Wannabe Pilot Looking For Answers

[Timmy b]

Hey y'all! So I have been thinking about pursuing a career as a helicopter pilot for the past few months and I have a few questions. First off, does anyone have any opinion on Epic Helicopters in Fort Worth, Texas? Second, there is no doubt that I would have to finance my training. Does anyone know of a good place to go through and get a fairly low interest rate?

I also want to find out what life as a helicopter pilot is like. I am 25 and married with no kids. I do want to have kids and am very much a family man. I know that jobs such as an EMS usually work 7 on and 7 off. My concern is being away for weeks or months at a time. I have heard a pilot's wife say that it's almost like being a single mother. Her husband works in logging. Are jobs where you get to spend time with family hard to come by? It is important to me to "love" what I do, but it's more important to me to be able to be there for my family. For the first time in my life, I have something that I "REALLY" want to do and am excited about. My main concerns are that I cannot afford it, and that my family would have to suffer so that I could enjoy my job. I don't care about getting rich. Any advice or thoughts would help.

[Wally]

Hey y'all! So I have been thinking about pursuing a career as a helicopter pilot for the past few months and I have a few questions. First off, does anyone have any opinion on Epic Helicopters in Fort Worth, Texas? Second, there is no doubt that I would have to finance my training. Does anyone know of a good place to go through and get a fairly low interest rate?

I also want to find out what life as a helicopter pilot is like. I am 25 and married with no kids. I do want to have kids and am very much a family man. I know that jobs such as an EMS usually work 7 on and 7 off. My concern is being away for weeks or months at a time. I have heard a pilot's wife say that it's almost like being a single mother. Her husband works in logging. Are jobs where you get to spend time with family hard to come by? It is important to me to "love" what I do, but it's more important to me to be able to be there for my family. For the first time in my life, I have something that I "REALLY" want to do and am excited about. My main concerns are that I cannot afford it, and that my family would have to suffer so that I could enjoy my job. I don't care about getting rich. Any advice or thoughts would help.

 

The flying life is what you make it. The money thing is pretty clear, don't minimize it.

The first couple of thousand hours/few years are the real challenge. After that period of poverty and potentially nomadic existence (chasing the next seat), things get better. You can be merely "poor" (actually, middle class, but ...) and have a stable home life. Doing the CFI thing to build time seems a good answer to the "new pilot certificate and no experience" conundrum. You'll get to sleep in the same refrigerator box. The ones used for side-by-sides are especially nice. That's my poor attempt of making light of the serious issues new pilots face.

After that, things can be better. I've been on an EMS base for 7 years and I love it, I'm home every "night". Before that, I worked the Gulf of Mexico for 13 years. It has unique advantages if you and your family fit the situation. I've done other things in my life since I started flying, too, and wasn't happy not flying. Never done utility or ag.

The single parent quote is accurate, sometimes. You'll need to explore that issue fully and work very hard to keep any kind of family thing going. Consider, I walk out the door to go to work at something I love to do, in the old days for weeks at a time. My family can't share that privilege. They also don't fully understand the job and are apprehensive each time I go- I might not come back this time, in their eyes. In a way, I'm bloody selfish. But I'm an even more miserable jerk if I'm not flying, I won't go into that... I have a very special and generous wife.