TheLorax Posted March 21, 2007 Report Share Posted March 21, 2007 alright. so, we've all discussed national geographic photo-flight work. now, on to another one of my coniptions. i really dont know how the whole process goes, so bear with me. has anyone been lucky enough to fly the helicopter on someone's enormous 150ft+ giga-yacht? to me that seems like a nutty job. is this the same as, say, national geographic where the yacht might contract out chopper work to wherever the yacht is at the time or does the captain or owner hire a resident helicopter pilot to sleep and stay on the ship and whenever needed, fly the dignitary/rich ass wherever he/she pleases? i await mind-boggling responses. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
67november Posted March 21, 2007 Report Share Posted March 21, 2007 read this thread http://helicopterforum.verticalreference.com/helicopterfor...35&hl=yacht Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlyNHighNFast Posted March 21, 2007 Report Share Posted March 21, 2007 ... and whenever needed, fly the dignitary/rich ass wherever he/she pleases? i await mind-boggling responses. I can tell you not to start by calling your potential employer a "rich Ass." It's a long shot, but you never know who might be reading your post. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheLorax Posted March 21, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 21, 2007 ill make sure to remember never to put my VR member name on any of my resumes. thanks for the heads up Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndrewT Posted March 21, 2007 Report Share Posted March 21, 2007 ill make sure to remember never to put my VR member name on any of my resumes. thanks for the heads up people find out anyway. I remember reading something about employers looking up potential employees myspace/facebook pages. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlyNHighNFast Posted March 21, 2007 Report Share Posted March 21, 2007 Don't take it the wrong way... but it's one of those things that may come up in an interview and catch you off guard. In a tight community as this, you never know who your future employer may be and what their interests are. i.e. reading VR forums. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doanut99 Posted March 21, 2007 Report Share Posted March 21, 2007 I agree with LowNSlow, albeit a rookie mistake. In my opinion, flying on/off a yacht all over the world would be an amazingly rewarding job. that was a good article. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
franky17 Posted March 21, 2007 Report Share Posted March 21, 2007 people find out anyway. I remember reading something about employers looking up potential employees myspace/facebook pages. Now I have heard things like credit checks where the normal, but now they are going to facebook and myspace.... WOW! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doanut99 Posted March 22, 2007 Report Share Posted March 22, 2007 One of the commanders from my previous university used to check student's Facebook pages all the time. Big brother is watching. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
franky17 Posted March 22, 2007 Report Share Posted March 22, 2007 so to me, this is the ULTIMATE job, crusin around on some mega yacht, when the old man wants to go to shore, you fire up the bird.... this is the life! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheLorax Posted March 22, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 22, 2007 (edited) hey franky, be careful who you call old man. they could be your future employer one day! big bro is on the prowl! *HUGE SMILEY FACE WITH A WINK* im suprised nobody on here has come to tell us how great it is to live on a 200 million dollar boat and fly a 5 million dollar chopper.. -small sad face with a tear- Edited March 22, 2007 by TheLorax Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John90290 Posted March 22, 2007 Report Share Posted March 22, 2007 From what I’ve read, if you own a yacht that big then you are most likely restricted by your company’s keyman life insurance company to flying only in aircraft with more than one engine. So you’ll most likely be flying a twin. (Not a first job type of gig from what i've read on this forum.) A friend of mine did some work on Steve Allen’s boat when it came into Santa Barbara, some decks needed some repair or something so the caretaker pulled some guys in from the local West marine to do the work. Anyway, my buddy told me that the guys on the boat said they hardly ever see the owner. I guess you figure if you have a 150 foot plus yacht, you’ve probably got homes around the world and jets and such and don’t have time to visit all the things you own. All i know is that there was a beautiful MD900 on the back that never moved the entire 2 weeks he was there. My point is that i don't think you'd be getting a lot of hours, but maybe its quality (flying over epic beaches and exotic locations) over quantity Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
murdock Posted March 23, 2007 Report Share Posted March 23, 2007 I worked in the Caribbean and Bahamas area for a while, and still do. I was offered a position once on a yacht but it didnt work out for me. The majority of yachts have twin engine helicopters but there are quite a lot out there that are single engine. Having met quite a lot of pilots/engineers working on these yachts its not exactly the dream job everyone thinks. Here is a link to a company that hires pilots for working on yachts www.heliriviera.com (I have seen their mins at about 3000 hours and time on type usually EC 130 and up). What I learned is that on some yachts (mainly the smaller ones) you end up staying on the yacht most of the year round. While you are in between ports, moving between countries or destinations, you work with the ships mechanics helping them out with the engines and maintenance, etc. You dont just get to sit back and enjoy the ride - you gotta earn your money. Dont expect lavish quarters like the guests on the boat have. More likely small cabins, shared and well below decks. On other ones, or larger ones, and depending on your experience and how often the owners are on board, or the boat is being leased out to guests who request the use of the helicopter, you would be there on the boat. Outside of that I guess you might have to have another job or maybe you might be flying the owners in their corporate jet - hence why I say experience, as they might use you for other aircraft in their fleet. The people I met say its a great way to see the world - one engineer who worked with Paul Allens aviation company said in about a year he had been to 32 countries. But he said he was not really enjoying it and there was a lot of crap to put up with. Another pilot who worked on a shadow vessel only came to the yacht when the owners where there to fly them around. Asides from that he flew the owners in their Citations or hung out at home doing other work - he loved it all, as he had it setup very nicely. You also have to be somewhat confident. i.e. when landing on a yacht you dont dick around hovering about the decks or you will blow wash everywhere, and piss the Captain, staff or guests off, big time!! Landing on boats, and the smaller they are can be tricky. you will be flying in lots of countries where rules are always a little bit different and have to learn a lot of things along the way, and you might not have someone there to hold your hand and show you the ropes in one particular country or island. As it has been said, unless you are working with the owners fleet as a pilot in multiple aircraft, dont expect for it to be flying a lot in a year. On the other hand, I guess it is still pretty damn cool to see all these places around the world and fly over some amazing sites. Most people I met say they spend the summers in the Mediterranean or Arctic and places, and then head south for the winter like the Caribbean. I have lots of photos of these famous yachts with their helicopters and have been on quite a few as well. They are extremely impressive and I still think about getting a yacht job myself someday, just to see what it would be like. Good luck if you pursue a career. To this date, the most impressive yacht I was flying over was Paul Allen's "Octopus". On board he had a MD 900 (He had 5 of them at the time) and an S76C++ (of which he had 3 at the time). See Photo! