Hi folks, Im ready to start actively pursuing my PPL (H) and Im desperate for any help I can get, particularly with choosing a school in the NoVa region. I've been studying rotorwing physics on my own for several years, and I hope to go towards a CPL(H). My limiting factor is cost, I have enough to most likely cover the private but nothing beyond that. Frankly Im concerned that Ill end up licensed, broke, and out of options. The army isnt an option unfortunately due to food allergies (but I can still obtain my air medical cert).
With that said, is there any steps I should take going into this to get started, and are there any schools that offer a program to train their own CFIs, or something similar?
My current plan is to charge hamfistedly into a random flight school throwing money at them and hopefully making some connections
Thank you immensely for your time.
Welcome to PoA and aviation.
I would hate to discourage anyone from pursuing aviation, but a lot has changed since I started flying over 40 years ago.
The biggest problem with helicopters is the cost. One of the most expensive, and most worthless certificates you can get, is the Helicopter, Private Pilot! Don't do it unless you're determined to work through to the very end, which should be minimally, Private, Instrument and commercial.
Once you have achieved all that, you've spent 10s of thousand of dollars and now you're approaching 150 hours or so. No one will hire you.
So now you need to get your CFI, and possibly even CFII. More money, and more time. Now you're approaching 200 hours. No one will hire you so you have to give flight instruction for a while.
If you haven't already figured it out, then around this time you realize that you probably want to fly turbines. That's where the money is. You'll need ballpark 1000 hours to get that first turbine job and If you don't have minimally 500 hours, it's going to be very difficult finding even the most menial helicopter job. So plan on at least a couple years, maybe even more, of giving flight instruction until you reach that magic number.
Once you get that first turbine job, depending on where it is and what you do, you might be able to get a utility job the next year or two.
My advice to you, and this is assuming you're not wealthy with money to blow... is to first and foremost, make sure this is something you want to spend a huge chunk of your life doing. Otherwise it's just a waste of a lot of money.
If it is what you want, try to get as much money as you can, and fly as often as you can. The more you fly and learn, the less money it's going to cost you because you will move through the process more quickly.
Don't worry about any of the exams right now, just start flying and begin studying. As you get closer (within 2 -4 weeks) of your checkride, take the practical exams. This way everything will be fresh in your mind and make your checkride that much easier. Do this with every rating.
Flying helicopters is not like flying airplanes. If you want to fly where the money is, you will spends weeks and months away from home. It is not the job for a family man/woman. It is the life of a nomad. Very exciting, very rewarding but very demanding and little family life.
Sure, there are some jobs with schedules, like med-evac, gulf, etc... but if you really love helicopters, and what you can do with them, you will never be happy in a job like that.
When you do all this and have around 500-1000 hours, shoot me a msg and I'll give you some good leads to begin your career.
Oh, and plan on spending a few seasons in Alaska.
