Originally Posted by rickair7777
Helicopters are a BLAST to fly, no doubt about it.
BUT, here's the supply and demand reality of helicopter pilots...
The training is 3X the cost of fixed wing. Fixed wing pilots usually buy their first 280 hours, then work as a flight instructor to get up to 1000+ hours (insurance minimum for almost all commercial ops) It's difficult to get a helo CFI job if you have less than 1000 hours, so you might have to actually BUY 1000 hours at $300/hour...if you want to be a pilot, I assume you can do math...
Then when you get your 1000, you find out that all the commercial helo ops use turbine (jet) engines. Your training was done in a small piston engine helo...OK, so somehow you figure out the turbine engine experience requirement, you have 1000 hours plus a little turbine experience...
Now it get's REALLY tough...the US Army has more helicopters than the all the commercial helos in the US. They use enlisted men (called warrant officers) to fly most of them. These men (not being commissioned officers) are paid less than other military pilots. They typically stay in the Army long enough to get a retirement, then they get out with a $25-40K pension and enter the workforce. They don't really want a desk job, and since they already have a decent retirement income, they are willing to fly helos for less than they would otherwise. So you're competing for a civilian job with a guy with years of experience, thousands of hours in heavy, high-performance, turbine powered helicopters. And he was flying at night, at tree-top level, on NVG's, while being shot at and shooting back. If he wasn't REALLY, REALLY good, he wouldn't be alive to go to the interview.
Even if you somehow get the job (does your uncle own a helicopter flying service?), you are still living in a salary economy that's artificially depressed by the extra supply of military helo pilots. Plus a pilot's max possible pay is ultimately dependent on how much revenue can the aircraft generate...an airliner with a gross weight of close to (or over) a million pounds can generate a LOT of cargo and pax revenue. Helos are obviously much smaller, so they are limited as to how much paying cargo can be carried.
There are a few relatively high paying helo jobs out there, but it takes years to get one. If you absolutely love the idea of helicopters, and can't imagine doing anything else, go for it! (but I recommend the military for your training!) However, if you just dig aviation in general, fixed wing is easier to get into and will probably pay you significantly more.
Oh, another route to helos is to join a law enforcement agency that has helos and hires pilots FROM WITHIN. Some agencies hire outside pilots, who are all ex-military of course. Those that hire within will require normally three+ years of regular cop duty before you can apply to their flight ops. BUT you usually only need a fixed wing commercial and a helo private to apply, and they will then train you to commercial helo standards (in turbine aircraft). Pay and benies are usually great too.
First, let me second what Lori wrote. If you want to fly for the airlines, then fly airplanes. I made the transition from helicopters to airlines, as have many others (Kit Darby was initially an Army helicopter pilot), but it is a slower and tougher route. Eventually you will have to fly airplanes if that is what you want to do, and any time you spend flying helicopters is not spent flying airplanes.
Generally what Rick7777 writes is true, but there are some errors I would like to correctand some things to add.
1. Warrant officers are NOT enlisted, they are officers. They are initially appointed as WO1s instead of commisioned, but they are still officers and given the respect due officers. I won't go into the differences between the two here (commisioned verses warrant), as it is besides the point and delves into history. When a warrant officer is promoted to CW2 they become commisioned, however, with the authority under the Uniform Code of Military Justice that all commisioned officers have. This is why in the Army warrant officers are able to command ships and other units, although there are very few commands for them.
2. As a civilian helicopter pilot you will normally start out making more than your airplane counterpart, but the pay goes higher for fixed wing pilots. EMS (civilian medivac pilots), normally start out at $40,000-$50,000 a year, far more than an FO at a regional, but the pay tops out earlier for the EMS pilot. The reason for this was not because the pilots were paid less while in the Army. It is supply and demand. Almost all military helicopters require two pilots. Even those certified for single pilot operations (such as the UH-1H), are flown with two pilots. On the civilian side, most helicopters are flown with one pilot. During the Viet Nam war the Army in particular was cranking out tons of pilots for their aircraft. Well, when you have all these helicopter pilots hitting the streets, and all the civilian helicopters only need one pilot, there is a glut. One large helicopter owner was famous for saying if his pilots asked for too much money, he could just go to any city gutter and find 10 more Viet Nam pilots to replace each of his pilots.
3. Times are changing. The glut of Viet Nam era pilots are retiring, and the FAA and NTSB are looking long and hard at helicopter operations (there were even a few USA Today articles on this). I think you will see the training requirements, hour requirements and in some cases even the number of pilots required change. Also, some civilian operators are begining to use NVGs. With these changes will probably come more money for qualified pilots. But, as Rick7777 pointed out, the only place you will probably get these qualifications will be in the military. Some civilian operations are now training pilots on NVGs, but the cost is probably very high.
4. The civilian tilt rotor is about 5-10 years from being fielded. When it is fielded, and if there is a demand for it, I believe there will be a demand for pilots who are dual rated- meaning pilots who are rated to fly airplanes and helicopters, especially those with ATPs in both RW and airplanes. There is a power-lift rating that will be required to fly the tilt rotor, but the only pilots getting this now are either the military pilots in the fielding program, or those civilian pilots involved in the development. It is an aircraft that will require pilots to know both fixed wing and helicopter aerodynamics. Until some of the military pilots with this rating get out, the only source of properly trained pilots will probably be dual rated civilian pilots who can be sent through the powered lift courses with minimal extra training.
Rick7777 kind of hit the other points. Getting your first helicopter job as a civilian will be TOUGH. Your best bet is to get your rating at a school that might hire you. Other jobs are chasing tuna, helicopter tours, and some others. It is a VERY hard field to crack if you do not have the military qualifications.