Another newb looking for advice/comments on training/career :)

December 6, 2007

Lots of helpful information to find here. I have been reading up for a little while now, but wanted to get some comments/advice on my personal plans.

So after thinking about it for a while, my wife and I have decided that we are going to pack up and head for Hawaii so I can attend flight training at Mauna Loa Helicopters. Why now? Because us being in our early-mid twenties with no kids yet, it is kind of a now-or-never thing for us. If we are ever are going to do something like this, now is the time before we start having children and get settled in somewhere.

Here is what my plans are......I want to attend MLH and become a commercial heli-pilot. Ideally I would be hired on at MLH as a flight instructor after completing my training (school seems to have a good reputation for hiring their graduates). This would be my main time-builder. After building my PIC hours to 1000+ at MLH, I would look for a job either in Hawaii (if we find that we enjoy living there), or look for a job where we are both from and where our families are (Oregon). I think ideally I would like to fly tours in Hawaii or fly in the Portland area or the Bend area of Oregon (maybe EMS or ??)

My worries/concerns.....Let's say for whatever reason I am unable to get a job instructing at MLH. If that were the case I would look for instructing jobs here in Oregon. I personally have zero desire to work/live in the GOM. It is not completely out of the question as I do understand that in this industry you have to "pay your dues" to work your way up, but I would like to avoid it if possible.

With that being said, let's say I want to do EMS work in Oregon. These jobs usually require somewhere in the neighborhood of 500hrs turbine time and night time as well. I realize that I won't be getting that while instructing at MLH for example. What other ways besides the GOM do people build time for those requirements?

While we will be paying as much as we can out of pocket during training, most of the cost of training will need to be financed (most likely through sallie mae). Although this is somewhat daunting, it is just what is necessary to accomplish my goals.

So I understand the sacrifices required while paying your dues and building up your hours, such as working often with little pay. That is fine with me, but my ultimate goal is to have a job that I enjoy doing while still being able to come home, or at least be near home, every night. That is why now woule be a good time for is to do this if we decide to, since we don't yet have children and we can make sacrifices. Ultimately though I do not want to be leaving home for 7 or 14 days at a time while my wife is home with our future kids. That is why I would either like to be flying in Hawaii or doing EMS work or something else here in the Portland area or in the Bend area. Working 7/7 isn't a problem for me as long as I am living somewhere I want to live and near my family.

So for you experienced pilots....feel free to comment on my ideas. How realistic are my plans? I am open to any advice you guys have.

thanks

December 7, 2007

L
Here is what my plans are......I want to attend MLH and become a commercial heli-pilot. Ideally I would be hired on at MLH as a flight instructor after completing my training (school seems to have a good reputation for hiring their graduates).

They do like hiring their graduates, but they can't hire them all. I spoke to Ryan, a graduate from MLH, who was there answering the phones, and he was doing construction work just waiting for an opening there. I wouldn't put all your eggs in that basket...

Your plan is well thought out, but most likely idealistic. I hope it goes like that for you, and I am in almost the same exact situation with the same exact dream... 24 years old, married no kids, want to be home at night and fly all day...

Good luck.

December 7, 2007

I'm sorry, in my opinion your dream as an at home helicopter pilot is a far cry.

Yes, one day you may obtain that dream "home every night" helicopter job. Most likely it will be about the time your kids are grown. You will have missed them growing up while you were off "flying" all those other crazy missions that left you out at some camp fire or motel. You probabally won't get to pick what city you're living in, you'll be divorced due to AIDS, you'll be pissed that you don't make enough money to pay for beans and you can't retire until someone makes you....

But Hey!!! You get to fly a helicopter for a living so nothing else matters. (sorry I was feeling frisky tonight)

December 7, 2007

I'm sorry, in my opinion your dream as an at home helicopter pilot is a far cry.

Yes, one day you may obtain that dream "home every night" helicopter job. Most likely it will be about the time your kids are grown. You will have missed them growing up while you were off "flying" all those other crazy missions that left you out at some camp fire or motel. You probabally won't get to pick what city you're living in, you'll be divorced due to AIDS, you'll be pissed that you don't make enough money to pay for beans and you can't retire until someone makes you....

But Hey!!! You get to fly a helicopter for a living so nothing else matters. (sorry I was feeling frisky tonight)

OK. I give up then.

