tattooed Posted February 25, 2008 Report Share Posted February 25, 2008 I'd love to hear from HAI folks, but anyone's advice is req'd..... I have now had 3 people STRONGLY recommend that when I start my instrument training, I do it in the R44.Reasons (I was told), I will not only get rated in the 44, but I'll be able to teach Inst in it, thus making myself more marketable as a CFII. I can get as much time as allowed in the sim, then the rest in the 44 to save $$$.We also only have 1 inst ship now at our Hillsboro Campus, and it seems that we may have alot of students who will be going for Inst at the same time. May be tough to get time in it. Money aside, what's yah'lls input? Will it really help or just be a waste of $$. Will an R44 rating help in in the future?HAI is a big school, and I'm afraid that the CFI openings will be highly competetive. I am born/raise in this area, married, and own a home, so I will not relocate. HAI is where I want to be....LONG term. I need to make myself as marketable as possible. Thankfully, one advantage I already have over "da boyz", is that I'm 112 lbs. So I'll have no restrictions of student weight! I am studying my a$$ off, and trying to get near perfect scores on all my tests (so far so good). I haven't had the opportunity to talk to my CFI about it. Plus I wanted to get more feedback 1st. He's not rated in the R44 yet, so I'll need someone who is. I'm also considering "da notion" of being a career CFI, or at least for long-term. Reason is I LOVE to teach...been teaching and mentoring Vet Tech's my entire career and I really enjoy it. I love teaching adults (could never teach children) and I've considered getting a teaching Cert. for College level science. Since I started flight school this CFI think looks incredible ($$ aside...thank goodness hubby makes good $$!!!). Any and all feedback is helpful. PM's welcome, too! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pogue Posted February 25, 2008 Report Share Posted February 25, 2008 Any and all feedback is helpful. PM's welcome, too!You're plenty light enough to do IFR in an R22, I'd stick with that. I had considered doing the same thing, but if was pointed out that R44 instrument time doesn't buy you much in the 44 since you won't be doing autos, etc. I ended up doing IFR in the 22 and Commercial in the 44 which worked out a lot better for me. That would be my suggestion. Feel free to PM me if you want details... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dooly3006 Posted February 25, 2008 Report Share Posted February 25, 2008 I would say it deffinetly depends on if you are staying in Hilsboro for sure. Yes having your time in the R44 makes you much more marketable as a CFII if you are going to work for another school. It also helps if you ever plan on moving on from instructing as there are alot of R44 jobs out there right now and more coming from what I have seen. Even if you move on to another job in something other than a R44 it helps bacause of how much different the R44 handles compared to a R22. If you do your instrument traaing in the R44 and plan on getting your CFII you do have to do some auto's, govener off operations ect., good enough to get the endorsment to instruct in the R44. Having said all of that, it sounds like you are planning to stay in Hilsboro are intstruct there so a R44 sign off really does you no good (assuming they stilll do their instrument training in a R22). I would suggest going for a flight in the R44 and seeing how you like it. You may find that it is worth the extra money just to fly the R44 for a while, especially if you plan on staying an instructor the rest of your career flying R22's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NorCalHeliKid Posted February 25, 2008 Report Share Posted February 25, 2008 I spent the money and did the IR in the 44...my take is that it was well worth the time, money, experience and ease of flying something less touchy than the 22 for inst. training. I also did 2 flights of autorotations so that Im actually worth a damn flying it and can have a PIC endorsement. If you use an FTD for the rest, the cost comes out darn close to the 22 with no FTD. If you dont get a guaranteed job at HAI (which most people dont have the luxury) there are a few other schools that use the 44 for the IR as well as tours... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Voyager11 Posted February 27, 2008 Report Share Posted February 27, 2008 I spent the money and did the IR in the 44...my take is that it was well worth the time, money, experience and ease of flying something less touchy than the 22 for inst. training. I also did 2 flights of autorotations so that Im actually worth a damn flying it and can have a PIC endorsement. If you use an FTD for the rest, the cost comes out darn close to the 22 with no FTD. If you dont get a guaranteed job at HAI (which most people dont have the luxury) there are a few other schools that use the 44 for the IR as well as tours... I am finishing up my instrument now in a R44 and it has been worth every penny. As a matter of fact I have done all of my training in an R44 and have never stepped foot in a 22. I'm lucky I have an Astro instrument ship that is owned not leased "makes a big difference" so my rental is way low. Not to mention a lot of R44 owners will make deals if you buy time in fifty hour blocks. As far as autos or hover autos go, the R44 is the ship for that. Flying instrument in and Astro is easy even without hydraulics. My check ride is in less then two weeks if all goes well my II is next. But in the end I guess what ever you are comfortable flying is what you should go with, being comfortable with what you fly is conducive to your training. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C.R.O. Posted February 28, 2008 Report Share Posted February 28, 2008 Tattooed, I was debating back and forth, and was leaning against doing my time in the R-44, but in the end I decided it would be worth it for various reasons. Unlike you, my weight isn't exactly an asset (200#), so I am trying to make myself competitive The only person who can really determine if it's the right choice is you, of course your instructor can help guide you. I would talk to him, he really is a good guy, and I think he will steer you in the right direction for you. Good luck. Conor Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bellpilot Posted February 28, 2008 Report Share Posted February 28, 2008 Hi, Leading Edge Aviation in Bend, Oregon is just about to put an R44 Astro in their flight school to give students some $300 hr. 44 time. This is not a instrument ship but they do have (2) Raven II instrument ships. www.flybend.