eagle5 Posted June 18, 2015 Posted June 18, 2015 A couple of new ads looking for R44 pilots want 1500 hours. They're in Alaska and I'm sure the job is challenging, but what pilot with 1500 hours wants to stay in pistons? 1 Quote
adam32 Posted June 18, 2015 Posted June 18, 2015 , but what pilot with 1500 hours wants to stay in pistons? The one that wants to make money. It's still a helicopter, still flies like a helicopter even with a piston engine. Look how many AG pilots have thousands of hours of "piston" time and very little turbine... 1 Quote
SBuzzkill Posted June 18, 2015 Posted June 18, 2015 Yep, who cares what you fly if the pay is good. Quote
Wally Posted June 18, 2015 Posted June 18, 2015 A couple of new ads looking for R44 pilots want 1500 hours. They're in Alaska and I'm sure the job is challenging, but what pilot with 1500 hours wants to stay in pistons? A job is a job and a helicopter is a helicopter. Forty-seven years since I soloed and I don't care what sound the engine makes as long as it keeps making it. Piston/turbine; single/twin; single pilot/two pilots; IFR/VFR, I don't care if the job itself is well managed. 5 Quote
rotormandan Posted June 18, 2015 Posted June 18, 2015 1500 still isn't that much time. Now a days it's just enough to get you out of the flight school environment. Once you get out of the flight school environment, you're not dine working your way up yet. 1,200 hrs was just enough time for me to get a job driving a truck as part of the ground crew. 1 Quote
WolftalonID Posted June 20, 2015 Posted June 20, 2015 If you think about flight hours for pilots like you do age on man cubs....... Every 100 hours is like a year of age. Our skills, ADM, maturity, experiences, all stack up over time. When I was 15, 20, heck even 30.... Life experiences have continued to stack up, and from them my maturity is growing. As pilots, our flight experience is measured in hours, and in Alaska where the life expectancy a few years back for the average bush pilot was 3.5 years... The more maturity we have up there, the longer we might live to pass on the wisdom to the younger man cubs. Dang,,, In flight years, That means I am not even 20 yet...hope my life years help tame the pilot as he grows! Quote
hockeynut258 Posted June 21, 2015 Posted June 21, 2015 Most of those R44 alaska jobs your speaking of are full on field utility work. Yes, you can fly an EC130 at the Grand Canyon and shuttle tourists around with only 1000 hours landing in the same spot and flying the same route, but they require 1500-2000 because it's not a simple job. Plus provide all the training. It's a great opportunity to get into the utility world and fly in a challenging environment. 1 Quote
kona4breakfast Posted July 9, 2015 Posted July 9, 2015 OAS. A lot of work up here is for Uncle Sugar. You can get work up here if you meet Part 135 in a R44, but you'd best consider it a hobby that *might* cover just the expense to travel up here. You'd be a fill-in for minor work. If you can do OAS work, you can get utility experience that will get you a utility turbine job that you should be able to make a living on. I'm familiar with some of the R44 operators up here, and I wouldn't particularly recommend working for most of them unless you're in a position to walk away halfway through the season. They are getting a lot of work, and a lot of it I'd love to do, but I'm not particularly enamored with how the companies are run. However, I am biased against the Robbie for utility work. Great machine, but spending your career in the H-V region in a recip filled with avgas is not where I'd care to be. Quote
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.