Help Needed

Eire celticbhoy

Sorry for bothering ye but im not sure if i want a career in helicopters or airplanes im in love with but and i cant make a decision .any help would be appreciated.
Thanks in advanced
Eire celticbhoy

AfterDusk

Try both and see which you prefer. I don't think you could get better advice than that.

The way I look at it is: If the engine fails on an aircraft, you can still glide home; but in a heli, you plummet

FOGOFUNK

neil2304 wrote: »

The way I look at it is: If the engine fails on an aircraft, you can still glide home; but in a heli, you plummet

No they dont.

See: Autorotation

donkey balls

heli are twice as expensive to train in as a fixed wing aircraft
i.e 1hr lesson in a heli is around 330 euro 1 hr in a fixed wing about 180 euro thats for ppl level.

diverdriver

Autorotation is a plummet, of a controlled sort:eek::D.

Good advice to try both, see which you prefer. Advantages/disadvantages. More jobs in fixed wing and usually better paid. Helicopter flying can be quite interesting, no two days are the same. But the same can be said of comparable fixed wing flying. It's more expensive to train on helicopters and most of the best jobs tend to go to ex military pilots.

It's hard to make a decent living as a heli pilot even when times are good. But usually that isn't a factor when you make your decision. But quite a few helicopter pilots eventually convert to fixed wing simple for better career options. The reverse is rarely true. But of course that means you can do both if you want.

Steyr

Hi OP, whats your age etc? Id go with the advice the fine members here have given, if you tried the Heli Option eventually id say you could make a nice little job out with Bristow flying to rigs in the North sea, but fixed wing seems to be the way to go.:)

Eire celticbhoy

Steyr wrote: »

Hi OP, whats your age etc?

Thanks for the help so far lads .Im 17 and in leaving cert at the moment

donkey balls

hi celticbhoy,
you have plenty of time to become a pro pilot/heli/fixed wing im sure there is other members here who will tell you to get an education i.e college degree etc.
that can be used as a back up plan if the pilot career does not work out the costs vary from school to school.
modular would cost about 65,000 euro
intergrated depending what school upto 98,000 euro those prices are for fixed wing i dont know what the costs would be for helis im sure one of the lads will be able to tell you here

Manic Moran

For anything other than airliner/freightliner flying, the jobs are in helicopters. Aerial surveillance, air ambulance, that sort of thing. Problem is that you're fighting against military-trained pilots for the slots. Non-jetliner civil fixed-wing tends to be more long-loiter surveillance missions, which are rare outside of places with large open spaces, like Western States in America. To get into the Jetliner business, you're now fighting against people with hours of jet time in the Air Force, particularly transport aircraft pilots. Neither is easy.

I think the helicopter job would be more satisfying, but I'm personally looking at the fixed-wing option. Then again, I live in a Western State in America.

NTM

diverdriver

Well if you're 17, the Air Corps might be recruiting again by the time you finish school. There you can do both and then decide. Not that's it easy to get in.

Aim to go to college anyway while considering options. The same advice I'd given to my own sons should they ever be foolish enough to consider becoming a pilot.:rolleyes:

AfterDusk

diverdriver wrote: »

The same advice I'd given to my own sons should they ever be foolish enough to consider becoming a pilot.:rolleyes:

What's that supposed to mean?

diverdriver

Bluntly, I wouldn't advise anyone to consider becoming a pilot unless they are really dedicated to the idea and are prepared for the downsides of which there are a lot. I was a dreamer never wanted anything else but to fly so I never went to college, never trained for anything except being a pilot. I have no qualifications worthy of the name. Take away my medical (another downside) and I'm unsuitable and untrained for most jobs.

Also the job itself has become less and less desirable or well paid as it once was. That won't change except to get worse. So if my sons expressed a desire to fly. I won't stop them but I will advice them of the downsides and suggest they go to college and then train to be a pilot with my help if neccessary, assuming I get a job above the minimum wage by then.

thesweeney

There is a careers show this weekend in Shannon. Also I dont know if you attended the Flyer Show in Dublin back in Sept. These both give good information on the fixed wing schools.
I was the same and picked fixed wing route. Cheaper to train - cheaper in the long run all around! I plan to get my Heli licenses in the future and it's a simple enough process. Heli ppl, convert cpl and IR. The fixed wing IR is miles cheaper than a heli IR so in the end you'll save money. I may have some of that info wrong on the conversion side of things, but spoke to the IAA and thats what I was told.

PILOT

well i was in the sme position as yourself last year and decided to go to England and do a hon degree in Airline and Airport management started in september and has been goin well so far!

