Questions about a flight school

[crfracer]

Ok, I have been looking into going for my heli rating. I already have my fixed-wing PPL with about 85 hrs and have always loved helicopters. I have gone on 2 separate helicopters tours (1 in Hawaii, and 1 around San Francisco) and loved being in them, but I have never piloted one. I am definitely going to make a career out of flying, whether it is fixed-wing or rotor-wing, civilian or military I haven't decided, but it will be some combination of the options listed above.

 

Anyway, I have been looking around at the different helicopter flight schools, and have pretty well gone through the flight school reference on this site but didn't see one of the schools I was looking at and there were no reviews for the other, although I have found a few more schools I didn't even know existed, and seem like real possibilities.

 

If anyone has an opinion or has heard anything about Helicopter Academy (helicopteracademy.com) they seem like a good possible school, but I would like some feed back on them.

 

Also, Bristow Academy, formerly Helicopter Adventures, has a location closer to me, but I have not been able to find any reviews on them. I did just read a post from someone saying that they fairly milked them for flight time when they were close to their check ride and were forced to switch schools due to closure.

 

So, there it is, any and all help is greatly appreciated.

Ethan

[lv@1stflite]

Ethan,

I'm currently a student at Bristow in Concord.... Getting close to 30 hours now and I can tell you it's a great school. They fly Schweizer 300's which, from what I've heard is a bit more difficult than a Robbie because you always have to be conscious of your RPM's and constantly adjusting the throttle. I'm probably shooting myself in the foot by telling you this because of the influx of ex-SSHers coming in and no new ships to cover them but if you can want good training and a flexible schedule call Chuck over there at Bristow. I'm totally happy with my choice!

[Goldy]

They fly Schweizer 300's which, from what I've heard is a bit more difficult than a Robbie because you always have to be conscious of your RPM's and constantly adjusting the throttle.

 

Just my opinion and off topic, but I find the 300 much easier to fly than the 22. More substantial, larger movements in cyclic allowed, the rotor rpm really isnt that hard to maintain. If you want tough rotor RPM, fly a 22 around the pattern with the governor off.

[crfracer]

Great info, thanks for sharing your experiences.

 

Ethan