March is here and its time that many people think about getting back in the helicopter after the cold winter , although it seems like winter will never end in MA ! The warm weather should arrive soon and we will all feel better about wheeling those helicopters out of the warm hangar in the mornings....
As a flight school owner and commercial pilot I try a keep up to date with what is going on in the helicopter industry ,What are students looking for ,What do they need and what are we as a flight school doing to attract new students ? ,Should we do something different to try and bring new students ? Do people walk in the door and say " Hello I want to be a helicopter pilot here's $60K "
If we could answer these questions we would have 60 helicopters on the ramp like Bristow Academy in Florida !
What I have figured out is that as far as the training portion of the business goes , Students have some very normal questions before they choose to take the long road to being a pilot , I will try and list the most common questions and how we as a flight school can help them.
Question 1: What do I have to do to become employable as a helicopter pilot ?
I tell everybody that asks me this question not normally what they want to hear ! I start by explaining how to get the required ratings and what the industry is looking for at the current time ,We all know that we need Private, Instrument and commercial ratings. Of course we need to add Flight Instructor and Instrument flight instructor ratings to go and start that long road of building hours to whatever the industry requires , right now it seems like 1500 to 2000 and even more in some cases. I usually use the time frame of being a flight instructor in a busy school for several years. After this time you can start looking for your first job as a tour pilot in NY city or Alaska or even Vegas. You may also choose to work in the Gulf of mexico as a pilot flying to the rigs, with experience of this I can tell you its a very lonely place !
If potential pilots have not done their homework at this point they run for the hills ! The ones that stay already know what they need to do and move on to more questions .
Question 2: Do I really need an instrument rating ?
Very simple answer .... if you don't have an instrument rating you cannot be an Instrument instructor and you will not get hired , Every Instructor out there looking for jobs is an instrument instructor. you will also end up wasting hours working on you commercial ratings when you could have been completing an instrument rating. We use the 300C for instrument ratings and with long range tanks you can complete the rating in less flights and get more out of each flight, I never slam the R22 but you can barely carry enough fuel to get to the runway in an Instrument R22 !
Question 3: Will you give me a job if I train here ?
Another easy answer..... We will hire anybody even part time initially to work here IF you show us throughout your training that you are committed, arrive on time etc etc. Its much easier to hire somebody we know and trained than an unknown quantity ,However nothing is guaranteed , I make that very clear. All of our instructors are either trained here or from Bristow Academy ,the school I trained at and the school we model ourselves on, they are the biggest civilian school in the world and they use the schweizer helicopter.
Question 4: When can I get started with the training and can you get me a loan !
Like I mentioned earlier, this is the stumbling block for 75% of people , since the Robinson school "Silverstate helicopters" destroyed the loan industry for all of us then its very difficult to obtain financing for completing a helicopter license. Many Robinson schools are very unstable and "lease back" helicopters for use. Silverstate was one of them and took many thousands of dollars from un- suspecting students ,The owner ran off with millions and left students owing banks for training they never completed. (another story for another blog !). So obtaining financing is best done by talking to a wealthy family member or maybe savings. We do have some options for financing the private and instrument portions but they will not fund commercial licenses.
Some schools are trying new methods of enrolling students but beware ! They are offering students a new FAA developed 'FITS' syllabus .This new course backed by the FAA claims to offer students real world training. Operators talk about training in off site landings and preparing you for EMS missions. One of our instructors "Mark Musgrove" an EMS pilot for UMASS Worcester asked how a CFI with no commercial experience or EMS experience could provide this training ! and further more how a 100 hour student would even benefit from this so called 'FITS' training ? Any school with experience in training commercial pilots will have some "Industry pilots" on staff to assist in the real world scenario training and act as mentors to current CFI'S and students. This training including off site landings and confined areas is in the regular 'PTS' (Practical test standards) already required by the FAA.
Taking a course of training on 'FITS' syllabus will cost you 30% to 40% more and with money tight for most students this is not acceptable. The Biggest civilian school in the world did not adopt this type of training , I wonder why ?
So DO YOUR HOMEWORK ! don't be blinded by courses of training that sound cool , find out exactly what the school is going to do to prepare you for a an instructor position ,being an instructor will help you build confidence, experience and of course hours in a helicopter before you find that all important first job !
So back to the original Blog idea ,what are we doing to promote the career of being a helicopter pilot to new students ? Firstly... NOT blinding them with courses of training that take 30-40 percent longer to reach the same goal ...... Secondly offering very experienced staff and 'Industry pilots' always on hand to answer questions from students and finally offering a great environment to train in.
lastly ... The photo of the day ..... See you all at heli expo Florida !
