other parts of CA.

I'm trying to figure out if I'm going to take the bait.

[senna]

Jet fighters rule! Helichoppers are cool as well just not as fun as jet fighters!

[Gixer]

Originally posted by muerto
I was wondering any of you are helicopter pilots.  If so, can you please give me your opinion of the following:

Is it difficult to find a job as a helicopter pilot?

Is there a general shortage of helicopter pilots in the US?

Have you ever heard of Silver State Helicopters?  (And if so do you know anything about them, good or bad.)

Thanks

"Is it difficult to find a job as a helicopter pilot?"

Yes extremely difficult. Mainly because operators will state minumum PnC time usually in the 1000 plus hours range for the type of helicopter in use. This is 1000 plus turbine time, non turbine time is worth next to nothing.

Also they might have 10 or 20 resumes for one job offering and obvioulsy they are going to select the person with the most experience that they can afford.

Operating helicopters is a very expensive business and often there isn't much left over to pay the pilots, so quite often operators will take on guys who will fly for nothing, which allows the pilot to get some stick time and the operators to save on some expenses.

Most helicopter pilots (unless they come through the military) first job will be as an instructor which of course requires an instructor rating and usually a minimum of 300 hours in type like a Robinson or H300.

As an instructor you can build up your hours and do the odd charter work. Again gaining turbine time is difficult to come by you really have to push and go for anything possible. Also as an instructor you earn bugger all.

You have to be willing to travel anywhere in the world and do anything to get your foot in the door and start logging some time. Even once you have a few hours you'll still be traveling around alot. Great if you like that lifestyle.

What often get refered to as "Good Jobs" flying for the local TV station,Police,Medical or what ever are taken up by those with 5000 plus hours and once in won't be leaving anytime soon. So thinking you might be able to get a job in your home town working for the local TV station or whatever could be along way off if ever.

Another thing to keep in mind is that you have to be physically and medically fit. A failure in obtaining your medical certificate at any time can end your career. Good friend of mine at 36 had his flying career ended by bad ECG result


"Is there a general shortage of helicopter pilots in the US?"

I'm not sure on the US as I'm only familiar with NZ,Aussie,Pacific Islands,Papa New Guinea. But there always seems to be or currently more pilots out there then jobs available. Mainly because there really aren't all that many operators out there. That haven't already got very qualified guys working for them on a regular basis. Plus pilots being a global market they have guys constantly sending in resumes looking for work.

Helicopter operators in NZ that I know would probably receive a resume a week atleast from people looking for work.

No idea what the US or Canada markets are like, but as far as I know there is no shortage or forcasted shortage.


"Have you ever heard of Silver State Helicopters?  (And if so do you know anything about them, good or bad.)"

Absolutely nothing. Only advice I can give there is which ever school you decide to do your training with. Make sure they are also a Commerical Operator! Single most important thing to look for if your going commerical. As they will often provide your first jobs and/or contacts.


Sorry to be a bit grim but you have to be realistic. Receiving the usual "Yes but if you work hard you'll get there" etc is nice but again you have to be realistic as flying helicopters takes alot of time dedication and most of all money. True at the end of the day after alot of hard work, very very hard work you might have a career flying helicopters.

But really unless your able to go through the military for flight training or single with heaps of spare cash. I would say you need to think long and hard about your expectations and what your looking for.

If you have some spare cash and always wanted to fly, go for a PPL get a turbine rating if you can afford it and enjoy your flying. Pretty much what I do now except for when ever the odd job comes up through contacts.

There are plenty of Helicopter related sites on the net with job related information. It will give you an idea of requirements. Don't expect a realistic answer from instructors as they are there to sell you a licence they don't necessary really care what happens next.

If you'd like to discuss this more or any other questions please feel free to contact me.

desther@paradise.net.nz



...-Gixer
(CPL-H  R22,H300,H500)

[Heater]

Just remember this:

two types of Aircraft, Fighters & Targets

Choppers are in the last  

[Gixer]

Originally posted by Heater
Just remember this:

two types of Aircraft, Fighters & Targets

Choppers are in the last  

And your experience is? Or just a quote you like to use from a book on fighter pilots you've read?



...-Gixer

[Wolfala]

Gixer pretty much hit it on the head. The only place where helicopters are needed is the military. And that is a committment in of itself complete with the problem of AAA and MANPADS. If you have the money for the civilian ratings - if you wanted to "buy" the time u needed, that is all of the ratings + the turbine time to meet the minimum requirements for getting hired - you are looking at a mortage in the $100,000 range. And to be quite honest even that # is an underestimate. $250,000 is more realistic b/c a Bell 206 banks out at $500 per hour. There is a reason why greater then 95 % of helicopter pilots were ex Army or Marines - its cheaper.

[Replicant]

Look out for Blast who is US Army helicopter pilot.  JoGee used to be a US Army helicopter pilot too, and I'm not sure if he instructs?  Tjay is ex-RAF helicopter pilot.

[mora]

You should try to ask at PPRuNe:
http://www.pprune.org/forums

This is a thread conserning SSH:
http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?threadid=114777&highlight=silver+state+helicopters

[muerto]

Thanks all for your posts.

I think as of today I have decided not to go with them.

[Habu]

Gixer is 100% right on.

I am going to take lessons this fall just for fun. It will probably cost cloes to 40k to get a license even with my ultralight license and my PPL license experience. The ground school and theory are a piece of cake. The cost is all for building hours. I asked the school about job placement and they said that you need to earn time and the way to do that is to work for free for some operator and hope they give you stick time as a reward.

Work for free means sweep floors, empty trash and answer phones not fly as a co pilot for free.

The ex military guys will get all the jobs as they have the hours and the experiece. You will have maybe 100 hours total after lessons and you will be lucky to have 5 in a turbine. How will you get up to 1000 turbine which is the minimun you will need to get a job? Turbine time is 500 a hour. Do the math.

I am too old to ever hope to get a job in aviation (anyone over 30 starting out is probably too old) but I intend to fly for fun. I can write off the lessons so they actually cost about half of what I pay for them as I will get the rest back on my tax return. But except for teaching ground school there is really no chance of getting a job in the field. Too bad it would be cool.

[Dux]

Rotorcraft pilot here... only private, though. If you are not military and not a millionaire, then your only hope of becoming a paid commercial helicopter pilot is to become an instructor for a few years and build up your hours that way.

Definitely do it as a hobby, though... there is nothing else like it. Fixed-wingers will never understand.

ps. oh yeah... your fixed-wing PPL may hinder you a little. There are a lot of bad habits (bad for helis, that is) that you will have to unlearn.

[Gixer]

Originally posted by muerto
Thanks all for your posts.

I think as of today I have decided not to go with them.

Muerto,

You can always go for the trial flight and see what you think, if your totally dedicated you do what I did and just do a few lessons at a time work 3 jobs and after about 18mths you'll have your PPL and if you still have some cash left over can enjoy it by taking friends and family to the beach.

Main thing is not to think that you'll be able to walk into a job with a CPL and 150 hours. Unless of course your dad owns HeliJet then I'd say go for it. :-)

Best of luck.



...-Gixer