Need to decide my fate.

[coastie-heli-mech]

OK here it is in a nut shell. I got out of the Coast Guard last year thinking I would finish college and start a new career while I'm young( coming up on 30yrs old ) In the Cost Guard I was a flight mechanic and loved flying. Saved three lives in eight years of flying. Worked the radios. searched for missing people in the water, loved it all. I wasn't a pilot but a crew chief so I rode along for all the SAR / training flights for the pilots like stuck pedals, govenor failures, autos, etc. Well I find myself in college with a bunch of kids learning chemistry which I really don't have a desire to learn. I guess I just wanted the degree.

 

Anyways, I'm thinking about getting back into flying this time as a commercial helicopter pilot. Why not? I've always wanted to be at the controls and really see if making a running landing in a HH-65B Doulphine with a stuck left pedal is as hard as those nuggets cried it was. Believe me sitting in the back was more scarry knowing I was just along for the ride and couldnt wave off the approach!!

 

Heres whats holding me from diving into this career. MONEY!!!! I was quoted about 70 grand start to finish thats private, commercial, CFi, CfII, instruments everything no turbine time though. Since I dont have any amount near that much I would be taking almost all of it on a loan. Seems like a gamble since it seems like you could be out of a job at any time. What if your next flight physical grounds you for an unforseen condition? Also from what I have read, out of flight school your only job is a low paying instructor job on R-22's since you haven't had enough hours yet. Is this correct? Out of flight school are you only making 30 grand a year? How long until the pay increases and to how much? How do you get to fly turbine heli's? Mean while that dark cloud of debt is over you making you fly IFR!! The school is Classic Helicoper Ins in Seattle, WA. Any responses are appreciated

[Witch]

Use the force Luke.

 

Yeah, money will be hard to come by. Look to UVSC and Sallie Mae. Home loans might be an option. VA might help after getting your private. Other "Flying"loans are available. Go to some schools and see what they offer or suggest.

 

Yahoo "flight school loans", "school loans", or "education financing".

 

I can't think anymore. My brain hurts.

 

Later.

[bossman]

OK here it is in a nut shell. I got out of the Coast Guard last year thinking I would finish college and start a new career while I'm young( coming up on 30yrs old ) In the Cost Guard I was a flight mechanic and loved flying. Saved three lives in eight years of flying. Worked the radios. searched for missing people in the water, loved it all. I wasn't a pilot but a crew chief so I rode along for all the SAR / training flights for the pilots like stuck pedals, govenor failures, autos, etc. Well I find myself in college with a bunch of kids learning chemistry which I really don't have a desire to learn. I guess I just wanted the degree.

 

Anyways, I'm thinking about getting back into flying this time as a commercial helicopter pilot. Why not? I've always wanted to be at the controls and really see if making a running landing in a HH-65B Doulphine with a stuck left pedal is as hard as those nuggets cried it was. Believe me sitting in the back was more scarry knowing I was just along for the ride and couldnt wave off the approach!!

 

Heres whats holding me from diving into this career. MONEY!!!! I was quoted about 70 grand start to finish thats private, commercial, CFi, CfII, instruments everything no turbine time though. Since I dont have any amount near that much I would be taking almost all of it on a loan. Seems like a gamble since it seems like you could be out of a job at any time. What if your next flight physical grounds you for an unforseen condition? Also from what I have read, out of flight school your only job is a low paying instructor job on R-22's since you haven't had enough hours yet. Is this correct? Out of flight school are you only making 30 grand a year? How long until the pay increases and to how much? How do you get to fly turbine heli's? Mean while that dark cloud of debt is over you making you fly IFR!! The school is Classic Helicoper Ins in Seattle, WA. Any responses are appreciated

Utah Valley has a great program. You may be eligible for most of the student loans. The VA will help after you get the private. With your experience you might want to look into the AP/IA route. This would put you in the environment once again and maybe give you a chance to get on with a school that will let you fly. We train our mechanics and just let them pay the fuel cost. Best of luck.

Mike

[Gomer Pylot]

Right out of flight school, as a 200-hour commercial pilot, you'll be earning very little. Part 135 requires at least 500 hours to act as PIC, and that's the bare minimum, at which few operators will hire you. You have to somehow build time to a minimum of 1,000 hours, and that's hard to do, and takes time. With 200 hours and a commercial certificate, your options are somewhere between slim and none, even with an instrument rating.

[ADRidge]

with the 70k price quote, I'm betting you got one of SSH's mass mailing things or stumbled across their website. The best schools may not be around you, but relocating and paying 50K for a CFII will likely be cheaper than spending 70K at a school where you may not even make it to CFI. Look around at schools, because CFII ratings do come cheaper than 70k, especially if you're not married or tied down to a certain area.

 

As for your first job, yep, you'll be a low paid underappreciated training pilot, but hey, we've all got to start at the bottom. The school I'm going to begin attending in January says that the pilots they hire (from their school, naturally) will fly on average 100 hours a month, which will make that 1K mark fly up in no time.

 

Personally, I see all the sacrifices involved, financially and otherwise, but whenever that gets you down, just think about the sensation of rotary wing flight 1k over the water, or how it feels to feel that machine hover. Makes it all worth it, right?