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Because mountain, firefighting, R44, and ag training, as well as an Associates Degree in Aviation are not helpful to the entry level helicopter pilot, they just needlessly increase the already overwhelming cost of becoming a career pilot!

 

200 hours in an R22 and a CFII rating is what a wannabee needs to be marketable for entrylevel work. Anything else is just wasted money!

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Because mountain, firefighting, R44, and ag training, as well as an Associates Degree in Aviation are not helpful to the entry level helicopter pilot, they just needlessly increase the already overwhelming cost of becoming a career pilot!

 

200 hours in an R22 and a CFII rating is what a wannabee needs to be marketable for entrylevel work. Anything else is just wasted money!

From Admin LB

 

In my opinion, at a minimum, new pilots in the U.S. should complete their training with the following in order to be competitive and have the BEST chance of getting that first job:

CFII

175 hours in the R22.

25 hours in the R44.

This will give you the hours and experience to meet SFAR 73 in order to be able to teach in Robinson products.

It makes a HUGE difference what aircraft you train in. Although the S300 and Enstrom are good helicopters to fly and train in, the reality is that 95% of all flight schools in the US are using the R22 and R44. If you want to become a career pilot, by not training in Robinson products, you will have effectively cut yourself out of 95% of the 'first job' job market. Those are not odds I would want to start off with in an already competitive job market.

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Hi,

 

Good to hear that people are now trying to get exposure to new things in aviation market. Other type of training pilot can opt for are Mountain flight training, fire fighting training or agricultural flight training. Coming into the helicopter models for primary training Robinson R-22 and for advanced training Robinson R-44 is more feasible to go for. CCA offers varied aviation courses. For more info visit http://chartercollegeaviation.com

Ag flying.... not even remotely something a new pilot should be thinking about nor attempting to train for. You dont have the skill set or the aircraft handling experience to make a course worth it. Mountain training. Although Mountain training is great.... it has nothing to do with your PTS. During your initial training, unless you are just paying for extra flight time, you wont do enough "mountain training" to qualify as any type of real experience. Fire Fighting? Seriously, thats something entry level schools offer now? By the time you are an experience pilot with some time under your belt, fire fighting is really a pretty easy concept. That is easily something an operator could bring you on and teach you the basics of. Your very short fire fighting course will no doubt be about as basic as you can get. Dont waste your money. You arent going to learn anything that is going to impress some fire operator. Again, dont pay for anything that isnt related to the PTS and to be in a position to do what Admin LB recommends. Anything beyond that needs to be spent on flying, doing instrument/hood work or building night xctry. And absolutely... dont pay for any turbine time unless money is just no object for you.

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The only thing i would add to lynns minimum experience is it wouldn't hurt to get some 300 time.

 

Finish up with

Cfi/cfii

25 hours r44

25-50 in a 300

The rest in an r22 to get to 200 hours total time

 

A little 300 time opens up the doors to others schools in case your school doesn't hire you.

 

Op- with your weight you are probably limited to mostly 300 time. Even if you get light enough to train in an r22, it'd be real tough getting hired in an r22 above 185.

 

 

Get 50 of r44 time and the rest (100-150hrs more) 300 time if you cant get your weight down.

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