Female commercial heli pilots

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heli_em
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Female commercial heli pilots

Postby heli_em » Tue Apr 16 2019, 00:49

I’m looking to make contact with any female commercial helicopter pilots located in Aus to gain some general knowledge and advice. I’m a young(ish) married mother of 3 ready to start taking the first steps towards a career as a commercial pilot. Any constructive advice will be appreciated. :wink:
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robaussie99
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Re: Female commercial heli pilots

Postby robaussie99 » Tue Apr 16 2019, 04:20

heli_em wrote:I’m looking to make contact with any female commercial helicopter pilots located in Aus to gain some general knowledge and advice. I’m a young(ish) married mother of 3 ready to start taking the first steps towards a career as a commercial pilot. Any constructive advice will be appreciated. :wink:


I was in Broome a couple of weeks ago and chatted briefly with a super nice lady who was flying for KAS Helicopters, at the time she was driving their r44 flying tours off the Willie Creek Pearl Farm,

I bet a quick phone call would put you in touch, they’re a friendly bunch up there I found and despite coming across as a fairly experienced individual that type of job would be something that you’d be looking to get into shortly after completing training I’d assume so she probably has some good info for you.
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SpecialGray
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Re: Female commercial heli pilots

Postby SpecialGray » Tue Apr 16 2019, 05:39

Also call (or visit!) Melbourne Heli at Essendon Fields.

03 9374 7500

They have three female pilots among the staff there One is an instructor (and another should be next month, fingers crossed). They're all friendly, knowledgeable and would love to help, I'm sure.
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heli_em
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Re: Female commercial heli pilots

Postby heli_em » Tue Apr 16 2019, 05:42

robaussie99 wrote:
heli_em wrote:I’m looking to make contact with any female commercial helicopter pilots located in Aus to gain some general knowledge and advice. I’m a young(ish) married mother of 3 ready to start taking the first steps towards a career as a commercial pilot. Any constructive advice will be appreciated. :wink:


I was in Broome a couple of weeks ago and chatted briefly with a super nice lady who was flying for KAS Helicopters, at the time she was driving their r44 flying tours off the Willie Creek Pearl Farm,

I bet a quick phone call would put you in touch, they’re a friendly bunch up there I found and despite coming across as a fairly experienced individual that type of job would be something that you’d be looking to get into shortly after completing training I’d assume so she probably has some good info for you.



Thanks robaussie99, will do
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Biggles
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Re: Female commercial heli pilots

Postby Biggles » Tue Apr 16 2019, 06:51

Try Marianne, owner at Helifly in Albury.

For that AB206 thread currently on here, she also runs OKS which is an Italian machine from memory.
heli_em
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Re: Female commercial heli pilots

Postby heli_em » Tue Apr 16 2019, 08:12

Tha is for the advice everyone. Looks like I’ve got a few calls to make tomorrow. :)
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Re: Female commercial heli pilots

Postby Turning base » Tue Apr 16 2019, 16:22

Try Georgie, owner and Instructor at Air T And G at Ballina NSW.
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TreeTrimmer
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Re: Female commercial heli pilots

Postby TreeTrimmer » Tue Apr 16 2019, 23:53

Give Bridgette or Billie-Jo a call at Barossa Helicopters.
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FerrariFlyer
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Re: Female commercial heli pilots

Postby FerrariFlyer » Thu Apr 18 2019, 22:34

heli_em wrote: Any constructive advice will be appreciated. :wink:


Before you go and spend what is now a significant amount of money on a commercial pilot licence for helicopters, carefully consider where you think you’d like to end up career-wise and what sort of lifestyle and income you’d like to enjoy in 5,10, 20 years etc. A lot of people fail to do this but it’s critically important to have a reasonable idea of where you’re heading and how you’ll get there. Talk to a range of people at different levels in the industry.

For example, if you want to fly an EMS/SAR machine these days, you’ll have to get your Airline Transport Pilot Licence theory ($3-4K), conduct the ATPL flight test, sadly pay for an instrument rating (circa $60-80k) and then go and gain the instrument flying experience somehow (MPT or offshore). Add this to the $75k basic CPL-H cost and you’re in the hole for a serious amount of money. If you go the military option they’ll pay for this however that’s another commitment and discussion altogether. Flying EMS/SAR you’ll stand to make $130-170k which is reasonable money. Go fixed-wing and you can easily double that amount!

When you’ve done the above for the helicopter world and researched it thoroughly, do the same for fixed-wing. When that’s done, balance that out with the needs of your family and with any luck you’ll be in the best seat possibly to make a practical, reasoned and logical decision as to what you ultimately do.

Helicopters are a lot of fun to fly but the cold harsh reality of the industry often serves up a large bowl of disappointment for those who don’t properly prepare for, or aren’t aware of what they are getting themselves into once the large dollars have been spent on that licence.

Good luck.

PS Go the fixed-wing route 8)
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Re: Female commercial heli pilots

Postby Saucepan » Mon Apr 22 2019, 11:26

Heli-em
I totally agree with Ferrari F. It's tough out there. Too many junior pilots flying for free or even worse!
Either, accept the financial risk and just go for it or accept this will be a hobby job or just a hobby.
I spent 4 years commuting 25 hours a week whilst my children were growing up. What a waste in hindsight. If u have a local flying school, tell them you want to be their instructor and just do everything through them. You get to fly, and see your children every night.

Once you get experienced, then you can do what I did and go to the airlines. Good luck, but please put yr family first....I didn't for a long while and it still hurts.

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