Any chopper pilots around?

[Smokinyotes]

My 19 year old son has been working construction since graduating high school. Numerous times we have discussed getting a trade or going to some post secondary education. He isn’t interested in the trades and has decided he wants to be a chopper pilot. I don’t know much about it but he has started to look into it. Just wondering if anyone knows what all is required, costs, pay and job availability.

[scesfiremedic]

Why not give Rotorworks in Whitecourt a call as they provide rotory wing training and I’m sure they could give you the answers you’re looking for.

https://www.rotorworks.com

[Smokinyotes]

Thanks

[lilsundance]

Not a pilot, but my nephew is. It cost him a lot. His first couple jobs were moving a couple birds around between helipads. The he flew a chopper for a news crew in Van. More hours flying means you can fly bigger birds, means bigger pay. Now I may be wrong about this next info but I think you have to fly so many hours a year to maintain the license or maybe you had to fly so many hours the first year. He flies the big ones now ferrying crews into fires and uses the water bucket when needed. do like medic says and ask a training school.

[propliner]

Chopper pilots rarely make it out of the bush but I guess some guys are ok with that lifestyle.

[260 Rem]

Has he considered the military route? No guarantee he would get rotary but no cost to him and decent salary with good benefits.

[canishunter22-250]

Not a pilot but spend a ton of time sitting with them in helicopters and have lots of friends that are.

I know I couldn't handle the lifestyle. Gotta pretty well sell your whole life away just for the perk of getting to fly for a living. Expect to live in the bush for long periods and on short notice. It isn't the type of job you can check out of easily. The haydays of the helicopter industry are somewhat over compared to what it used to be like. Many companies are struggling.

I was interested and asked one buddy who's a pilot about it. He said if aviation is your thing then get a well-paying job and do it privately on your own for fun rather than as a living.

[SageValleyOutdoors]

If it’s somerting he REALLY wants o do, tell him to go the military route.
I’m not a pilot, but one of my friends/neighbours is. We’ve talked about it extensively (my son wants to be a pilot when he’s done school) and he tells me:
To get a commercial pilot license, in addition to flight school, you need a TON of flight hours on the type of aircraft you want to be certified on. All of which you have to pay for yourself. A helicopter can be $500+ per hour, in addition to the training pilot you’d have to pay to go with. Starting out, the industry is FULL of young guys who want to be a pilot - because it’s a cool job - and with any job market that’s flooded with barely qualified personnel, the employees pay very, very little to entry level people.
My neighbour went the military route, they pay you to be trained and qualified (and apparently they pay quite well). It’s a commitment for 7 years (i think), and you have no real control over where they send you, but if you don’t mind that part of it, he said it was the best way to get into the industry.
He wound up retiring from the military and actually flying the personal transport helicopter for the king and queen of Saudi Arabia - which sounded super cool until he told me that he was more like a glorified limo driver, taking them to/from the airport. Now that he has a family and has set down roots, he’s a pilot for a domestic airline. And the military has a program to financially aid former members to transition to the civilian workplace, which he used to gain enough flight time on twin engined planes. He’s in his early thirties, fully trained by the military, made an obscene amount of money flying for the Saudi’s, and now lives mortgage free, and is home almost every night.
I’m pushing my son that if he wants to be a pilot, to definitely follow our neighbors footsteps.

[tallieho]

My nephew had the bug.He decided to serve.Afganistan changed him from a grunt soldier,to disciplined man.He reuped after Harper shut down the troop thing over there.Was a mech for 4-5 yrs.When the oppurtunity came he enlisted in the Air Force.He is stationed in Cold Lk.He's around all of it now.Now he just has to get that training in & earn some money.

[longshot270]

Had a buddy do it 25 years ago. He went to Chilliwack/Abbotsford BC area and it cost something like $60-80,000 or something crazy. He flew one summer in northern Sask. fighting fires(dropping supplies and crews). Then the next summer couldn't get a job because he didn't have enough hours for the companies looking to hire. No hours-No job, No job- No hours. Never used his license again.

[20shadow05]

Some good advice has been given, so I won't repeat.

The armed forces is a great route, but in order to fly, you need to be an officer and in order to be an officer, he will need to be able to get in to and graduate from a university. He can join the armed forces AND go to university AND get paid for this if he is so inclined.

