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I was wondering if some of you could post a few reputable leasing companies on this forum.

 

I want to crunch some numbers. Must of the "numbers" so far, tell me its a terrible idea and way to much risk and money, but I just want to make sure.

 

Looking for an R-22. I don't think I can meet 40 hours a month. At least not at first. From my understanding their is a monthly minimum of hours I need to fly. Not sure if this can vary depending on who I lease from.

 

Thank you for your time and providing me information. Much appreciated.

 

 

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My advice would be to just go through a school. Then you don't have to deal with any of it. Remember when you lease, you not only have to pay the contract rate but also keep it is a safe place (hangar) and pay an instructor on top of it. Most likely would be more money and much more headache in the end.

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I leased an R22 for three years from Spitzer Helicopter Leasing Company. They were very good to me. There were some months when I did not meet the monthly minimum (30 hours/month) - one of which I was gone on military training for the entire month and the helicopter flew zero hours. But other months, I wrote them a check for 60+ hours. In the end, I only lost about $10,000 on the whole business, but to me that was worth it considering I logged about 600 hours and the whole business was a part-time job for me. (I worked on average 10 hours a week for the helicopter business.)

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Thank you for the input.

 

I am also thinking of doing this part time as well. Trying to average around 30 hours a month would be good. If I loose a little money then it would still be worth it as well, since this is my only way to fly. I am stuck in a bad spot for the next few years, just looking for options to fly. I realized that doing anything else drives me crazy.

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Most reputable leasing companies will not lease to anyone but an established flight school. I have leased from Spitzer Helicopter Leasing, Rosemary is awesome and will work with you anyway she can, but she also requires a minimum number of hours in your logbook before she will lease to you and you have to guarantee her you will put the hours on the ship. You are responsible for insurance, maintenance, fuel, oil, etc...

 

I own and lease, and for what its worth, you are better off buying an R22. Depending on what you are intending to use it for, there are plenty of high or mid time ships out there for sale at a decent price.

 

Good Luck

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Matt Spitzer passed but his wife (who ran the business for a long time after his health deteriorated) does a fine job. They divested all the betas (some to me) as most want to lease beta 2's which have more power at altitude but are more expensive to lease, purchase, overhaul, thirstier and with the longer stroke crank also rougher. We (like most of the population and students) fly near sea level. We take pictures of boats and its not really boating season. I will lease betas to those with a realistic plan to create new business but not to root business from someone else.

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Betas are nice, I've flown 13 of them...14 if you count the Mariner. HPs are cool too, only flown 1 of those though...they're a bit harder to find.

 

The other night flying a Beta solo I had so much extra power I could have taken it straight up to 200' easy!

:)

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Betas's and Raven 1's are money makers.....Beta 2 is nice, I happen to own one, but I never need the extra power, especially with the latest blades for the R22 being so much more efficient.

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I'm curious of your plan for frost patrol as I have the website www.frostpatrol.com, do you have any contracts or are you on the planning stages?

Planning.....just looking at options. I don't think I would be stealing work from the only other helicopter operator (SRT Helo). I do not think that he capitalizes on what the area has to offer and I think he is fairly busy. Like I have said before I believe there is an untouched (small) market for helicopters in this area. It is so small it's not worth the risk for me, I've decided.

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  • 3 weeks later...

We have a cfi class starting this Saturday. Anyone can audit it (get the groundschool for free) if you contact me. The last day of the cfi class is a van ride to Heli Expo and back. I suggest that the candidate self study and pass the Fundamentals of Instruction exam which can be studied in a long day. The self study for the Certified Flight Instructor exam is going to take a lot longer but I have the actual candidates (the ones that will pass easily) have both of these exams completed. And like it's said on my website for a decade, it is also suggested that you have 50 hours in the left seat as its narrower, sounds different and feels different from that seat: http://www.helicopteracademy.com/helicopter-training-certificate-cfi-h#.VOx14PnF-sg This would make a world of difference for the young pilot looking for a job.

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