Helicopter Training

Learn to Fly Helicopters

Australia is one of the most popular countries in the world to learn to fly Helicopters. With a huge variety of terrain to train in as well as the different classes of airspace you can potentially be exposed to Australia has earned its reputation for producing quality-professional Helicopter Pilots. Whether you are looking for a Trial Introductory Flight (TIF) or doing a multi engine instrument rating there are many Australian flights schools to choose from. Most capital cities in Australia have several flying schools along with many other towns having flight schools, giving  potential students a vast array of options.

Learning to fly helicopters is one of the most challenging and rewarding experiences someone can undertake, from the first flight trying and struggling  to maintain straight and level flight, to nailing 180 degree autorotations to a specified spot, it is a learning curve riddled with milestones to keep aiming for until you finally pass your commercial flight test.

Before you begin your  Helicopter training (particularly Commercial pilot training) you need to be 100% sure that it is what you want to do, it is a large investment of both time and money and takes commitment and dedication to complete. From passing your first theory exam to passing your commercial flight test you need to be disciplined throughout your training. Before any of this however you need to choose a Helicopter Flight school, there are several factors to consider before signing your life( and hard earned savings) away. Different people have different preferences, but if you want to gain the most experience possible out of your training you need to consider a few things.

Overall cost and value for money.

Generally most Helicopter Training provider’s hourly rates are pretty similar however some have different ways to extract money from students, before you begin training with anyone you should ask what the total cost of that training will  be, obviously this depends on how many hours it takes you to complete the training.  Also ask for a breakdown of costs, whether or not you pay the same rate if you fly solo or dual, what are the admin costs?, fuel costs?, landing fees? etc. When I trained the hourly rate was increased twice due to world oil price rises even though the dollar increased against the US dollar during the same period making parts and replacement aircraft a lot cheaper. The majority of  Training schools will be transparent with their costs but there is the odd rogue about who will try and slip things past you.

Never ever pay the full cost of your course in advance, more than one helicopter school has gone under leaving students empty handed, I have even heard of one operator in New Zealand that has now gone under twice leaving students high (excuse the pun) and dry. Keep your account current but there is no reason for you to have to pay in advance,your money is better off in your account earning interest than theirs.

Quality of Training and Instructor Experience

If you can, do as much research as possible into your potential flight schools, talk to previous students and find out what their experiences at the school were like. What the instructors are like on a daily basis as opposed to when they are trying to sign you up. Ask the school where their past students are now, what they are doing, ask about their accident history, remember it is your right to know this information, think of yourself as a potential client of the company who is about to spend $60 000 dollars with them.

The single most important factor in choosing a flight school is getting quality instructing, very often- but not always- it takes an experienced helicopter pilot to provide this, an experienced commercial pilot can pinpoint exactly what you are doing wrong and an experienced instructor can tell you why you are doing it, they can give you real life situations when different flying techniques are required and also pass on what they have learn’t from mistakes they have made. The low-time guys can be more nervous and can take the controls too readily. I have flown with one or two 10,000-hour instructors who were not so great; they could do amazing things with the helicopter but they weren’t good at explaining to another person how to do those amazing things. Unfortunately instructing is seen as a good way to build hours, not to say you cannot learn from a low hour pilot but there is only so much they can teach you when they don’t have the years of real life experience behind them. In saying that a lower hour instructor has generally completed their training more recently an can therefore have more empathy for student pilots. In my experience a good instructor is one that has the combination of good flying, communication and life skills.

It has been said that the lower number of instructors you have the better, there are several sides to this argument, firstly when you first begin your helicopter training  you have enough to think about without having to cater for each instructors personal tastes and preferences, however different instructors will pick up on different things your are doing, right or wrong. Also different instructors can offer different flying  techniques, this is a good thing as long as they are all within the perameters of the flight test standards. You may find you fly better with some instructors than others, although this can be unsettling it is also good practice for when you get into the real world.

Ground School and Flight schools

As with any training organisation success rates are the ultimate yard stick to compare one to another, ask any prospective school what their first time pass percentages are for both the Theory and practical sides of training. Some flying schools have very successful theory courses where other schools don’t bother with the theory aspect at all, except what is relevant to the flying side of your training.

For further information on Helicopter Training please send us a message via our Contact us page.