Helicopter pilot numbers

[Superman]

Some numbers for those of you that are interested.

 

 

 

Of the total pilot population, 36,515 or 6.27% have helicopter ratings.

 

Of those with heli-ratings, 3,896 or 10.97% have only a helicopter rating.

 

There are only 5,171 helicopter pilots with a Private rating only - the rest are Commercial and ATP.

 

There are 838 women with a helicopter rating.

 

89% of the helicopter rated pilots also have their fixed wing rating.

 

Source; Aircraft Owner, issue 23, February 2007

 

Fly Safe

Clark

[67november]

Clark you have too much time on your hands

[delorean]

I would be interested to know more about the 5,171 (private only) number. Because if you held an ATP or Commercial with privileges in airplanes, but only private privileges in a helicopter, you would still wouldn't fall into that class.

 

I would like to know how many people in the US hold a Commercial or ATP certificate with commerical or ATP helicopter privileges. I bet it's considerably lower that ~31,000.

 

UPDATED: According to the link Steve posted below, the answer is about 21,500 in y2005.

[John90290]

According to FAA 2001 report:

 

"The total rotorcraft pilot population includes pilots who are certificated to operate only rotorcraft (helicopters and gyrocopters) as well as those that may operate rotorcraft as well as other airplanes and/or gliders. The total number of rotorcraft pilots has increased from 25,849 in 1998 to 28,000 in 2001--a 3-year increase of 8.3 percent. The number for 2002 is expected to be about 28,000. The number of pilots who are certificated to fly only rotorcraft increased from 7,727 in 2001 to 7,770 in 2002 (up 0.6 percent)."

 

And compare that to the number of helicopters:

 

"The active rotorcraft fleet is expected to grow from 6,783 in 2001 to 7,390 in 2014, an average annual increase of about 0.7 percent in the active rotorcraft fleet over the 13-year forecast period.

 

The number of turbine rotorcraft is forecast to total 4,590 by 2014--an increase of less than 100 rotorcraft over the 2001 level. The turbine rotorcraft fleet is expected to decrease by 3.1 percent in 2002, remain the same level in 2003, and then increase an average of 0.5 percent per year from 2004 to 2014. Turbine powered rotorcraft are expected to account for approximately 62.1 percent of the rotorcraft fleet in 2014, down from 66.2 percent in 2001.

 

The piston rotorcraft fleet is expected to increase 6.9 percent in 2002 and then grow approximately 1.0 percent per year for the rest of the forecast. The piston fleet totals 2,800 by 2014--an annual increase of 1.6 percent over the 13-year period. "

 

 

Pilot shortage? Seems more like a surplus from these numbers. I hope not.

 

 

http://www.faa.gov/data_statistics/aviatio...ia/CHAP6-03.doc

[Pogue]

"The active rotorcraft fleet is expected to grow from 6,783 in 2001 to 7,390 in 2014, an average annual increase of about 0.7 percent in the active rotorcraft fleet over the 13-year forecast period.

 

So the FAA expects a 607 helicopter increase over 13 years, starting in 2001. I think Robinson makes more helicopters than that in a year now. Looks like the report made some bad assumptions.

[spw1177]

Link to the FAA US Civil Airman Statistics Page:

 

http://www.faa.gov/data_statistics/aviatio...tatistics/2005/

 

Click on Table 7

 

Its dated Dec 2005 (only about a year old), and only shows 28,262 total pilots with a rotorcraft rating. It also has the breakdown for those who posess ratings in more than one category. The report lists 18,571 commercial helicopter pilots with 5,603 having only a commercial helicopter and 8,550 having both commercial helicopter and commercial airplane. Also, 3,155 pilots with a rotorcraft ATP, and only 664 of those are rotorcraft only.

[Superman]

spw117,

 

 

Great link........ thanks

 

You must have more time on your hands than I do

[Eric Hunt]

Pogue says:

"So the FAA expects a 607 helicopter increase over 13 years, starting in 2001. I think Robinson makes more helicopters than that in a year now. Looks like the report made some bad assumptions."

 

Don't forget that as new machines come in at the top, old machines fall off the register at the bottom, either as time-expired, exported, or as crashes and write-offs. FAA expects that there will be an excess of 607 newly registered machines over the number of deregistrations, that's all.

