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Fixed Wing Time..Does it count?


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New member.

 

Just a general question about fixed wing time. I'm a new helicopter CFI slowly working to get my rotor time. I have 2000 hours fixed wing. Lots of stuff from teaching in 152's to Baron time.

 

When going for a helcopter job, is any of this fixed wing time worth anything? Will the employer generally be a little more flexible about the minimums? I know this probably varies from job to job...

 

I know this is a gray question, but any light shed on the subject from somone who has experienced it first hand would be helpful.

 

Thanks in advance!

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I can tell you from experience (because I'm in the same position), that it doesn't help for your first two jobs, but it does help after that.

 

You'll still have to do the CFI thing to get to 1,000 total helicopter time, then you'll need to work in the Gulf of Mexico, or fly tours in Vegas or Alaska, to get some turbine helicopter time.

 

That being said, I worked in the Gulf 6 months before getting hired into an EMS job, so it can happen pretty quick if you've already got fixed-wing turbine time (I've got a few hundred hours of it) to add to your helicopter turbine time.

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  • 2 weeks later...
New member.

 

Just a general question about fixed wing time. I'm a new helicopter CFI slowly working to get my rotor time. I have 2000 hours fixed wing. Lots of stuff from teaching in 152's to Baron time.

 

When going for a helcopter job, is any of this fixed wing time worth anything? Will the employer generally be a little more flexible about the minimums? I know this probably varies from job to job...

 

I know this is a gray question, but any light shed on the subject from somone who has experienced it first hand would be helpful.

 

Thanks in advance!

 

Often the employer doesn't have much say in the matter...the insurance company does! But your fixed wing time will always be there if/when the opportunity comes along requiring a dual rated pilot. In my case I was recently denied a job because I hadn't had factory training in a Bell 206. This right after I ferried a Bell 206L3 down from Canada for an operator and had just finished the season of crop spraying and 500 hours in the preceeding 3 1/2 months! Compound my confusion since I have over 9,000 hours rotor and well over 1000 of it in B-206 plus another 12-13,000 of fixed wing and many thousand hours of turbine! well worth the cost to go to any factory school like Bell or Eurocopter, spend the 5-7K and get the certificate showing attendance. Often it will get you a job even with low time just because you satisfy the insurance company!

Rocky ATP ASMELS Rotor IFR, CFII/RAM

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