Private Fixed Wing Pilot

[Taylor04]

Hello Everyone,

This is my first post, so hopefully I post this right. I just received my Private Fixed wing a week ago and I was wondering if anybody has added a commercial or private helicopter to a fixed wing. I always get instructors different ideas on which routes to go but I'm still not sure. Help me out if you can.

[gft]

I was fixed wing private pilot-

did an add on for private rotorcraft-

Had to complete minimum thirty hours of rotorcraft flight time, pass a verbal test and take a check ride-

Go for it-

I've never had so much fun-

It was very rewarding also-

[permison]

Hello Everyone,

This is my first post, so hopefully I post this right. I just received my Private Fixed wing a week ago and I was wondering if anybody has added a commercial or private helicopter to a fixed wing. I always get instructors different ideas on which routes to go but I'm still not sure. Help me out if you can.

 

Taylor,

It's called a dual rating and is very common. I hold dual ratings in both fixed and rotary aircraft. It's easy to do however fixed and rotary aircraft are two completely different worlds. Be prepard for extensive training to change your mindset from the fixed world to the rotary world. Even the airspace/pattern rules are different. But now that you have your fixed license, there is no written test for your helicopter rating. You will run into problems though with the SFAR specific to Robinsons if you train in them. Which is very possible as R22s are the most previlent trainer for rotorwing. I ran into this with my prior helicopter experiance in the military, but I could not find anyone to let me rent a 206 for my checkride, so I had to go get trained in the R22 to take my check ride. Good luck. You'll find a lot of good info on this site as you go forward.

Permison

[Taylor04]

Well Thank you that will probably be what I will do first is get my private addon. My families business runs helicopters so I already know how to fly helicopters somewhat. Thanks everybody

[Taylor04]

Does anyone think that it would be better for me to go on and get my fixed wing commercial then later on addon my commercial helicopter rating. I want to have a commercial for helicopter and fixed wing. The schools keep saying get your commercial helicopter rating because it only takes 150 hours total for the helicopter and 250 for the fixed wing. can anyone help me out. thanks

[Goldy]

Does anyone think that it would be better for me to go on and get my fixed wing commercial then later on addon my commercial helicopter rating. I want to have a commercial for helicopter and fixed wing. The schools keep saying get your commercial helicopter rating because it only takes 150 hours total for the helicopter and 250 for the fixed wing. can anyone help me out. thanks

 

 

You may want to look at this thread from earlier this week:

http://helicopterforum.verticalreference.com/helicopterfor...?showtopic=5215

[Taylor04]

Yes that helped me out a little. But I still dont know what to do next. Can somebody give me the break down of how many hours for the private add on and the commercial add on. I know that the commercial addon requires 150 hours total and 50 must be in a helicopter and 100 must be in a powered aircraft. I currently have 55 fixed wing and I would get 45 more hours so I would get the hundred cause I have aircraft to fly to get those hours. The school I'm looking at does do the 141. But I dont know much about that. Except for the private the hours go to 35 instead of 40 for the private add on. The instructor told me today that if i get my private first I can log hours in our helicopters as long as I have the controls. I cant train in ours because they are ag ships but I can get a little time in them. If I get my private any dual instruction after that does it count as pic. That is one big question for me. Thanks for the help everyone. Taylor

[Jeff]

Yes that helped me out a little. But I still dont know what to do next. Can somebody give me the break down of how many hours for the private add on and the commercial add on. I know that the commercial addon requires 150 hours total and 50 must be in a helicopter and 100 must be in a powered aircraft. I currently have 55 fixed wing and I would get 45 more hours so I would get the hundred cause I have aircraft to fly to get those hours. The school I'm looking at does do the 141. But I dont know much about that. Except for the private the hours go to 35 instead of 40 for the private add on. The instructor told me today that if i get my private first I can log hours in our helicopters as long as I have the controls. I cant train in ours because they are ag ships but I can get a little time in them. If I get my private any dual instruction after that does it count as pic. That is one big question for me. Thanks for the help everyone. Taylor

 

Taylor,

 

Your best bet is to make up a spreadsheet on Excel or something that will calculate the costs for both scenarios. Refer to FAR Part 61 for the requirements for each. You will need to get an Instrument Airplane rating to get a CPL-Airplane with no restrictions. Since airplanes are cheaper than helicopters, getting an Instrument Airplane rating and adding the Instrument Helicopter rating will be cheaper.

