Helicopter pilots licence.

-Corkie-

Well folks.

I want to get my Helicopter pilots licence. How do I go about it???

TW Mr Tayto

The very best way is to call a flight school, and talk to an FI (Flight Instructor) for information.

I'll leave some details of the school I'm most familiar with. I'm not saying it's the only one out there, but I would recommend them. If Weston (Lucan, Dublin) Newcastle(Wicklow), or Cork(Cork) would suit you as a training base, call a company known as Skywest Aviation (www.helicopters.ie for information)

The best way to start is to get a "voucher" from the company, usually for gifts: but if you mention it's a taster lesson with a view to starting a license/career, things will be explained in greater detail, than is usually needed for voucher bookings. When you come in then after the flight, ask about having a file opened up. They fly an R22 (Reg: EI-DZK) and and 2 R44 Raven 2 (Reg EI-JOR and EI-DDA)

aviteire

My own experience on this ;

Do the American helicopter pilot licence.

Its called a PPL (Private Pilots Licence). It is issued by the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration).

There are lots of schools that offer the course, but I'm going to reccomend "Cloud 9 Helicopters" in Florida.
I know that they have very skilled and experienced long term instructors and cloud 9 have trained half of the paddys flying choppers around Ireland.....

You need to look at this from an investment point of view (Unless you are really loaded!).

If you have an american licence, you can fly almost every type of chopper without the hassle of a paper trail.
The european/irish system known as (JAA) has alot more paper work attached to it and cost and you need to do a course to be able fly every type of chopper and it can get messy.
Fuel prices in Ireland are crazy and that alone should be enough to make you want to train in a country where you get more flying for your petrol money!!


Why do you want a heli licence? Do you plan to make a hobby of it or do you want to fly use the licence to earn a living?

If you let us know your plan we can point you in the right direction at bit more.

If you take flying lessons in Ireland you are looking at €400 an hour for a lesson.
If you take flying lessons in america you are looking at €220 an for a lesson. You do your own sums there

TW Mr Tayto

Aviteire has a point, I've heard of plenty of people doing their license (or at least, the commercial hour building) in the US.

Great weather, cheap flying, and no need for a type rating for light helicopters (although you still have SFAR 73 link)

I have herd rumblings that when the new EASA system comes in, that FAA (American) licenses will be near useless in European states.

I appreciate, Corkie that you're just looking for information, and these abbreviations will mean nothing to you.
Basically, there is a document set out by the JAA (Joint Aviation Authority Wikipedia Link) Called JAR FCL2, FCL stands for Flight Crew Licensing, and 2 means it's for helicopters.

The JAA system is soon to be scrapped, and an organization called the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), will be in charge of issuing flight crew licenses for Ireland, and naturally the EU.

I have heard people who understand it better than me say that American licenses will be near useless. Here is a link to it being discussed on another forum (flying in Ireland) http://www.flyinginireland.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=4989&start=0

If you click the link in their initial post, and look at the third paragraph you'll find this:

If passed into law, the proposal would adversely affect U.S. flight schools that train foreign pilots, as well as pilots coming to the United States for training. Pilots who complete their flight training in the United States would be required to repeat most of the exact same training upon returning to an EU state, and it would render the FAA instrument rating useless in Europe. U.S. aircraft manufactures and flight training schools will suffer from a downturn in business from Europe as it is unlikely anyone would invest getting a U.S. aircraft or license which lasts for one or two years, said Craig Spence, AOPA vice president of operations and international affairs.

The US is definitely a viable option, but I'd hate to see someone get burned, spending all that money - only to have to do it again in Europe.

cickybab

Remember that happened in 1996 with the French CAA.
They all of a sudden put a ban on the FAA system in france and I remember the american airlines, delta pilots etc got stuck in charles de gaul and so the yanks went one better and grounded all Air France planes in america! It almost started WW3 at the time (stupid frence), needless to say the french caa where not long letting the faa pilots fly there planes again that where grounded in france and the FAA let the air france planes stuck in JFK etc fly back to france.
It was a lesson learned back then.

-Corkie-

Thanks folks for that. The USA idea sounds good, how many hours lessons would I need before I would be qualified??

Preset No.3

-Corkie- wrote: »

Thanks folks for that. The USA idea sounds good, how many hours lessons would I need before I would be qualified??

Google is your friend here!

http://www.iaa.ie/files/2010/docs/srd/licensing/20100312063229_JAR%20PPL(H)%20Guidance.pdf

Costs: Depends on what you want, rush it in 3 weeks in the US, do it over the course of a year in the UK, or do it in Ireland where you will be told that 'ah your need another 10 hours' and you can expect to pay for 70-80 hours.

In the UK, I went to http://www.hieldsaviation.co.uk/pages/learn-to-fly/index.html

55 hours from start to finish. About £15k

-Corkie-

Preset No.3 wrote: »

Google is your friend here!

http://www.iaa.ie/files/2010/docs/srd/licensing/20100312063229_JAR%20PPL(H)%20Guidance.pdf

Costs: Depends on what you want, rush it in 3 weeks in the US, do it over the course of a year in the UK, or do it in Ireland where you will be told that 'ah your need another 10 hours' and you can expect to pay for 70-80 hours.

In the UK, I went to http://www.hieldsaviation.co.uk/pages/learn-to-fly/index.html

55 hours from start to finish. About £15k

Cheers I kinda had that price in mind. My brother has the small aircraft pilots licence. I was allready to go ahead with this but I must replace a part on a truck next week and its costing 12 grand...:mad::mad:

I am so Pisd off now.

Whats the cheapest chopper you could buy I seen that army base in the UK on top gear and they had a load of old ones parked up.

westdub

-Corkie- wrote: »

Whats the cheapest chopper you could buy I seen that army base in the UK on top gear and they had a load of old ones parked up.

They are not as cheap as you might think......

We have a guide price of between 75,000 to 175,000 Pounds each but there will be several
cheaper ones suitable for spares or rebuild. Our preference would be to
sell the whole lot as one batch with a quantity of approx 120 spare
blades. We would be looking for offers around 2,000,000 Pounds for the whole package.All are used not new and no other spares are included.

http://www.mod-sales.com/vehicle/search/29696/Gazelle_.htm