There are lots of resources available on how to achieve your goals in the helicopter industry. This is a short, abbreviated version on how to become a professional helicopter pilot. 

We recommend you create a career plan, that maps out how you’re going to get from where you are now, to where you want to go. Put it in writing, and be specific, then do your research. If you can’t even explain to yourself how you’re going to make it, should you really be spending $75,000 on an ‘idea’?

 

Get your flight training; every job from firefighting to EMS to executive transport requires a commercial pilot certificate. At a minimum, you need this certificate. EMS, offshore oil and more companies every day require an instrument rating. An instrument rating gives you the ability to fly through the clouds. You can get a commercial certificate with an instrument rating in 150 flight hours, per FAA regulations.

 

At 150 flight hours, you have the same chance of landing a job flying a professional helicopter, as you do winning the lottery. If you’re feeling ‘lucky’ then take your chances, but for the rest of us, flight instruction is the only proven way to build flight time that actually prepares you for a job.

 

To flight instruct, you need to become a Certified Flight Instructor (CFI).   This certificate legally means you can instruct other people and authorize them to take an exam with the FAA. Every hour you spend flying with a student, you can log as pilot in command (PIC) time; and get paid.

 

To instruct in the Robinson helicopter, which is the most popular training helicopter, you will need at-least 200 flight hours.

 

Getting hired as a flight instructor, is going to be the hardest step in the process. Remember, you’re competing with everyone else out there that has the same passion, as you do, and the same training.  

 

This is where you’ve absolutely got to out-shine the competition, and land that first job. Concrete things you can do to improve your success include getting your Instrument Instructor rating (CFI-I). Also, you need to be able to instruct in a Robinson R-22 and R-44. Schweizer is the other training helicopter, most schools at very high desnity altitude use them, but they’re not the top flight training helicopter. Seems like maybe 20 – 30% of schools use Schweizers, everyone else does training in the R-22. Also, you need at-least 25 hours to instruct in the Robinson R-44. For more discussion on the value of the R-44 instruction, click here.

 

A 200 hour CFI-I with endorsement to instruct in the R-22 and R-44, will have an infinitely better chance of getting a flight instructor job that a CFI with Schweizer or R22 time only. Yes, the Schweizer is a better helicopter than the R22 in many ways, but at this point, you really need to get a job. The Schweizer just cannot beat the Robinson R22 in preparing you to work as an instructor. You need the CFII; there are many CFI’s languishing washing cars for a living, because they couldn’t invest in the Instrument Instructor rating, it’s really that important. We can’t even use our career placement service with CFI only.

 

As we’ve discussed, your flight instruction time counts as Pilot-In-Command time (PIC); even though you’re instructing. This is where your professional reputation gets built. Work hard, be a model employee and take care of your students. The industry is small, and everyone talks to each other, for better or worse. 

 

Some people hate the thought of flight instruction, others don’t mind it, but so very few people can say they absolutely love it…Until they start doing it. Most people find it’s actually challenging, rewarding and in many ways contributes to their success as a professional aviatior. If you think about it, what better way to understand something, than to teach it yourself. 

 

It’s sorta’ like this, if you are enthusiastic about something, wouldn’t you want to talk about it and share your passion with someone else? If you love playing baseball, would you consider coaching at a baseball camp something you would hate? Of course not, it would be a great experience! Flight instruction is a lot like that, it’s sharing your enthusiasm for something you love.

 

Flight Instructor’s earn anywhere from $20 - $40 per hour, based usually on billable time. Every operator has a slightly different variation on this. Yes, money will be tight during this time. You’ve got to service the loans used to pay for your training, and live. Remember, there’s usually only 1.4 hours of billable time in a 2 hour flight-slot, and you don’t usually get paid for your student’s solo time. And when weather stops flying, you stop earning. If you read the helicopter forums, this is where most of the dissatisfaction comes from. But remember when you were shopping flight schools for the cheapest program around? Probably wishing you got paid a little more and could charge a little more, in this phase of the game…

 

Once you’ve demonstrated you can safely fly an aircraft for 1200 hours, albeit with a student on-board, you’ve got enough experience to where insurance companies can trust you to fly a helicopter with a jet-engine, or turbine. This is typically referred to as turbine-time.

 

Usually tour companies in Alaska and Las Vegas will hire 1200 hour pilots, to do sightseeing tours in their helicopters. Also, in the Gulf of Mexico, pilots with just flight instruction time are hired to work in the gulf.

 

You don’t need any prior turbine training, to apply for these jobs. Most employers PREFER to teach you how to fly, their way. They will PAY you, to learn how to fly a turbine helicopter, with no prior experience, other than your R22/R44 time. Some schools offer to sell ‘turbine transition’ courses for thousands of dollars, that are pretty much a waste for everyone, except for the flight school that gets to bill for their turbine time. 

 

Pay rates vary for this step, some tour companies in Vegas are paying $40,000 per year, whereas in the gulf, you might see up to $60,000. It’s worth your time to go to www.helicoptersalaries.com and look at the compensation packages offered by companies in the industry.

 

With 2,000 hours of flight experience, you are eligible to start working in Emergency Medical Service industry, or corporate transport. If you want to do long-line construction and/or firefighting, most operators will train a good employee (while on their payroll) to do what they want.

 

If you know you want to do long-line or something specialized, usually select a company in STEP 5, that offers those opportunities, in addition to what you’re applying for. 

 

For example, Sundance Helicopters in Las Vegas offers sightseeing tours, and will hire 1200 – 1500 hour pilots. They also do long-line work and firefighting. If you wanted to get into this career field, you could start as a tour pilot and then transition into long-line.

 

Another example is PHI does offshore oil operations in the Gulf of Mexico. They hire 1200 hour pilots to support their gulf contracts. PHI also has a very successful EMS division. So, after working in the gulf for awhile, you could transfer to their EMS division.

 

Think about where you ultimately want to go, when selecting your first turbine job; because this decision can impact your future. If you really want to work EMS, Sundance may not be the best bet, whereas if you want to get into long-line firefighting, then PHI would not be a good choice.

 

Do your research, work hard and learn everything you can about your career. Pay is usually commensurate with experience, so at this level, you can make anywhere from $70,000 - $130,000 per year. 

 

Contact an aviation program advisor to learn more about how we can help you start your career as a professional helicopter pilot!  We would be more than happy to help you develop a personalized career plan that can help you get where you want to go! It’s worth the time it takes to invest in your future! In the comments section, just write ‘career plan’ and where your dream helicopter job is.