Seriously, when it come to AIDs my theory is that the type of people who choose to be pilots are a slightly different breed to begin with. Nomadic, adventury types, whatever... and their personality may be more likely to wind up divorced anyway.

There are happily married pilots, technically I am one them.

Thanks for the pick-me up. I'm going to go cry now.

December 7, 2007

I considered Hawaii for training but personally Hawaii is just too expensive to pay for flight training, and pay for the rest of your living expenses. Hopefully I can get there after I have a few thousand hours under the belt, otherwise you may be doing it in reverse.

December 7, 2007

rcbone,

I don't think your plans are very unrealistic at all. Hawaii is as good a place as anywhere (probably

better) to train. Hopefully, you can get an instructing job there, and build up your

time there. That will be the key. If that happens, you should be able to get on with one of the

many tour operators in Hawaii for turbine time. Time wise, I think this could all happen in, at

most, 4 years. You will still be in your 20's, and you should have in the neighborhood of 2000-

2500TT. A lot of EMS operators will look at you then. Make sure to get as much night time as

you can along the way. I have been flying for a living for three years and have a grand total of

41.9 hours at night. I work in the GOM. We NEVER fly at night. Every EMS operator I have seen

requires at least 100 hours unaided night. Oops! No EMS for me for a while. I wish you good luck.

December 7, 2007

One thing though, it was my understanding that most tour operations in Hawaii are looking for pilots with 2000-3000 hours currently. That means its rare you will find a company to hire you and turbine transition you there.

December 7, 2007

You may have heard that and they may advertise that, but 1500 hours would probably get you

in the door. 2000-3000 minimum for a TOUR pilot? EMS hires at 2000 depending on the state.

Any Hawaii tour pilots out there to set it straight?

December 9, 2007

Well I am not holding my breath, I plan to do the grand canyon or somewhere else before Hawaii. The point is you need a company that will pay to transition you to turbine, and I doubt you will find that in Hawaii even if the hour requirement is lower than I think it is.

December 9, 2007

Companies don't train you to transition to turbines. They train you for the type of job they do. There

really is no "turbine transition". When you get hired somewhere, everyone goes through the same

training, whether you have 10,000 hours (all turbine) or 1200 hours (no turbine). Believe me, it's

just another helicopter! As I have said before, don't spend a nickel on turbine time. Your first

employer after instructing will not care!

December 10, 2007

Good luck with your training! if you get down to northern california, check out this school in chico. airshasta. small school , quality training. not a pilot mill. airshast.com 15307745280

January 16, 2008

similar, though far from exact, situation as rcbone, as i'm in my mid 20's, not married and no kids, but want to train at MLH too.... not sure if i'll get the chance, but i'm waiting on a call back today from Shelley at the school.... living in Florida, its not as easy of a decision for you West Coast residents to "hop" out there for school, its giving up a LOT here, but i'm young and unattached so why not?

kinda disappointed we didn't get to hear from anyone who trained at MLH to give us some REAL WORLD experience, not just about the school, but about the area (depending on which of the three schools they attended) and such.... if i went, i would be going to the Honolulu branch as its near the University - part of my problem living where i do in Orlando is being totally disconnected from people my age!

January 16, 2008

Mike Garcia,

I understand wanting to go to Hawaii but living in Orlando I'm sure you know that you have lots of training options availible to you without even having to leave home so to speak.

January 21, 2008

I had no idea that Hawaii was that attractive for pilots. However, Hawaii is a quite small Island, or am I wrong? Is the there a lot of work out there? I am considering Hawaii as well, but I have heard that I can not educate there, since I am a foregin?

By the way, what is MLH?

Edited January 21, 2008 by Motox

January 21, 2008

MLH = Mauna Loa Helicopters

January 22, 2008

living in Florida, its not as easy of a decision for you West Coast residents to "hop" out there for school, its giving up a LOT here, but i'm young and unattached so why not?

GarciaM25,

Forgive me for asking, but have you looked into Bristow Academy in Titusville, Tomlinson Aviation in Ormond Beach, or Palm Beach Helicopters in West Palm Beach? Seems like you have some good options close by without a major move.

