Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: ozrocker on May 10, 2012, 08:01:57 AM
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Here ya go Selino :aok How's the packet coming?
Seems younger Generations not interested in flying Helos.
http://now.msn.com/money/0509-helicopter-pilot-shortage.aspx
:cheers: Oz
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It's even more expensive than fixed wing training, and (atleast around here) there aren't many helo training facilities.
The few helicopter pilots I know make good money. 3 of the four I know learned to fly in the military, one paid for his training out of pocket.
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When I was at andrews last year talking to a marine CH-46 pilot who was going to transfer into V-22s he was trying to convince me to join the Marines because they needed more pilots specifically rotor winged and apparently everryone gets a shot at pilot training if they want it. He points at the the F-15E flying around and says "why do you want to be around those anyway? they are loud and will mess up your hearing". I laugh shake his hand and tell him ill think about it. The whole time he would cover his ears when a jet would come by as it would hurt his hearing. He is smarter than me. :)
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Is there really a shortage of helicopter pilots or is there a shortage of people willing to train as civilian helicopter pilots? In other words it's the flight school that is suffering the shortage of pilots not the industry. I would have thought that in the US there would be quite a few retiring military helicopter pilots. Not quite as many as during the Vietnam era. But still quite a few.
Any civilian trained pilot is going to have to compete with highly experienced and trained ex military pilots. In this country there is definitely no shortage and the best jobs go to ex military pilots. Our Coastguard, which is civilian has mostly ex RAF, RN and Irish Air Corps pilots. Any civvies they hire come through oil industry. You sure as hell won't get in with a Robinson rating and three hundred hours.
I'd say most guys interested in flying helicopters go for the military. Why pay for it when the government pays you to train?
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Is there really a shortage of helicopter pilots or is there a shortage of people willing to train as civilian helicopter pilots? In other words it's the flight school that is suffering the shortage of pilots not the industry.
I'm sure this is it. There will never be a shortage of people who want to fly.
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Seeing as how it cost almost $300/hour to rent an R22 almost all of the helo pilots will be coming out of the military. A helicopter add on costs almost $15000 for someone who is already a pilot. Lots of dollars.
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And as cpxxx said, that's Robinson time.
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I'm sure this is it. There will never be a shortage of people who want to fly.
Absolutely.
I recall that not very long ago a hello school in NV closed its doors with no refunds for the students who somehow had agreed to take out loans and prepay for training. If memory serves some of the personal losses were in six figures.
Anybody know if the pay for a helo pilot would even come close to making it financially rational to pay to qualify for an entry level job?
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Absolutely.
I recall that not very long ago a hello school in NV closed its doors with no refunds for the students who somehow had agreed to take out loans and prepay for training. If memory serves some of the personal losses were in six figures.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_State_Helicopters
they also had a pretty big operation here in New Braunfels, and ol' Jerry lived here. He got run out of town though, and rumor has it he is hiding. (and for good reason)
Silver State had a bike built for them by OCC and was delivered here to New Braunfels.
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Thanks for the link. What is it about aviation there seem to be plenty of good people in it but there also seem to be a lot of scum and scams. Death freight flying, counterfeit parts, fly by night charters etc. etc. That whole outfit at Silver State should be in jail.
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Thanks for the link. What is it about aviation there seem to be plenty of good people in it but there also seem to be a lot of scum and scams. Death freight flying, counterfeit parts, fly by night charters etc. etc. That whole outfit at Silver State should be in jail.
Unfortunately it was only the very top that knew something was awry. We have a whole bunch of helicopter flight schools that popped up when Silver State went bankrupt, the helicopters were auctioned off for peanuts and folks bought them to start their own flight school.
http://home.veracityaviation.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=26&Itemid=28
notice - founded february 2008. Same month Silver State went bankrupt. My understanding is a few of the CFIs pooled their funds and bought 2 R22s and 1 R44
http://www.helitourstx.com/about.htm
I personally know Steve and John, both great guys that bought a few helicopters and started their own business.
