It’s happened many times, a young couple arrives in my office having just returned from their honeymoon in Hawaii. The grin is still on the groom’s face from the excitement of the helicopter sightseeing tour they took. It was the most exhilarating experience in his life, and now he wants to learn how to fly.
Unfortunately, such stories rarely end in the right seat of an S-76. Becoming a professional helicopter pilot is not something to do on a whim. Guys like our honeymooner usually find out quickly that flight training is more difficult, frustrating, and scary than they expected. They discover that there is a big difference between the passenger seat and the pilot seat, and rarely last longer than the first couple of lessons.
But many others do. What qualities do they have that contribute to their success? In nearly 20 years in the flight training business I’ve met all sorts of people and have enjoyed playing amateur psychologist, trying to predict who will make the grade, both in training and in a subsequent career. The first firm conclusion I’ve reached is that the student’s background tells me very little about their chances of success. You name the job – we’ve trained one. Dairy farmers, dentists, carpenters, coal miners, morticians, marriage consultants – we’ve made helicopter pilots of them all.
Personality is also a poor indicator of success, at least at the training level; and national origin is equally uninformative. We’ve had the whole gamut, from outgoing Aussies to serious Scandinavians. Male or female - doesn’t matter a hoot. However, over the years I’ve observed six essential factors for training success. If you are considering signing up at your local flight school, you might want to see how many of these ingredients you have – without all six, you might want to reconsider.
Financial readiness
Let’s put the most practical issue first – you’re going to need a lot of money. Between training and living expenses you can count on spending at least US$ 70,500. Putting this together may be the hardest part of the challenge. I always advise people to save now and train later rather than taking a huge bank loan. How you get the money can also be a big influence on your motivation. In general, I’ve seen better results from students who’ve worked two jobs for several years to save the cash than I have from those who were spending money that was handed to them by the family, or even by the bank.
Physical Aptitude
Sure you can pass the medical exam, but that’s no guarantee that you can fly. I know a pilot who has flown for years, but who never reached solo standard in a helicopter, despite hiring a personal instructor who gave him 150 hours of dual instruction! Why not? I’ve got no idea. There are some things that we are simply not suited to, and no matter how much we practice we are never going to get it. When the practice is as expensive and potentially hazardous as helicopter flying it makes no sense to press on to the bitter end.
Academic readiness
The aeronautical knowledge required for a career as a helicopter pilot is not especially challenging, but there is a huge volume of it. A prospective pilot must be able to learn a lot of material, correlate that knowledge, and apply it in unpredictable ways. Therefore, to put it bluntly, this is no career for those with serious learning difficulties. On the other hand, don’t let anyone discourage you from learning to fly by telling you that you need to be very strong in math and science to succeed. The truth is that if you can add, subtract, multiply, and divide (preferably in your head), you know enough math to be a 747 pilot.
Psychological Suitability
Have you really thought this out? Are you ready to strap on a training helicopter that is not much bigger than a motor-scooter and fly around the turbulent skies? Are you willing to handle the challenge of landing a helicopter on a North Sea oil rig during a snowstorm? You better be, because twenty people will have put their lives in your hands and one mistake could lead to disaster. Will you be a hero on the day when the engine fails or will you go to pieces and freeze at the controls? These are not abstract questions - they are real issues. In a lifetime career as a helicopter pilot your courage and skills are likely to be tested to their limits on several occasions. Amazingly, some students never give this issue a moment’s thought. I recall a student who arrived in the US on the QE2 and then took a train to our school in California- all because he was afraid of flying! He lasted a week.
Support
After money problems, the most common reason students fail to complete their training is opposition from their partners or family. If you are single and self funded this may not be a big issue, but for anyone with a family it can be the most important one. Is everyone in the family on board with your decision to pursue a helicopter career? Are they okay with the financial sacrifices? How about the safety risks? You may find yourself cutting back on your kid’s birthday presents while you are spending hundreds of dollars on a single training flight- can you live with that? It’s going to be very hard to do this without your family’s enthusiastic support. If it’s not forthcoming, you must question whether learning to fly is really worth the risk of loosing your family?
Motivation
Where did this idea come from, and just how determined are you to succeed? If you first started looking up at every passing helicopter when you could barely talk, I’m already feeling confident. You don’t have to have seen Blue Thunder and read Chichenhawk to have the right stuff, but this would be a promising sign. Can you already identify many helicopter types? Do you recognize the words notar, Fenestron, autorotation, and K-MAX? Are you willing to fly off a tuna boat or wash helicopters for flight time if that’s what it takes to succeed? Would you accept half the income you make now if you could fly helicopters instead? Your girl/boyfriend says it’s them or helicopters- that’s an easy choice right? The industry will demand a great deal of sacrifice in the early years – but if you you’re highly motivated there are some great adventures and some wonderful opportunities awaiting you.
So how did you do?
Patrick Corr - founder of Helicopter Adventures, Inc. (now known as Bristow Academy)