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
franky17 Posted March 23, 2007 Report Share Posted March 23, 2007 hey franky, be careful who you call old man. they could be your future employer one day! big bro is on the prowl! *HUGE SMILEY FACE WITH A WINK*im suprised nobody on here has come to tell us how great it is to live on a 200 million dollar boat and fly a 5 million dollar chopper.. -small sad face with a tear- sorry maybe there was some confusion.... i didnt mean "old man" as offending any body or being sexist whatever you want to call it, it was just a "figure of speach"... again sorry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheLorax Posted March 23, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 23, 2007 murdock, what do you do in the caribbean at the moment? how do you like it? other than yachts, a tropical paradisical getaway sounds to be of equivalence. and boy oh boy what a ship that octopus is. he actually has ex-navy seals on board as crew members. also this other prince from somewhere in the middle east has bulletproof windows and a missle defense system installed! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doanut99 Posted March 23, 2007 Report Share Posted March 23, 2007 WOW what a ship. L-I-V-I-N Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
murdock Posted March 24, 2007 Report Share Posted March 24, 2007 Yeah, I had heard that he has Ex-Navy Seals working for him on the yacht, amongst many other toys he keeps there and other places. When I saw Paul Allen coming to the Island I was on, the day he was on his way to the yacht, he landed in one of his private jets which had the same paint schemes and same same last 2 letters that his 2 helicopters had (AF), that were next to mine. I asked the pilot of the MD 900 what AF meant and of course I should have know it - Allen Family. He has quite the collection of aircraft, quite an avid fan of aviation and had funded the SpaceShipOne which won the Ansari X Prize in 2004. Cant remember the name of his aviation company, but you can find out pretty easily I'm sure and thats where you would apply for pilot/engineer position. I recently saw that VH1 aired a show as part of their "The Fabulous Life Presents: The World's Most Insane Mega Yachts." Or something like that - on it they showed a sneak peak of the world's largest yacht owned by the Crown Prince of Dubai. Oddly enough the yachts name was "Dubai". It is over 525 feet long and if I am not mistaken, I think the show said it will have a runway on it!!!???? This boat and Paul Allens' Octopus (414') have a bit of history that you can dig up - basically all about outdoing in size. Who says size doesnt matter! I used to work in the Leeward Islands - around St Barths, St Maarten, Anguilla, Antigua and places like that - I am now doing a bit of time in the Bahamas. Living was nicer further down the Caribbean than the Bahamas, very scenic down there with the mountainous islands from Grenada and up through the Caribbean . Bahamas is damn flat, but beautiful islands and beaches and its damn expensive too!! - maybe too rich for my blood! Most jobs you get around these parts arent about making big money - more about the lifestyle you get with the job. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheLorax Posted March 24, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 24, 2007 franky! i was being sarcastic, no big deal.. murdock. what kind of work do you do? anything specific or are you just lending your services to charter out? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kc135Delta Posted March 24, 2007 Report Share Posted March 24, 2007 I'm not quite up for hiring crew yet but I've talked to many other owners about what they look for and most want a helicopter pilot/mechanic so the intensive helicopter duties are covered by one man or another one I get alot is pilot/chef but that's mostly for the smaller gig's (<200ft). Although I will deffinatly pick up my crew before I start the build so they can each have their own input. rich ass I wouldn't consider myself a "rich ass" nor would most other wealthy people so i'd take your comrade's advice. I do refer more people here than you might think and the site is taken quite seriously for the information it provides. I would hate for it to loose it's accredibility. Drew Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
klmmarine Posted March 24, 2007 Report Share Posted March 24, 2007 KC135- How about a Captain or Mate/Pilot, and are you taking applications yet? Seriously what kind of boat are you building? Tonnage, route, size? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheLorax Posted March 24, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 24, 2007 (edited) sorry im 19. watch me grow. Edited March 24, 2007 by TheLorax Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southernweyr Posted March 24, 2007 Report Share Posted March 24, 2007 Here is a job opening for a yacht job. http://www.rotor.com/Default.aspx?tabid=53...&view=topic Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EnglishBob Posted March 26, 2007 Report Share Posted March 26, 2007 I'm not quite up for hiring crew yet......Although I will deffinatly pick up my crew before I start the build so they can each have their own input. Kc135Delta,How is the design for your yacht coming along? Have you decided to go for a helicopter? How big are you going to go? Where are you looking to build? It's not often I get to talk yachts and helicopters in one place, so that's where the enthusiasm comes from! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doanut99 Posted March 26, 2007 Report Share Posted March 26, 2007 (edited) Ian wasn't trying to insult anyone or make any generalizations. I can speak for both of us when I say both he and I are VERY serious about our careers in this industry. Just a misunderstanding. Murdock- Hey brother how many hours did you have when you first got the job out there? That sounds like a great haul! Edited March 26, 2007 by doanut99 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
james28 Posted March 27, 2007 Report Share Posted March 27, 2007 pretty stiff requirements to get that job you posted southern. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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