 

As far as Part 141 goes (airplanes), you will need 35 hours of dual for your instrument rating and 120 hours for the commercial. I work for a Part 141 school and don't see much advantage in that course except for the availability of financing. If you pay as you go, then that is pretty much a non-issue. Another advantage of Part 141 is that you don't need the 50 hours of cross-country for an instrument rating. However, that cross-country time is invaluable, so I recommend you get it anyways; it makes you a better pilot.

 

Without doing your calculations for you, I hope I've helped.

 

Jeff

[DebosDave]

Taylor,

 

I am in the exact same boat as you, I am currently a fixed wing private pilot with around 70 hours, I have begun my instrument training in airplane. I also am just about to take my checkride for private rotorcraft in helicopter. I have just under 50 hours in helicopter. I have determined that my course of action will be the following:

 

Complete Private Helicopter, so I can log hours in either environment as PIC, this is important for nearly everything. The biggest thing going part 61 is the need for Cross Country PIC, this is one of the tougher things to build during training, but will be much easier when rated, but you need 50 hours Cross Country PIC to take an instrument checkride. That is part 61, you can do it without the X-Country PIC time if you go part 141, but part 141 they are going to get you with a certain amount of required ground school. (I am not saying you won't need ground school part 61, but it isn't required the same way. If you know the subject, you don't have to sit through a lecture, and pay for info you already know.) The other thing about comparing part 141 to 61 is that at the end if you want commercial, you need the same hours either way, so I determined that I would fly 61, and get the extra hours flying instead of ground school. If you are going commercial part 141 only makes sense if you are planning on financing with some places.

 

At any rate, back to my case. I am currently training in airplane for my instrument rating, which I will fly 25 hours in, then I will combine that training into a helicopter, and fly 15 hours instrument in helicopter, at that point, it will only be polish work to take my checkride in both helicopter and fixed wing. This way I am not getting a rating then working on an ad-on, just doing the training in both aircraft. It may end up taking me a bit longer than 40 hours total, but should be less than 40+15 for the ad-on, and I can be dual rated. Before I get my instrument rating, I will be training commercial for helicopter, so I should be able to get my commercial helicopter rating before I get my instrument ratings. Then I will work on my CFI helicopter, then I will complete the instrument training, and then the CFII helicopter. After that it is a time-building while instructing until I get to 250 hours, then I will work on my commercial fixed wing ad-on, and CFI,CFII fixed wing.

 

That is a lot to think about right now, but for my case it is cheaper than doing all my training in a helicopter by a long shot, and it will leave me dual-rated at the end. The only thing this doesn't answer is that I will have more helicopter time to build, but I can do this while instructing instead of paying....

 

Dave

[Taylor04]

That really helped me out alot I will take this route to my parents and instructor and see what they think about this plan. It would be really nice to talk to you personally over the phone to just exactly the order you are going through things if you think that is a good idea let me know and I will give you a call or you can call me. I dont probably plan on becoming a CFI . Thanks let me know taylor

[nbit]

Taylor,

I am dual-rated and employed flying both jets and helicopters... If you are planning on making a career flying both, I would recommend getting your instrument in the airplane then obtaining all the helicopter ratings desired for being employed in helicopters - then doing all the comparable fixed-wing add-ons.

My logic, has to do with insurance, not direct cost... Spending as little money as possible to be trained is *not* the same as spending as little money as possible to become employable.

The reason is "insurance". Companies that are prospective employers are more likely to hire you if you are 'insurable' in their aircraft. It will be financially harder to obtain the hours that companies will want you to have to be insured in helicopters, and helicopter insurance is expensive.

Something important to consider - Flight time in a helicopter generally helps you get insured in a helicopter *or* an airplane. However, flight time in an airplane will have little impact (usually none) in helping you get insured in a helicopter early on in your career.

Also, the reason I recommend going for the instrument rating in the airplane first, before getting valuable helicopter hours, is that it is very unlikely that you will be able to obtain actual instrument experience in a helicopter early on. Actual instrument time may be very helpful in obtaining a helicopter position later down the road. In fact, so far, I haven't run across an instrument instructor in a helicopter that had actual instrument time in a helicopter besides myself, and few that had any actual instrument time. Not saying they don't exist, it is just what I have observed...

If you wanted to say, get a job as a SIC, you can do so at 500 hours helicopter time. Having some actual instrument time may be what gets you the job over another candidate, even if all the instrument time was in an airplane.

I got employed in a single job in jets and copters in less than year and a half after obtaining all my ratings... It is the formula that worked for me.

 

Regards...

Edited December 29, 2006 by nbit