As a flight school owner and commercial pilot I try a keep up to date with what is going on in the helicopter industry ,What are students looking for ,What do they need and what are we as a flight school doing to attract new students ? ,Should we do something different to try and bring new students ? Do people walk in the door and say " Hello I want to be a helicopter pilot here's $60K "
If we could answer these questions we would have 60 helicopters on the ramp like Bristow Academy in Florida !
What I have figured out is that as far as the training portion of the business goes , Students have some very normal questions before they choose to take the long road to being a pilot , I will try and list the most common questions and how we as a flight school can help them.
Question 1: What do I have to do to become employable as a helicopter pilot ?
I tell everybody that asks me this question not normally what they want to hear ! I start by explaining how to get the required ratings and what the industry is looking for at the current time ,We all know that we need Private, Instrument and commercial ratings. Of course we need to add Flight Instructor and Instrument flight instructor ratings to go and start that long road of building hours to whatever the industry requires , right now it seems like 1500 to 2000 and even more in some cases. I usually use the time frame of being a flight instructor in a busy school for several years. After this time you can start looking for your first job as a tour pilot in NY city or Alaska or even Vegas. You may also choose to work in the Gulf of mexico as a pilot flying to the rigs, with experience of this I can tell you its a very lonely place !
If potential pilots have not done their homework at this point they run for the hills ! The ones that stay already know what they need to do and move on to more questions .
Question 2: Do I really need an instrument rating ?
Very simple answer .... if you don't have an instrument rating you cannot be an Instrument instructor and you will not get hired , Every Instructor out there looking for jobs is an instrument instructor. you will also end up wasting hours working on you commercial ratings when you could have been completing an instrument rating. We use the 300C for instrument ratings and with long range tanks you can complete the rating in less flights and get more out of each flight, I never slam the R22 but you can barely carry enough fuel to get to the runway in an Instrument R22 !
Question 3: Will you give me a job if I train here ?
Another easy answer..... We will hire anybody even part time initially to work here IF you show us throughout your training that you are committed, arrive on time etc etc. Its much easier to hire somebody we know and trained than an unknown quantity ,However nothing is guaranteed , I make that very clear. All of our instructors are either trained here or from Bristow Academy ,the school I trained at and the school we model ourselves on, they are the biggest civilian school in the world and they use the schweizer helicopter.
Question 4: When can I get started with the training and can you get me a loan !
Like I mentioned earlier, this is the stumbling block for 75% of people , since the Robinson school "Silverstate helicopters" destroyed the loan industry for all of us then its very difficult to obtain financing for completing a helicopter license. Many Robinson schools are very unstable and "lease back" helicopters for use. Silverstate was one of them and took many thousands of dollars from un- suspecting students ,The owner ran off with millions and left students owing banks for training they never completed. (another story for another blog !). So obtaining financing is best done by talking to a wealthy family member or maybe savings. We do have some options for financing the private and instrument portions but they will not fund commercial licenses.
Some schools are trying new methods of enrolling students but beware ! They are offering students a new FAA developed 'FITS' syllabus .This new course backed by the FAA claims to offer students real world training. Operators talk about training in off site landings and preparing you for EMS missions. One of our instructors "Mark Musgrove" an EMS pilot for UMASS Worcester asked how a CFI with no commercial experience or EMS experience could provide this training ! and further more how a 100 hour student would even benefit from this so called 'FITS' training ? Any school with experience in training commercial pilots will have some "Industry pilots" on staff to assist in the real world scenario training and act as mentors to current CFI'S and students. This training including off site landings and confined areas is in the regular 'PTS' (Practical test standards) already required by the FAA.
Taking a course of training on 'FITS' syllabus will cost you 30% to 40% more and with money tight for most students this is not acceptable. The Biggest civilian school in the world did not adopt this type of training , I wonder why ?
So DO YOUR HOMEWORK ! don't be blinded by courses of training that sound cool , find out exactly what the school is going to do to prepare you for a an instructor position ,being an instructor will help you build confidence, experience and of course hours in a helicopter before you find that all important first job !
So back to the original Blog idea ,what are we doing to promote the career of being a helicopter pilot to new students ? Firstly... NOT blinding them with courses of training that take 30-40 percent longer to reach the same goal ...... Secondly offering very experienced staff and 'Industry pilots' always on hand to answer questions from students and finally offering a great environment to train in.
lastly ... The photo of the day ..... See you all at heli expo Florida !
