Commercial rotor vs commercial fixed wing vs PPL fixed Wing

[Richard Cheese]

Hi all,

My first post here. I’ve been asking the very few pilots I know, time to ask a larger audience.

My day job is boring, however it pays well enough I can finally resume flight training and buy myself a Piper Cub (or similar)

My question is long and multifaceted; is there a long period of living the working poor lifestyle when it comes to commercial flying? I’m very interested in making a carrier out of flying, but I’m 44 and don’t want to spend half of my remaining working years begging for cheap work.

Rotor pilot is the most appealing to me as far as commercial flying goes, however a commercial rotor pilot friend of mine worked his tail off for 8 to 10 years before he was able to start making decent enough money to save any of it. An airline pilot friend of mine was in the money about twice as fast, but airline work is much less appealing to me. I’d be looking at cargo, surveying, fire fighting eventually if I’m lucky. Would like to stay around Northern California/ PNW region as much as possible.

My predicament: If there is demand for commercial rotor work, and it pays well enough ($100k +) right out of the gate, then I’ll switch from fixed wing and go for commercial rotor wing asap.

If there is commercial fixed wing work that pays $100k +, I’ll stick with my current fixed wing training and continue on to commercial.

If neither of these commercial options start paying $100k plus in the first decade, I’ll just keep my well paying day job and stick with PPL and play on the weekends. I’d still prefer rotor wing, but that’s just not a hobby in my price range.

Any feedback is much appreciated, and I thank you in advance.

 

[Doc Holliday]

 

[flyingron]

One thing to note (at least it was true back when I was associated with a 141 school) is that you can get a Commercial/ASEL and add the Helicopter to it for the same price as getting the Commercial Helicopter alone (since some of your time building will be in the cheaper airplane rentals). Of course, if you want to come out of it with a higher number of rotorcraft hours, you might not want to do that.

 

[Richard Cheese]

One thing to note (at least it was true back when I was associated with a 141 school) is that you can get a Commercial/ASEL and add the Helicopter to it for the same price as getting the Commercial Helicopter alone (since some of your time building will be in the cheaper airplane rentals). Of course, if you want to come out of it with a higher number of rotorcraft hours, you might not want to do that.

That’s a very good point. The flight hours are the hardest part for me to acquire. Not much spare time that aligns with CFI’s availability as it is. I think I might have a harder time aligning my schedule with even fewer rotor CFI’s around, so I better decide sooner rather than later.

 

[Velocity173]

Depends on “right out of the gate” means. With a rotor commercial ticket and 250-300 hrs, no one is hiring you for $100K a year. It’ll be CFI work until you hit around 500 hrs and do tours. Then, when you rack up around 2,000 hrs you could approach $100K for a first starter job in 135 ops.

Typically though the fixed wing 135 route will pay slightly more than rotor once you’re a captain. Obviously the 121 route paying far more as well. Training wise I’d think they’d be cheaper overall to get your foot in the door vs rotor.

 

[frfly172]

Keep your well paying job,and go part 135 commercial fixed wing part time.

 

[Kritchlow]

You can easily make $100k+/year in a decade fixed wing. Likely $200k+

 

[Richard Cheese]

Keep your well paying job,and go part 135 commercial fixed wing part time.

I like that idea to build hours.

 

[Richard Cheese]

Depends on “right out of the gate” means. With a rotor commercial ticket and 250-300 hrs, no one is hiring you for $100K a year. It’ll be CFI work until you hit around 500 hrs and do tours. Then, when you rack up around 2,000 hrs you could approach $100K for a first starter job in 135 ops.

Typically though the fixed wing 135 route will pay slightly more than rotor once you’re a captain. Obviously the 121 route paying far more as well. Training wise I’d think they’d be cheaper overall to get your foot in the door vs rotor.

Sounds like fixed wing 135 will have more opportunities to get started. Maybe I’ll get lucky and fly for a company that also runs rotary wing so I can train more often in my down time.