If that is not in the cards, he can go the private route, but it is crazy expensive, as in start at 50,000K and go from there. As has been pointed out before, you will spend most of your life/time in the middle of nowhere and the quality of life and or family life is not great (remotely great).

He could also look at some of the flight programs at colleges/universities in Canada (Mount Royal in Calgary, etc) and see if that works.

My best advice is to have your son speak to a few owner/operators of helicopter companies. Delta helicopters is out by you, I think (Villeneuve Airport). Offer to buy them lunch or bring out coffee after making an appointment and spend an hour, it will be the best money you/he have ever spent.

Other alternative is to work for one of the companies for a summer/winter job, refuelling, learning how to sling, cleaning, loading aircraft, again in the middle of nowhere. You will love it or hate it and again, a cheaper way of finding things out.

Best of luck with your son's decision, 4 (2 very close) of my friends were helicopter pilots, absolutely loved their careers and went at them very different ways (military, private, worked for company before being pilots). Having said this, 2 of the four passed away in helicopter crashes and one walked away from a crash. They never spoke/played up the dangers of flying helicopters, but you always got a sense that the work they did and the places they flew, an error was going to be significant.

[Taiga]

Helicopter training sounds expensive, but 4 years of university is in the $50,000 range or more (tuition and rez) in Canada. Quadruple in the US. All training costs money.

[Bushmaster]

This guy sprayed just west of my yard this summer. A week later he snagged a wire over by Denzil, Sk. He survived but was injured.

[Sooner]

Originally Posted by longshot270

Had a buddy do it 25 years ago. He went to Chilliwack/Abbotsford BC area and it cost something like $60-80,000 or something crazy. He flew one summer in northern Sask. fighting fires(dropping supplies and crews). Then the next summer couldn't get a job because he didn't have enough hours for the companies looking to hire. No hours-No job, No job- No hours. Never used his license again.

Same here, a co worker wanted to fly Helicopters. Took training, flights etc all at his expense. Never followed through once he realized he had spent a ton of cash to say I flew one a couple times.

[lannie]

https://forums.verticalmag.com/forum...er-operations/


Here is a forum for heli people. Its better than feedback from training schools because they want to paint a pretty picture. I think the industry was a good one once but not any longer. Tell your son to ask here about the industry to people in the industry. Chances of getting a year round job....very low....Average pay is pretty low too.

https://forums.verticalmag.com/topic...the-job-field/

This second link is about jobs in the industry....

[260 Rem]

Two comercial pilots in our family, a son and his wife ...both went military route ...both chose fixed wing ... both high achievers. Son is currently Managing Director of Flight Operations for AC Rouge (A320 when he flys), his wife is doing wide body long haul for AC in 787’s (Dreamliner). It is my impression to earn wings with the military, candidates must be fit, intelligent, and be fast learners. I recall our son’s assessment of the miiitary standards in his training program “anybody can learn to fly but to beat the cuts in the (military) program, one must learn each task quickly.” Don’t know if it has changed, but at the time our son earned his wings, only the top three (yes they were rank ordered), got to choose between fixed wing multi engine, fast air, or helicopters. The rest were placed.

[Jbone]

I am a chopper pilot, a lot of what people have said here is true.
Costs 50,000 plus and very tough industry to get into, like some one had said there are a lot of fresh heli pilots out there and the competition is stiff for the jobs.
That said it’s also being in the right place at the right time, your attitude plays a big role as well.
If your not into being in the bush it might not be for you.

Rotor Worx is a good out fit and pretty close to you, I’d also suggest Mountain View helicopters, at either place you can have your son taken out for a flight and get behind the controls to see what he really thinks about it.

The life style definitely isn’t for everyone but if you’re into it, it really isn’t work at all, not for me any how.

If you wanted take a drive up to Whitecourt and go to airborne, ask for Dave Canavan (Chief Pilot) and if he’s got the time I’m sure he’d be more than happy to have a talk about it with your son. Also Jim and Ryan are both really good guys at rotor worx and would do the same.

If you’ve got any more questions about anything I don’t mind helping out, both my brother and I are heli pilots and willing to answer any questions you’ve got.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Smokinyotes]

Thanks guys.

[grouse_hunter]

Please tell me if I understand this correctly. A helicopter pilot needs to receive model specific training in order to be certified to fly it. The license isn't a blanket type? I've never even been close to a helicopter, please pardon my ignorance on the subject.