Rotary vs Fixed Wing Licence

Pugzilla

H,i I was just wondering what would the differences be between getting a private helicopter licence compared to a plane licence such as cost, access to training and average time required.

Thanks

martinsvi

I think the only ones doing helicopter training in Ireland are Skywest and they are located both in Weston and Cork. They quote the 60 min intro lesson at 199 Eur, if that's what the actual lesson costs then there isn't much of a difference between planes and choppers - most places charge about 180-210 an hour for planes.

Everything else is the same you need 45 hour minimum, most people take 50-55 hours, exams are pretty much the same.

It's what you do after the licence what makes the big difference - planes offer much more options with clubs, partial ownership, microlights and so on, so it really comes down to your needs and wants.. I don't think Skywest will be happy for you to rent their choppers for a longer period of time, for example, if you want to tour Europe, where as most fixed wing establishments will work something out for you as long as the aircraft is not involved in training.

Let me know how if you find something else regarding choppers, I hold a PPL(A) and you might say I'm getting a bit (H)i-curious

pepe the prawn

Choppers are considerably more expensive than fixed wing, Skywest in cork are circa €475 for an hours training in an R44. You'd get it for cheaper in an R22 but as far as I know once finished training you then have to get a type rating in order to be able to fly a different type to the one you trained in. At least that's the way it was when I last heard.

It's said that modern R44's are also more forgiving to fly than older models due to the introduction of hydraulic assisted controls, Skywest have one in cork which is only around a year or two old as far as I know.

Once you have a PPL(H) you are quite limited to types such as R22, R44, Schweitzer 300, whatever you trained in basically. Unless you progress to turbine, where you are literally looking at running costs per hour in the thousands.

martinsvi

pepe the prawn wrote: »

Choppers are considerably more expensive than fixed wing, Skywest in cork are circa €475 for an hours training in an R44.

that sounds more realistic... I was surprised when I saw them quoting 199 for an intro - most places in fixed wing business price intro pretty much the same as the real lesson, but asking around people quote something in the area of 10 eur per minute.

pepe the prawn

martinsvi wrote: »

that sounds more realistic... I was surprised when I saw them quoting 199 for an intro - most places in fixed wing business price intro pretty much the same as the real lesson, but asking around people quote something in the area of 10 eur per minute.

The intro flight price is just to get the hooks into you, and once they do, you're done, next thing you know you've 25k spent on training and you're looking at used R44's

Giving credit to Skywest, they are actually very reasonable for training, Sloane Mallorca (now called Balearic Helicopters) are €590 an hour on the R44 and they would be regarded as being competitively priced!