Flight training

[Widems]

I’m an 18 year old from Canberra looking to get my CPL, I’ve got a couple options I can choose from but I have no idea whats the better option.
Option 1 - Get my cpl through Canberra Helicopter’s for around $95,000 under VET, also have the benefits of working part time and living at home.
Option 2 - Sydney Flight College getting my plane CPL, cost $87,000 under VET as well but i’d have to move to Sydney full time, find a new job and leave Canberra for 12 months
Option 3 - Somewhere in Wollongong, get my cpl on fixwings and then covert across to rotarywing. Going to cost much less then getting my rotarywing cpl but i’d still have to start from square one when I finished as I won’t know how to fly rotarywing.
Thank you in advance for the help

[FerrariFlyer]

Go fly planes instead. Insatiable demand from the airlines for quite some time to come, great stability and much higher earning capacity.

[Fill-level]

Go fixed wing , helicopter scene in a bad state... not going to get any better any time soon.

[Probbo]

FF is right. However, if your looking for more adventure, more of a challenge and your not overly concerned with remuneration in the short term, go the rotary wing path.
You could also do the fixed wing thing and possibly buy your own Heli in 15 years time,when your earning 250k+ as an airline captain and fly it on your time off. Make sure it’s a multi blade articulated rotor head design as high time fixed wing pilots are susceptible to negative G mast bumping accidents in semi rigid designs
To answer your original question in part, do the maths on living away from home and possible loss of income. Might be cheaper to pay a bit more and stay at home.
Good luck and enjoy the journey!

[kh4]

The previous comments would have to be the best advice I’ve seen for which I am very surprised to see it coming from a bunch of industry people.. As Probbo said, you really have to be hooked on the adventure but it comes at various costs, not just the financial one..
No or very little family/social life, always with your bags packed ready for the next job which can be at anytime and anywhere. Those 40 degree days on the tarmac pre-flighting, in the bubble with the sun (about 50 degrees) cooking you like a microwave, sweat pouring off you so much you have trouble keeping up your fluid levels. The stress of all the temp gauges being a needle width off the red line. You stop for the day and if you are lucky you will have a bed at the back of beyond and you go to sleep knowing you have to do it all over again tomorrow and all you can do is look forward to just going home. You go from that to being up before the sun, climbing over a machine that has a layer of ice on it, you are freezing to the bone you can’t feel your fingers hanging around for clients that are mostly late so much so you could have slept in for that extra hour. God forbid you become the chief pilot where you have to put up with that and a lot more, like the regulator wanting to crawl up your behind at every opportunity and the haters of the world, mostly your opposition just love to stick the knife in, there is not a lot of love in the industry..
Anyway I concur, if you are young and silly and cant wait for the excitement and the adventure to start with no regard to the cost and/or return on investment, then go straight for the spinning wing CPL as instructors hate having to beat out fixed wing muscle memory.
If you are not so the wild type and more a family man chasing a stable career, as per previous comments go for the airlines. I hear that QANTAS has started an internship for up and coming would be pilot..
Have fun with the decision making, I, like the rest of the comments have probably done nothing except to confused you more..
Best of luck..

[Eric Hunt]

Well, I am at the other end of the spectrum, retired after 45 years and 15,000 hours of aviation, mostly in helicopters.

I learned through the military, which has some great points:
You get paid to learn, and it is good pay these days (I got $2 a day as a cadet)
You learn with experienced instructors, who have usually had a full operational flying tour before undergoing instructor training
The machinery now is nearly all new, except for the ageing Blackhawks.

Not-so-good points:
You will have a return of service obligation
People might send you to a 2-way shooting gallery
You will need to be devoted to the service you choose, not just be using it to get a set of wings.

I did a few years instructing on jets as well, which was a hoot. Should have stayed on fixed wing, all my compatriots and students who went that way have retired from the airlines with squillions.

As they say above, for a career with a career path, go fixed wing. It has structure, progression, and money. And airlines are desperate for pilots. And engineers.

Going into big debt for a chopper licence with very few prospects is not a good idea unless Daddy is Twiggy Forrest.

[arrrj]

I agree with the others.

Go and make money doing something else (like many of us have done) and then buy your own machine. Fly it a lot and become proficient and safe.

My many mates in the industry that get paid to fly normally earn less than many (idiot) middle managers that do f/a most days.

Sorry to be negative. I KNOW we all want to fly helis...that's why we are here...but if you want to have money and be able to do it, then you may need to rethink the plan.

Plus...drones will be taking more and more food from the mouths of proper pilots - so the business is going down, not up.

Arrrj

[RePLCPLH]

Agree with everything previously stated here with the additional 2 cents worth.

1. Fixed wing is the way to fly if you ever want to pay off your student debt;

2. Having said that, if you did your CPLH and wanted to convert to fixed wing CPLA you'd only need the balance of hours to bring you up to 200 hours (or 60 minimum);

3. This VET thing is getting out of hand. At one QLD school, it's $82k for 105 hours in R22s and TAFE is making around $16k out of that for handling paperwork. Another school is offering the full course for $82k including 20 hours in an R44 which will come in handy when it comes to getting a job. $95k is just taking the p*ss unless they're offering something extra, but hey- if you can live with your parents in a stable environment, you won't miss the cash until it starts coming out with your tax;

4. Flying is cheaper in the US, but obviously there are no student loans there so that's just irrelevant unless you have exceptionally wealthy parents willing to spot you the money;

5. If you can get the medical and pass the aptitude tests, you could always go ADF and deal with 4-5 years training before you're operational, 100-300 hours per year, and an 11+ year service obligation. Do that and leg it to the big money once you're done if you're a young bloke now;

6. If after all that you're still keen to pursue the VET path to helos, just be prepared for the slog of theory exams, flight training, and entry-level jobs.

[Jeffory]

If you're planning on going into $90k of debt, go nowhere near a CPL(H), get yourself a CPL(A) + MECIR and make a career for yourself. Alternatively apply for the ADF as you will tick useful boxes for future civil opportunities.

[kh4]

Great comments Arrj.
And not negative at all in my view, it is a tough industry and these young guys need to know that going in and as much as there is no better way to make an entrance than arriving on the front lawn in a helicopter, it’s rarely like that unless you fly for fun..
Go for the money flying big birds building a stable career with the aim of buying your own little heli and have some fun under a PPL(H) after a few years of having weekend fun you will have a few hours up at which point you will have a better idea of what you are getting into and getting your CPL(H) after that will be a breeze and not only that you will be a head of the rest because of the private heli and commercial fixed hours you will have accumulated.
How do I know this, it is sort of what I did and I dare say you can work out the machine I bought..
Signing off
KH4
PS you then be able to apply for the dual rated job that has just appeared in the forum..

[robaussie99]

Fixed wing - end of story.

[jimiemick]

Here is something

I left school did a trade to earn me good $$ then once I was settled I did my CPL-H, (well I’ve nearly finished it) yes there are a lot of younger guys than me out there, but as money is not as much as an issue for me I can move just about anywhere if it’s for the right job.

If I had my time again, I’d have done what I always wanted to. Go join the ADF. They pay for your training and you get great instruction.

Don’t be in too much of a rush you are only 18.
If you love flying just find a way that works and do it.

Just make sure you smile.

[Friendly Black Dog]

Fixed wing any day.