IWannafly30 Posted March 8, 2018 Report Share Posted March 8, 2018 Am I more marketable with R44 time or R22 time straight out of flight school? I have an opportunity to fly the Cadet (R44) in Cedar City, Utah in August. The idea is to finish my instrument, commercial, CFI, CFII up there and hopefully get trained on night vision, high density altitudes, and maybe long line.I'm using the GI Bill to pay for training as well.Would it be beneficial to the start of my career to achieve the last 3/4 of my ratings in a R44?As someone that does the hiring, would you hire someone with more R44 time over someone with more R22 time? Considering most schools train in the R22. Any advice would be greatly appreciated... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
r22butters Posted March 8, 2018 Report Share Posted March 8, 2018 Ah the Cadet, the fat guys R22! I finally got to sit in one last week, and gotta say, its kinda nice. I'm not the biggest fan of the 44 anymore, but you take away the couple of schmoes behind me and replace them with a set of golf clubs, and you might have something there. Personally I wouldn't recomend anyone pay to fly the 44 (at least not more than the 25 hours needed to teach in one, although you'd think a good school would be ok with you just paying for the 5 hours then let you do photos or whatnot in it until you have the 25,...but oh well). However if you're not paying for it,...why not huh? I mean that's why they made up those other "courses", like long line and NVG. I don't think it'll make you more marketable to have most of your time in the 44,...but then what do I know, I'm not even a cfi! Just do what the school recomends, then if they don't hire you and you end up roaming the earth an unhireable low time R44 pilot, you can always come here to warn others not to make your mistakes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IWannafly30 Posted March 8, 2018 Author Report Share Posted March 8, 2018 I'm 195 lbs... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
r22butters Posted March 8, 2018 Report Share Posted March 8, 2018 I'm 195 lbs...So am I. You can train just fine in the 22, max seat weight is 240, but you'll probably have greater difficulties finding entry level work at that weight. I'd ask the school if they'd still consider hiring me at that weight before dropping tons of dough their way. Most cfi job posts I've read over the years want pilots 180 - 185 lbs max,...and that's schools who use both 22 and 44! ,...even 500 hour R44 tour operators generally want a pilot less than 190 lbs, and that's fully clothed flight weight of course! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
takefootoff Posted March 8, 2018 Report Share Posted March 8, 2018 ......you're MOST marketable with a fixed wing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IWannafly30 Posted March 8, 2018 Author Report Share Posted March 8, 2018 I'm driving to Cedar City this weekend to meet and greet. I'll ask about the hiring weight. It's not a problem to drop 10 pounds. I don't need Krispy Kreme every morning....haha Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
r22butters Posted March 8, 2018 Report Share Posted March 8, 2018 ......you're MOST marketable with a fixed wing,...and 750 military rotor wing hours! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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