I think all in all, Silver State going under was good. It gave lot's of people the opportunity to start a business that would have otherwise not had one. I agree that the silver state fat cats should be in jail, however.
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I have been told by a friend who is in the Air Force Reserves and used to fly AC-130s and now flies the MC-130s that the USAF is wanting to convert a bunch of fixed wing pilots over to rotor wing in order to fill the shortages that the USAF is going to have in the not to distant future for their rotor wing units.
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There is no shortage of pilots boys. Read the comments below the article. this is an ad by the helo training school to drum up business. be careful before you post this kind of drivel OP.
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Mainly as noted it was for Selino, who is in the Army and trying to get into Helo School :aok
I did not write the article, merely posted it here. Not my job to research anything, as I am not an editor
or reporter. Nor am I a Helo Pilot, or run a School.
I posted for the benefit (if any) of anyones interest.
If it gets to you that much, write the Author of original story :aok
:cheers: Oz
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No there isn't a shortage of pilots at all. There is going to be a massive shortage of helo drivers in the future in all areas of the service.
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I've been out of aviation for about 3 years now, but I do remember fling-wing training was very very expensive. As has been noted about
$300 for light piston helos, and I seem to remember about $1500 an hour for a Bell 206 up in NJ. Sometimes it pays off though. There was a
very nice blonde who paid her own way through Sikorsky school while flying a Be-90 right seat. It didn't take long before she showed up across
the ramp in AT&T's Sk-76B making very good money.
I think she maxed out all her credit cards to the tune of around $15K for the rating. I'm also not sure if she had some sort of agreement
with the chief pilot at AT&T, as she got that job very soon after passing. I guess it didn't hurt that she was hot either :D
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Here ya go Selino :aok How's the packet coming?
Seems younger Generations not interested in flying Helos.
http://now.msn.com/money/0509-helicopter-pilot-shortage.aspx
:cheers: Oz
They're smart - helicopters don't fly, they're so ugly the earth repels them.
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They're smart - helicopters don't fly, they're so ugly the earth repels them.
naw, they just beat the air into submission.
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Queers cant hover though :neener:
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I live a good hour and a half away from mother rucker and they are pushing out pilots like crazy. I see Apaches and chinooks alot using the old Aux fields from eglin.
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Selino what part of Florida? I will be down with my buddy who lives in Navarre around Memorial Day weekend and he is trying to get me a flight on an MC-130 for a training run that he is scheduled to fly one night to drop some SF and Rangers into Eglin for an exercise down there. He flies out of Duke which is right across the highway from the 7th SF compound. Plus that part of Florida is in my sales territory as well.
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if I were 15 years younger. . .
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Selino what part of Florida? I will be down with my buddy who lives in Navarre around Memorial Day weekend and he is trying to get me a flight on an MC-130 for a training run that he is scheduled to fly one night to drop some SF and Rangers into Eglin for an exercise down there. He flies out of Duke which is right across the highway from the 7th SF compound. Plus that part of Florida is in my sales territory as well.
I live 5 minutes up the road from Duke LOL
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Im becoming a Warrant Officer for the Army :P
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Down in florida at one school it was ~$300-350 per hour for a freaking Schweiser 300 (Hughes 300). It was going to be over $15k for the entire training course and i believe that was for just a private license.
(http://www.hubschrauberfreak.de/uploads/pics/hughes300_1.jpg)
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Commercial rating on helicopters up here is over 50K nowadays.
Private will set you back a cool 25 to 30K.
You have to really want to do this.
Couple that with the ever increasing restrictions put on low hour helicopter pilots by our customers (industry) and it makes it hard for a new pilot to gain hours and experience.
All adds up to a shortage, as us older guys are slowing down and looking to be home more and or retire. It leaves a big gap.
cheers,
RTR
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50MbPACZF-4 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50MbPACZF-4)
Ten of these guys crash and burn a year.
Looks like a hoot to me though.