Was planning on becomin a commercial pilot but failed my medical and plus there isnt many jobs in that section at the minute....

rav1410

PILOT wrote: »

well i was in the sme position as yourself last year and decided to go to England and do a hon degree in Airline and Airport management started in september and has been goin well so far!

Was planning on becomin a commercial pilot but failed my medical and plus there isnt many jobs in that section at the minute....

I hope you dont mind me asking but why/how did you fail your medical?

Im also interested in that course you spoke about.

Im 30 and really want a career change. Thinking about going to college to do something which will help me get a pilot job as I just went straight to work when I left school. Big mistake and one that I regret everyday

highlydebased

diverdriver wrote: »

Bluntly, I wouldn't advise anyone to consider becoming a pilot unless they are really dedicated to the idea and are prepared for the downsides of which there are a lot. I was a dreamer never wanted anything else but to fly so I never went to college, never trained for anything except being a pilot. I have no qualifications worthy of the name. Take away my medical (another downside) and I'm unsuitable and untrained for most jobs.

Also the job itself has become less and less desirable or well paid as it once was. That won't change except to get worse. So if my sons expressed a desire to fly. I won't stop them but I will advice them of the downsides and suggest they go to college and then train to be a pilot with my help if neccessary, assuming I get a job above the minimum wage by then.

Some good advice.

De_man

rav1410 wrote: »

I hope you dont mind me asking but why/how did you fail your medical?

Im also interested in that course you spoke about.

Im 30 and really want a career change. Thinking about going to college to do something which will help me get a pilot job as I just went straight to work when I left school. Big mistake and one that I regret everyday

I Reckon it's one of the following MSc courses
Cranfield, City University London or Loughborough (these are easily found online) doing one of these won't get you your airline pilot job though...when i did my MSc for the most part it was attended by airport staff & commerical pilots looking for the next step, nice to have but not really suitable at all looking for the "first flying job" I recommend do a PPL in your spare time and take it from there

diverdriver

I would agree with de_man, rav. There are no real university courses that help you get a pilot job. In fact technically speaking there isnt even a basic educational standard that pilot's have to attain except for the military and some flight schools. Although in practice most are well educated and many are college graduates. My advice is more to school leavers.

Putting all your eggs in one basket and becoming a pilot or trying to become a pilot can lead to a situation where if it doesn't work out or you lose your medical. You are in effect your not qualified for anything at all. Only being a pilot can be a positive disadvantage when applying for other jobs. You won't get low paid jobs, being overqualified and have no qualifications for better jobs. That's based on actual experience.

Aged thirty and thinking about how to go about it, you need to consider how you raise the money. Doing a long college course will only delay your pilot training and age is not on your side. However I would seriously consider doing something as a back up for the pilot thing maybe even something complementary.

donkey balls

diverdriver wrote: »

I would agree with de_man, rav. There are no real university courses that help you get a pilot job. In fact technically speaking there isnt even a basic educational standard that pilot's have to attain except for the military and some flight schools. Although in practice most are well educated and many are college graduates. My advice is more to school leavers.

Putting all your eggs in one basket and becoming a pilot or trying to become a pilot can lead to a situation where if it doesn't work out or you lose your medical. You are in effect your not qualified for anything at all. Only being a pilot can be a positive disadvantage when applying for other jobs. You won't get low paid jobs, being overqualified and have no qualifications for better jobs. That's based on actual experience.

Aged thirty and thinking about how to go about it, you need to consider how you raise the money. Doing a long college course will only delay your pilot training and age is not on your side. However I would seriously consider doing something as a back up for the pilot thing maybe even something complementary.

i agree 100% with driver never put all your eggs in the one basket and allways have a back up plan(im using mine at the moment).
as for working with airlines(non pilot)most people learn on the job all my mates never did a college degree in aviation and they run control centres for a major US freighter.
my back ground is in transport mgmt but i ended up working in flight ops i didnt know a thing about planes but learned along the way there is flight schools out there offering a degree in airport/airline mgmt the course is not worth the paper its written on.

PILOT

All the above posts are correct....im currently doin a BA hons in Airline and Airport Management in Buckinghamshire New University.
From the outset the lecturers explain that you will not become a pilot at the end of the course. In this course you learn about all aspects of aviation and how each aspect is controlled and managed.
My first year subjects include:
Ground Service Operations
Airline and airport marketing
People in Aviation
Structure and development of the air transport industry.

Job prospects include:
aircraft dispatch
route development
airport/airline management
GA sales person
etc etc......

to answer an earlier question i failed my medical because of mild vertigo which i didnt know i had until the medical.
There is a good few mature students on the course, even a few commercial pilots who were laid off.