Midwest Helicopter Guy

I know what you mean. I was in the Corps and marriages were dropping like flies. My squadron worked on harriers and we worked through the night all the time. ended up getting lots of alcoholics.

That is a good question. come to think of it, I do have a thing for Casa's and King Air's. I honestly have not given it much thought. I had heard the professional airplane pilot market was similar to that of entering a bar scene with watching people getting slid across bar tables and folks swinging off chandlers and such. hearing that made me want to walk right back out the door. In all seriousness though, I had not started to look into that possibility yet. I do think helicopters are amazing pieces of machinery. I can understand the kind of hard work it took to make those things operable enough for industry to adopt them. Also, I would not alienate the airplanes. They are pretty awesome as well. I think hearing a Rolls Royce RB-211 on wide open is just ten kinds of awesome! Nothing like converting kerosene into kinetic energy! Another thing is that I am also married now so that presents another person that I need to make sure I have best interest in.

Thanks for the input Adam, Wally and Dizzy. I could definitely see those things being a very real issue. Well, my second option would be to go mechanical / electrical engineer. I have a knack for problem solving and trouble shooting. Perhaps that would be a better long term option then.

Hi everyone, I did some reading about lack of jobs and such in the helicopter pilot industry. The most recent posting I read were from the 2013 time frame. Has anything improved since then in terms of difficulty level in making this kind of thing a career? I looked at some basic statistics posted by the FAA and some other third party sources, but I don't know how accurate those numbers are. One source claimed a general 10% expected growth in the next ten years. I am not exactly sure if that is specifically helicopters or just professional aviation in general. I already have my private for helicopter and I am in a position where I can go and get my commercial, instrument, and CFI covered. I can say with some confidence that the little bit of time I have flown, I have never regretted it. I guess I am kind of on the fence about if this is a good idea. I talked to a recent student pilot of the flight school I would may attend (Higher Ground Helicopters) located out of Dayton Wright Brothers Airport in OH. He told me that he thought the outlook has been more favorable since the 2008 collapse. When I went home from talking to him, I got a little skeptical because I reminded myself that he may likely have a reason to say that to me. Not to say he is a liar, but just that it may be harder for him to not be bias due to the fact that I may very well be a person that would be helping him build some hours with my hard earned money. Any thoughts on this?