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeffmK Posted February 28, 2008 Report Share Posted February 28, 2008 Just to throw another option at you, why not do IFR training in a Schweizer 300? That way you would be avoiding the R-22 stability issues, save yourself tons of money on the rental, and become more marketable with 300 time. The only drawback compared to the R-44 would be on the long IFR cross country, the 300 will take longer. Thats what I did anyway, and the speed didn't bother me, I was building time so whats the rush? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tattooed Posted February 28, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 28, 2008 Just to throw another option at you, why not do IFR training in a Schweizer 300? That way you would be avoiding the R-22 stability issues, save yourself tons of money on the rental, and become more marketable with 300 time. The only drawback compared to the R-44 would be on the long IFR cross country, the 300 will take longer. Thats what I did anyway, and the speed didn't bother me, I was building time so whats the rush? I actually have considered that. I wasn't sure if our 300's are Inst ships (never asked), and I'm too busy focusing on completing my PVT too really go too crazy right now. I did have a brief conversation with my CFI about the R44 as far as just getting HOURS is concerned. He totally recommended it, and I told him I have already planned on at least getting time in it.... ANothr question....when I do my Inst training, do ALL of my hours need to be in a particular ship (R44, R22 or 300?) or can I "mix-n-match" and take my checkride in whichever one I am most comfortable in? I have no idea how that works. sandy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lelebebbel Posted February 28, 2008 Report Share Posted February 28, 2008 you can mix and match as much as you want, and its probably not a bad idea to do that- flying 40 hours with a hood on in the same ship does get boring once in a while Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeffmK Posted February 29, 2008 Report Share Posted February 29, 2008 Yeah Tattooed, actually there are quite a few Schweizer 300's out there equipped for IFR training. I don't know if you guys have one up there at HIO, but we have a 300C IFR trainer down here in Newberg. I did my IFR training in that ship and it all worked out pretty good, electric cyclic trim is your friend! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C.R.O. Posted February 29, 2008 Report Share Posted February 29, 2008 (edited) Yeah Tattooed, actually there are quite a few Schweizer 300's out there equipped for IFR training. I don't know if you guys have one up there at HIO, but we have a 300C IFR trainer down here in Newberg. I did my IFR training in that ship and it all worked out pretty good, electric cyclic trim is your friend! We do have at least one, not sure about our second Schweizer. We have the option of doing our instrument in the R-22, the R-44, or the Schweizer. I bet the cyclic trim is a nice feature when doing instrument. Conor Edited February 29, 2008 by C.R.O. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArmamentDawg Posted February 29, 2008 Report Share Posted February 29, 2008 I did all my training, through Inst and CPL, and the Robbie safety course in a 44. When I get back from this army deployment (long story short, I'm sick of the army so not interested in even applying to waft), I'm going to use my GI bill to get about another 100 hours cfi/cfii in a 22. It's been a little spendy, but I can't put a price on the quality of my training. Nor can I put a dollar value on living my dream. Hopefully when I get done with the 22 training, +250 hours, A&P ticket and 6 years as an apache crewchief will allow me to forgoe the usual few years of flight instructor jobs. If nothing else, I will be able to scrounge up ferry flights and a maintainence job with occasional hours. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rick1128 Posted February 29, 2008 Report Share Posted February 29, 2008 I did all my training, through Inst and CPL, and the Robbie safety course in a 44. When I get back from this army deployment (long story short, I'm sick of the army so not interested in even applying to waft), I'm going to use my GI bill to get about another 100 hours cfi/cfii in a 22. It's been a little spendy, but I can't put a price on the quality of my training. Nor can I put a dollar value on living my dream. Hopefully when I get done with the 22 training, +250 hours, A&P ticket and 6 years as an apache crewchief will allow me to forgoe the usual few years of flight instructor jobs. If nothing else, I will be able to scrounge up ferry flights and a maintainence job with occasional hours. Plan on instructing for awhile. Many operators will use you to wrench and throw a flying bone at you every once in a great while (about the time you start talking about quiting). Besides you will learn a lot about flying as an instructor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
choppedair Posted March 1, 2008 Report Share Posted March 1, 2008 (edited) Ask the current students who are doing their instrument training in the R44. If you're there enough, you know who is flying it It is NICE to be able to climb to altitudes that allow you to actually file IFR, fly faster and smoother, and more stable. The hydraulics eliminate the dropping or raising collective and the constant pressure required on the cyclic. Just set your power, and make small adjustments on the cyclic, it's much more stable.A 4 hour block in the R44 gives you plenty of time to make approaches up and down the valley (eug, cvo, sle, uao etc), with off airport in there somewhere. Edited March 1, 2008 by choppedair Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
choppedair Posted March 2, 2008 Report Share Posted March 2, 2008 I actually have considered that. I wasn't sure if our 300's are Inst ships (never asked), and I'm too busy focusing on completing my PVT too really go too crazy right now. 27YS (sitting in the back of the hangar) is/was an instrument trainer, but it's not used by the school any more. All the gyro's were garbage, it was poorly equipped, always in maintenance, and SLOW. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C.R.O. Posted March 2, 2008 Report Share Posted March 2, 2008 27YS (sitting in the back of the hangar) is/was an instrument trainer, but it's not used by the school any more. All the gyro's were garbage, it was poorly equipped, always in maintenance, and SLOW. I didn't realize that 27YS was going away. Good to know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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