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I agree with Rotor, however ask the guy instructing you what it’s like to be on a campaign fire, or in a camp setting, or sitting on a pipeline for 10 hours and you didn’t bring your lunch cuz the client told you he’d only need an hour, two max and now your thinking about eating the rations from the survival kit cuz you’ve been there all day. If he’s never been in one of those situations I would look elsewhere. Anybody can teach you how to fly, but it’s the insights and experience I took away most from my initial training. Also go fixed wing!

The fun things they don’t tell you in flight school are as follows; 1. Don’t expect to fly as soon as you are done school 2. You better know how to sweep a floor and clean toilets cuz those will be your first tasks. 3. Expect to be paid sh@t and work long, long hours cuz operators never take advantage of low time pilots. (They like to chalk it up to “show some incentive if you wanna fly my machine” ) 4. Make sure your instructor no matter how many you have has at least worked in the industry, not like some schools who would rather have more likes on YouTube than actually teach. Industry knowledge is very important. It’s easy to get a loan from a relative and buy a machine then buy a school. It’s the truly passionate people in this industry who have mopped the floors and cleaned the toilets a thousand times. 5. When your out of school and working keep studying learn FMs and hang around engineers. They are good to talk to. 6. Listen to other pilots and engineers, some like to hear themselves talk and some will take the time to really talk to you and pass on some of their mistakes so you hopefully won’t make the same as them. Im sure someone will chime in about something I’ve said but these are my pointers.

Don't give anyone the full amount. Pay as you go. If they don't like that move on.

In these days where safety and SMS is on the forefront of every operation , I'm still amazed that most operators of bell mediums are still using the standard crew seatbelt and that most pilots are willing to spend most of their days in the left seat riding with no shoulder harness on in order to accomplish their task!? Some will say its just the way its always been done ,I'm used to it, etc.....the fact is that there is a perfectly reasonable solution to that problem and its called the comfort seatbelt from DART: https://www.dartaerospace.com/en/comfort-crew-shoulder-harness-d412-702-071.html they are fantastic for longline work and do not hinder the position in any way as they are longer and have a much lighter spring and very efficient inertia reel. I have no affiliation with the said company in anyway but I do have a family and kids....We made the change on all our mediums about 4years ago and if I recall the cost of replacing them was less than the recertification cost for the bell ones. The result is that all of our pilots now use the shoulder harness for all longline operation and everyone feels a lot better about strapping on to go do 8 or more hours of work in the left seat.... the accident synopsis is full of exemples of why this is a good idea, so I thought I would pass on the info to who might want to hear it. Have a great and safe summer.

I see the question was asked about BC Heli as well... To be honest, it's a flying school, they have limited time to teach you the minimum required, which is 50 hours less than ICAO wan't you to have. Cost is a factor, but in the end, the end result is the same, you walk out of the door with 100.0 flight hours, and a license to learn, that is it. you might have had eposure to long lining if you were fast enough to pick up the basics, A little mountain flying, but no mountain course, some out landings but no real bush flying, so when push comes to shove, you end up with a license. At Chinook you may find that they have too many other students so may not have enough time to give you 100% attention, but... this is the same at other schools as well. I'd walk in the door, see how you are welcomed, if you seem to matter, or just your money? Remember, at the end you have a license, and so you will from any of the other schools... Cheers H. (former instructor)

Hahaha I’ve ran Jet (I think it was Jet, kinda smelled like it at least) in a machine that was so old I couldn’t even tell it was Jet from the tag, there was probably more rust than actual metal on the drum. I’m still here and the engine didn’t quit.

Bwhahahahahaha keep posting the vids on YouTube they are always good for a laugh. I enjoyed the icing video as well! There was also one about not being able to put avgas in a turbine my buddy told me, when all real pilots know a turbine will burn pretty much anything in a pinch including avgas, it just takes time off the components. I’m pretty sure everybody knows someone or has even done it themselves in a pinch. Keep pumping out them students! Lol

Hahahahahaha isn’t that how all the real pilots make it in this industry? Personally the Icing video is my favourite and the look of shear panic and terror on his face. Classic! Wonder if you should be teaching students when the first 500 hours of your “career” he had no real mentorship from anyone. I don’t think I would take any advice from anyone who needs a copilot in a jet ranger to longline lumber. On that note not sure if that’s legal either but ah well that’s another topic.

