dbike78 Posted May 15, 2007 Posted May 15, 2007 Hey Guys, I have been reading through the forum and it seems like everyone is training in the R22 or some other Robinson. The flight school that I'm planning on training at uses the Schweizer 269B. Is this going to cause problems for me once I have my CFI and am looking for work? I have read that the R22 is not a great helicopter to learn on and that you can get into serious trouble fast. Any insight would be appreciated. Quote
svtcobra66 Posted May 15, 2007 Posted May 15, 2007 Well if you train in the 269 you'll probably live longer . You should be fine, most schools have one or the other, you could always get an instrument rating or something in the R22 later. You would need 50 hours to teach or do commercial operations in the Robinsons, so that may be a factor for you later. If you have time in both the Schweizer and the R22 it certainly won't hurt, but I would be more concerned about training in a rare helicopter such as a Brantly, Hiller, Enstrom, etc. You may find employment difficult if you are not able to build hours on your own. Quote
Autorotator Posted May 15, 2007 Posted May 15, 2007 Just to touch on svtcobra66's comment, you would also have to go to the Robinson Helicopter factory safety course in CA. Being able to teach in both will be to your advantage. I've seen employers looking ONLY for instructors that can teach in both. The more experience the better. Later. Quote
dbike78 Posted May 15, 2007 Author Posted May 15, 2007 Just to touch on svtcobra66's comment, you would also have to go to the Robinson Helicopter factory safety course in CA. Being able to teach in both will be to your advantage. I've seen employers looking ONLY for instructors that can teach in both. The more experience the better. Later. so are you saying that I will need both just to find work? Quote
klmmarine Posted May 15, 2007 Posted May 15, 2007 No, what he is saying is that it will be beneficial to you to get experience in both aircraft. You will be able to find work as a CFI in either aircraft, as there is no shortage of CFI jobs out there. Quote
helitiger Posted May 15, 2007 Posted May 15, 2007 The r22 was never designed to be a trainer, even frank robinson discourages there use as a trainer. Plus they are really weight limited. The reason schools ues robbies are because they are cheap to operate. There are plenty of schools out there using schweizers, I flew all schweizer in my training and had no problem finding a job! Quote
Crusty Old Dude Posted May 15, 2007 Posted May 15, 2007 The r22 was never designed to be a trainer, even frank robinson discourages there use as a trainer. Plus they are really weight limited. The reason schools ues robbies are because they are cheap to operate. There are plenty of schools out there using schweizers, I flew all schweizer in my training and had no problem finding a job!I'm getting the same here. My local school. flying exclusively 300c's, is desperate for trainers (they are all moving on...a great sign, no?). Plus, at 240lbs (yes, yes...I'm losing 50 lbs!) it's really my most viable option. Personally, I'm not seeing anything stopping *me* from just going that route. Quote
RaymondKHessel Posted May 16, 2007 Posted May 16, 2007 Hey Guys, I have been reading through the forum and it seems like everyone is training in the R22 or some other Robinson. The flight school that I'm planning on training at uses the Schweizer 269B. Is this going to cause problems for me once I have my CFI and am looking for work? I have read that the R22 is not a great helicopter to learn on and that you can get into serious trouble fast. Any insight would be appreciated. It's the job after that has me concerned. I flew a 300 recently. Loved it...stable, felt big, real, controllable, nothing like the R22. But when I started probing the owner about time-building (his school doesn't train many instructors) and CFI work, he got very nonspecific, and suggested that a fall-back would be getting 50 hours on the R22 so I could teach on it. Who'd you hire: a guy with 200 R22 hours or one with 50? So, despite all the virtues of the 300, I think I'm going to get most (or all) of my time on the R22 just because I think I'll have more job options at the end of my training. Maybe that'll change--one of this owner's arguments for the 300 was that "Frank is discontinuing the model to drive the cost of parts up, preventing it from being an economically viable option for flight training." Quote
ChprPlt Posted May 16, 2007 Posted May 16, 2007 Maybe that'll change--one of this owner's arguments for the 300 was that "Frank is discontinuing the model to drive the cost of parts up, preventing it from being an economically viable option for flight training." At the safety course Frank himself said they are not dicontinuing the R22. It's not going away Quote
RaymondKHessel Posted May 16, 2007 Posted May 16, 2007 Maybe that'll change--one of this owner's arguments for the 300 was that "Frank is discontinuing the model to drive the cost of parts up, preventing it from being an economically viable option for flight training."At the safety course Frank himself said they are not dicontinuing the R22. It's not going away Add that to the retiring Viet Nam vets myth then. Pays to be skeptical. Quote
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