If you started training to be a helicopter pilot to someday make it a job, please read on !
Very early in your training you start to hear talk about turbine engine helicopters like they are some some of mystical machine that are only operated by pilots with 100,000 hours ... not true, they still have a collective and a cyclic and even pedals ! Some have other gadgets that actually make it easier for you to fly. I can speak as a pilot who flies several different types of turbine helicopters commercially in the gulf of mexico and will explain a little more about making the transition to turbine helicopters .
There is no doubt that you will teach in small piston helicopters like the schweizer or (if you have to) then the R22. You will teach private commercial and instrument students the same things that you learned about for probably 1500 hours . This number changes on the industry standards and the demand for pilots increases or decreases year by year . Right now there is no doubt that the industry requires 1500-2000 to be considered for maybe a tour job or power line patrol, these jobs are generally with a company like liberty helicopters in NY City or one of the Las vegas tour operators like Sundance or Papillon. The Vegas operators normally hire in December and start looking for pilots at the heli-success job fair in Vegas, Liberty seems to be a closed door and unless you know somebody it can be hard to get in but not impossible. One of my best friends and an old instructor at Blue Hill, 'Mark Musgrove' landed a job with liberty several years ago with only 1200 hours....to prove a point he had no turbine experience and had been teaching with Blue Hill for almost a year in a piston engined schweizer. He built 800 hours of turbine experience in the Astar (AS350) and moved over to an EMS job when the NY tour season ended and gaining a transistion to the EC135 multi engine helicopter with Air methods.
Many of our current students will know 'Adrian Mansfield' a long term instructor at Blue Hill who got himself a job flying tours for Papillon in Las Vegas at the start of the tour season this year. To prove another point Adrian had 0 turbine hours but almost 2000 of piston time again teaching in the schweizer. I guess my point here is 'DO NOT pay for turbine time ..... if you can get in it for free then go ahead of course but never pay for it !
Factory courses
A factory course can be of use, but real factory courses like the "Eurocopter" factory course or the "Bell" factory course are expensive and run upwards of $8k plus travel etc. Insurance companies will only except the actual factory course , don't be fooled by a flight school offering you a 'turbine transition' in an old Bell 206 , there is no such thing as a turbine transition .................. Do car dealers offer a transition into there vehicle when you buy it ? NO ! this is the best way to look at it .
When you get hired
When you get hired on by a tour operator they will train you... and for free ! in whatever type of helicopter they want you to fly, they will also train you the way they want you to fly it. Not to beat a dead horse but both Adrian and Mark were instructors that were hired with 0 turbine time.
The GOM
A little about the gulf of mexico.... The gulf has always been a place for pilots to build some good time and get transitioned to some pretty complex helicopters, there are stories of pilots getting hired with no turbine experience and only 1500 hours , its changed a little these days and it seems the operators are now looking for 2000 plus some turbine experience, its a love or hate environment with long hours and being away from the comfort of home for 2 weeks at a time called a 'Hitch'. If you put the time in here it can pay off with transitions with the non-union operators coming quickly .
Housing is generally at a remote heliport in a trailer just a couple of hundred feet away from the helicopter but comfortable, maintenance is good and the flying is varied with most days being different, unlike tours where the same route is flown everyday just with different people.
So the purpose of the blog ... Don't pay for transitions into turbines !
BHH
Very early in your training you start to hear talk about turbine engine helicopters like they are some some of mystical machine that are only operated by pilots with 100,000 hours ... not true, they still have a collective and a cyclic and even pedals ! Some have other gadgets that actually make it easier for you to fly. I can speak as a pilot who flies several different types of turbine helicopters commercially in the gulf of mexico and will explain a little more about making the transition to turbine helicopters .
There is no doubt that you will teach in small piston helicopters like the schweizer or (if you have to) then the R22. You will teach private commercial and instrument students the same things that you learned about for probably 1500 hours . This number changes on the industry standards and the demand for pilots increases or decreases year by year . Right now there is no doubt that the industry requires 1500-2000 to be considered for maybe a tour job or power line patrol, these jobs are generally with a company like liberty helicopters in NY City or one of the Las vegas tour operators like Sundance or Papillon. The Vegas operators normally hire in December and start looking for pilots at the heli-success job fair in Vegas, Liberty seems to be a closed door and unless you know somebody it can be hard to get in but not impossible. One of my best friends and an old instructor at Blue Hill, 'Mark Musgrove' landed a job with liberty several years ago with only 1200 hours....to prove a point he had no turbine experience and had been teaching with Blue Hill for almost a year in a piston engined schweizer. He built 800 hours of turbine experience in the Astar (AS350) and moved over to an EMS job when the NY tour season ended and gaining a transistion to the EC135 multi engine helicopter with Air methods.
Many of our current students will know 'Adrian Mansfield' a long term instructor at Blue Hill who got himself a job flying tours for Papillon in Las Vegas at the start of the tour season this year. To prove another point Adrian had 0 turbine hours but almost 2000 of piston time again teaching in the schweizer. I guess my point here is 'DO NOT pay for turbine time ..... if you can get in it for free then go ahead of course but never pay for it !
Factory courses
A factory course can be of use, but real factory courses like the "Eurocopter" factory course or the "Bell" factory course are expensive and run upwards of $8k plus travel etc. Insurance companies will only except the actual factory course , don't be fooled by a flight school offering you a 'turbine transition' in an old Bell 206 , there is no such thing as a turbine transition .................. Do car dealers offer a transition into there vehicle when you buy it ? NO ! this is the best way to look at it .
When you get hired
When you get hired on by a tour operator they will train you... and for free ! in whatever type of helicopter they want you to fly, they will also train you the way they want you to fly it. Not to beat a dead horse but both Adrian and Mark were instructors that were hired with 0 turbine time.
The GOM
A little about the gulf of mexico.... The gulf has always been a place for pilots to build some good time and get transitioned to some pretty complex helicopters, there are stories of pilots getting hired with no turbine experience and only 1500 hours , its changed a little these days and it seems the operators are now looking for 2000 plus some turbine experience, its a love or hate environment with long hours and being away from the comfort of home for 2 weeks at a time called a 'Hitch'. If you put the time in here it can pay off with transitions with the non-union operators coming quickly .
Housing is generally at a remote heliport in a trailer just a couple of hundred feet away from the helicopter but comfortable, maintenance is good and the flying is varied with most days being different, unlike tours where the same route is flown everyday just with different people.
So the purpose of the blog ... Don't pay for transitions into turbines !
BHH