January 22, 2008

@Rogue & mechanic

i have scheduled a tour for Bristow a week from today.... my expectations are thus, as gathered from speaking to Brandon at MLH who went to Bristow then transfered to MLH after ground school: the ground school at Bristow is top ranked, and will train me in ways that other, non-accredited schools can, so they have a 12 week program of just ground training composed of "Rotorcraft Ground School," "Instrument Ground School," and "CFI Ground School."

what they cannot teach you is how to fly in circumstantial weather - as Brandon stated, they won't fly if wind speed reaches 15 knots, whereas MLH flies in wind speeds typically starting at 20 knots! i want to get the best training possible, and it seems to me that having the best instruction at Bristow then transferring out to MLH for the best flying, i would be as well rounded as possible! please, feel free to correct me, i'm still VERY new at all this....

and mechanic, please don't ask to be forgiven for asking - i APPRECIATE it!

January 22, 2008

EDIT - i'm also trying to figure out how to finance the "split training," how to get a loan to finance ground school at Bristow and flight school at MLH.... one thing i wanted to do was go through UVSC and get another degree while learning how to fly, but i don't know how that will work out at Bristow....

January 22, 2008

If you go for a loan from Sallie Mae which is an unsecured loan then you can take one loan for this and one loan for that, etc, etc.

why not just go all the way to Private at Bristow and then switch.

January 23, 2008

okay, through Private sounds fine too! i'm going to meet with them next week like i said and figure it out, its going to be weird telling them that i'm not going to go all the way through CFI or CFII, but its my education and i want to do it the right way - if that means doing EVERYTHING at Bristow and can be convinced that's the way to go, then i'll do it all there.... but the theory of learning how to fly in all conditions at MLH sounds a whole lot more promising than being a "fair weather pilot" as Brandon described at Bristow!

after talking about this with a friend, looks like he might be interested in figuring out how it all works too - two of us going through school and learning how to fly at the same time sounds good to me!

January 25, 2008

Hello Motox...

Hawaii is a collection of several islands and each has a lot of scenery to show off; hence each island has a number of helicopters showing off the scenery to us tourists. The cost of living on any of the Hawaiian Islands is pretty high though so make sure you check it out before signing up.

I had no idea that Hawaii was that attractive for pilots. However, Hawaii is a quite small Island, or am I wrong? Is the there a lot of work out there? I am considering Hawaii as well, but I have heard that I can not educate there, since I am a foregin?

By the way, what is MLH?

January 26, 2008

I used Sallie Mae and the total application time was three months before I saw a dime. Make sure, make sure, and make sure that the company you are going to train with is on there list of schools. The loan you want is called a career training loan. https://www.slmfinancial.com/ If the school name is not on there list of schools approved for training, then it will take months to sort the paperwork out. By the way as someone who is finishing up his instrument rating and going on to CFII I really suggest while all that information is in your brain pan you go for CFI and CFII. But it is just a thought. I train at Cloud 9 Helicopters in West Palm Beach and they have cheap housing and plenty of aircraft. Not to mention they are on the SLM Financial list now thanks to my application and three month ordeal. Good luck and remember only you know what is best for you. Just be realistic with yourself and you will be fine.

January 29, 2008

just got back from a tour of Bristow and i'm quite impressed! its certainly an organized center, and they know how to get the job done.... one thing i'm now even more confused with is that they have done a decent job of making me think twice about spliting up my training and not stop at private, but go on to instrument and then CFI / CFII at Bristow.... their argument was to learn how to fly successfully in "fair weather Florida," then when taking another job, say with AirLog perhaps (hint hint), they would train me to fly their helicopters, turbine training, wind and weather where i would be working.... what's the legitimacy of this? is this true in full or in part?

February 3, 2008

Mike as I understand it you'll want to learn how to fly first and learn how to deal with weather second. I also toured Bristow, although I wasn't overly impressed ( after three unreturned phone calls - over a week's time a week prior - I showed up unannounced for my "tour", though it was the holiday season in their defense ) though I did think it would be a perfectly acceptable place to train. My biggest personal roadblock is financing, I also feel I'd be more comfortable at a smaller school, for example Aquila in Starke says their students have trained up to two hours a day where as at a big place like Bristow? I have no idea what kind of actual flight time you get though they do say you can finish training in 9 months. One thing I did very much like about Bristow though is you are one leg up to getting a job at AirLog when you are done as your entire training tenure is basically one giant job interview and yes if you move over to that division they train you to do the Gulf work. All in all I think you just need to find somewhere where you'll feel like you are getting your money's worth and the amount of flight time you want and progressing at the rate you want to.