How do you get you first turbine job?

OhhAndy · September 2, 2008

I'm just starting school and have a question about how many hours you really need to get your first turbine job and how do you get it when everyone wants a min. of 500hours in a turbine heli? If no one will hire you unless you have 500 turbine hours,how do you get it?? by the way im not paying 500/hr for building time. Also how long do you have to work for pennies after just dropping 50 G's on your training? It seems like it may be impossible to live unless your independantly wealthy untill you get your 2500hrs in with 100 night and have your cfii and a four yr college degree...all for 50G a year!!??

Edited September 2, 2008 by OhhAndy

pilot3301 · September 2, 2008

I'm just starting school and have a question about how many hours you really need to get your first turbine job and how do you get it when everyone wants a min. of 500hours in a turbine heli? If no one will hire you unless you have 500 turbine hours,how do you get it?? by the way im not paying 500/hr for building time. Also how long do you have to work for pennies after just dropping 50 G's on your training? It seems like it may be impossible to live unless your independantly wealthy untill you get your 2500hrs in with 100 night and have your cfii and a four yr college degree...all for 50G a year!!??

Well you ask all the right questions, the answer is you will need 1000 hours to get your first Turbine job as a rule of thumb. There are smaller flight schools around that might let you fly the Turbine earlier if you train with them, but most will require a Turbine transition course, in lew of the 1000 hours.

So the answer is get your commercial, instrument and 1000 hours and you will be a good canidate for the Gulf of Mexico, or tours in Alaska or Grand Caynon.

Yes you will be working fro pennies as a CFI or CFII but that is the price you and everybody else has to pay coming up thru the civilian ranks.

Good luck

FlyNHighNFast · September 2, 2008

Depends on who you know, how you conduct yourself and a healthy dose of luck. 1000 + hrs. of heli time also helps. As for the money... The love of flying has to be great enough to overlook that little detail. So what if Joe bus driver makes more than you and has better benefits? Which job would give you more satisfaction at the end of the day? If you start out in the gulf and have a 14/14 or even a 7/7, there are other things you can do in your off time to supplement your income, such as instructing.

You just have to know what you want and have the determination to get it.

OhhAndy · September 2, 2008

Depends on who you know, how you conduct yourself and a healthy dose of luck. 1000 + hrs. of heli time also helps. As for the money... The love of flying has to be great enough to overlook that little detail. So what if Joe bus driver makes more than you and has better benefits? Which job would give you more satisfaction at the end of the day? If you start out in the gulf and have a 14/14 or even a 7/7, there are other things you can do in your off time to supplement your income, such as instructing.

You just have to know what you want and have the determination to get it.

Good point but the love of flying doesnt pay the bills. Im thinking I may be making a huge mistake. But that still doesnt answer how you get a job in the gom if they all need 500 turbine hours to even get hired on per their insurance companies.

Edited September 2, 2008 by OhhAndy

FauxZ · September 2, 2008

Some tours and the GOM typically hire without any turbine time as long as your at 1000 hours PIC. Otherwise it's word of mouth.

jehh · September 2, 2008

Ditto...

PHI, Air Log, Era, & Rotorcraft all hire in the Gulf of Mexico without any prior turbine time. They'll pay for your transition, so don't worry about it.

Some of the tour companies in the Canyon and Vegas will do the same, so that is another option.

Once you do either of those jobs for a year, you'll have +-500 hours of turbine time and be fine for whatever you want to do next.

FlyNHighNFast · September 2, 2008

Good point but the love of flying doesnt pay the bills. Im thinking I may be making a huge mistake.

I didn't mean it will stay that way forever. 10 years ago, my first corporate job paid 35K, as a newly certified Microsoft Professional, I was happy to have it, fast forward to the present, the comma in the paycheck has moved to the left. It will be the same in almost every job, the paycheck is usually commensurate with the experience required.

I may be wrong, but the supply/demand equation is heading towards the demand side, you just need to have the experience to be one of those in demand when the time comes. The huge mistake would be not pursuing your dream. Go for it!!

c17worker · September 4, 2008

I ditto the others here....I am new to VR (hello all) and just getting started as a student. I'm certainly no youngster anymore either. I think the key here is to be realistic with your goals and understand that you can only do what you can do...and that its going to take some time, respect and working knocks to get wherever you want to go in the helicopter world. I am paying cash myself along the way and have developed a second stream of income that is independent of my fulltime aerospace job to supplement my training. That said, I don't care what I would earn or wouldn't - I am thrilled to be able to fly at all. I should have started as a young man but ah well...hindsight as they say!