[Goldy]

Pogue says:

"So the FAA expects a 607 helicopter increase over 13 years, starting in 2001. I think Robinson makes more helicopters than that in a year now. Looks like the report made some bad assumptions."

 

Don't forget that as new machines come in at the top, old machines fall off the register at the bottom, either as time-expired, exported, or as crashes and write-offs. FAA expects that there will be an excess of 607 newly registered machines over the number of deregistrations, that's all.

 

 

Eric- good point, also don't forget that Robinson exports a huge percentage of their ships.

[Pogue]

Eric- good point, also don't forget that Robinson exports a huge percentage of their ships.

Eric & Goldy,

 

My first thought was that there couldn't be that many dropping off the bottom, but I was only thinking in terms of retirement for age and other voluntary reasons... A quick nonscientific query of the NTSB database for US helicopter accidents (not including homebuilt) since 1/1/2002 shows 896 hits. Certainly many of those heleicopters were repaired and stayed in service, but the overall numbers make the original figures seem more realistic to me now than they did before.

[Gomer Pylot]

Lots of Robinsons get destroyed every year as students and low-time pilots, as well as very high-time pilots, ball them up. It's mostly a function of how they are used - training, cattle mustering, and other dangerous occupations.

[Pogue]

Lots of Robinsons get destroyed every year as students and low-time pilots, as well as very high-time pilots, ball them up. It's mostly a function of how they are used - training, cattle mustering, and other dangerous occupations.

From the same search by Manufacturer...

 

Bell - 263

Robinson - 226

Hughes - 100

MDHC - 20

Schweizer- 51

Aerospatiale - 31

Sikorsky - 21

 

So if I survive my training in Robby's I should stay out of Bell products?

 

Sorry, I couldn't resist...

[volition]

That's right!!! Fly Sikorsky!!! Could not resit too!!

[fry]

The number of turbine rotorcraft is forecast to total 4,590 by 2014--an increase of less than 100 rotorcraft over the 2001 level.

 

The report lists 18,571 commercial helicopter pilots...

 

Pilot shortage? Seems more like a surplus from these numbers. I hope not.

 

4 pilots per commercial capable aircraft...1 flying the turbine, 1 instructing in a piston, 1 retired and 1 sweeping the hangar floor waiting for the first guy to drop dead. And still they are putting themselves in debt for the chance to replace the guy on the broom.

[Worldcrime]

4 pilots per commercial capable aircraft...1 flying the turbine, 1 instructing in a piston, 1 retired and 1 sweeping the hangar floor waiting for the first guy to drop dead. And still they are putting themselves in debt for the chance to replace the guy on the broom.

 

 

That's a good one.

 

Remember to maintain forward motion when lowering the broom to the floor rapidly.

Richard

[Goldy]

Now if we only knew how many of the current rotor license holders also had current medicals !

 

 

PS. When lowering the broom to the floor, be sure to twist the broom handle into the detent position. !!

Edited February 9, 2007 by Goldy

[LB11]

Im not sure to exactly what extent it holds true, but im sure the pilots needed to helicopter ratio are not 1:1

 

All the jobs that are 1 on 1 off . You need 2 pilots per heli. What about EMS that has to be availible 24/7. 1 pilot is not around that whole time. On top of that how many opperations require two pilots in the cockpit. What about training, is it 1 heli per instructor? Or does the school have maybe 3 helis and 5 instructors working to get everyones time in? Just some examples.

[Bart]

Im not sure to exactly what extent it holds true, but im sure the pilots needed to helicopter ratio are not 1:1

 

All the jobs that are 1 on 1 off . You need 2 pilots per heli. What about EMS that has to be availible 24/7. 1 pilot is not around that whole time. On top of that how many opperations require two pilots in the cockpit. What about training, is it 1 heli per instructor? Or does the school have maybe 3 helis and 5 instructors working to get everyones time in? Just some examples.

 

 

I know of a 412 in the GOM that requires 8 pilots. One day contract and one night contract for an "A" and "B" Hitch = 24/7= 8 pilots...I'm sure there are others like it around....

[RotorWeed]

May I have an application for the “broom” job?

I wonder how you log “broom time”.

 

rdw

[67november]

May I have an application for the “broom” job?

I wonder how you log “broom time”.

 

rdw

 

 

that logged under hanger maintenance

[delorean]

Four pilots per EMS base. You can do it with three, but everyone has to agree to the OT schedule ahead of time.