I like the part about asking family or friends to lend you the money. If you go that route you are well on your way to realising what life as a pilot will be like.

Like pilot 83 said. Also its the pilots that will say yay or nay to putting the duals in for a ferry flight. Ive gone out of my way to help out a young pilot that helps make my life easier. Unfortunately it seems they are getting fewer and fewer and think they are owed a free ride. Don't be that low timer.

If you can do your whole CPL on the 22, keep costs down and go from there. Once your done training your first job will be the biggest priority. If that company trains low time guys on their aircraft then it would be pointless to have spent more on endorsements if you don't need them. Each company could vary. If a rating will be required then you can decide at the time. I did the 44 rating in school and never flew it beyond the rating. I have friends who did only the 22 in school and have never been held back because they didn't have a 44 or 206 rating. Hope that helps a bit.

Look at training at Mountian View Helicopters in Springbank. Learning to fly at the elevations of Calgary will degrade the performance of your helicopter a lot. flying at altitude can be a very big deal in a helicopter. So you might as well learn to fly at altitude, seeing as how you more than likely will spend a good chunk of your career working at altitude. Doing a full on auto in the lower mainland of BC vs doing an auto in Springbank is an entirely different animal, the far more difficult one being the latter. Save yourself the pain and agony, and train on a Robinson, not because other types are bad, but because 90% chance you will get your first job on a Roinson product, and having a 100 hours on a Robie vs 100 hours on some odd ball trainer type that you will never see again, will only help you, and you will need all the help you can get. And, they will hire you if you work hard and treat your training like a job interview as appose to an entitled student good luck, its a lot of fun, despite what the pessimistics say.......

I had a good experience there. It's an already big school that's growing rapidly so there won't be as much hand holding as other places. Great instructors when I was there too. If you take initiative you can learn a lot beyond what's in your course syllabus by being nice to the engineers and tagging along with other students doing mountain courses, endorsements etc. They have a good reputation among operators it seems but you're still going to graduate as another 100hr liability and will be treated as such.

I wondered if it was Icing myself. 😀

Success-over, there is little reason to discount this school over another. They’re all the same - you give them money and you walk out with a license. Go with your gut and pick the instructor that you like and off you go. It doesn’t change much who you train with 20 years down the line. My previous comment is one I heard when I started out and I didn’t listen either. If you want to do it then go for it. I will say however that if I could do it again, I wouldn’t. There’s so much time away from home and the nicest employer is out to make money - not friends. We’re underpaid, under appreciated and undervalued. That’s the reality but the work can be fun and lots of people think your job is cool for a 5 min conversation. If that sounds like your cup of tea the pull the trigger and we can swap stories some time in a swamp while swatting bugs on a fire while we watch the fixed wings try and pound a fire for us. Best of luck and keep in touch. Let us know what you decide.

Exact quote from video “ If you put avgas in a turbine the engine will quit! It will ruin your engine. Not to mention you’re ruining a $400,000 engine but you will potentially DIE!” there’s more on the video but that’s the gem right there. Lol

That is some solid advice right there.

I would take the fixed wing route these days if were in your shoes. HUGE demand for pilot, great pay, set schedules with the major airlines, etc..

I agree with Shakey pay as you go that way for whatever reason you don’t wanna continue you don’t need to try and chase down the remaining money. Yup also agree on the duals topic as well.

Training with multiple instructors is kind of nice, you will learn different ways of doing things. I trained with 3 different instructors and I feel I benefited from it. As for other aircraft I did most of my training on the R22, People give the machine a bad rap however if you can fly it smoothly I do believe you can fly anything. the R44 is basically just a larger version and with fuel injection and hydraulics, so no carb heat and smooth controls. I have around 10 hours in a 44, nice machine to fly. But if you want to get an extra endorsement get a Jetranger endorsement. The B206 is the most common helicopter out there and probably will be the first aircraft you will fly in your career. Turbine time is always a bonus. Once licenced getting endorsements is simple, normally your employer will have a check pilot that will get you trained up on the machine. If you want to pay for the endorsement during flight training if you have the extra funds available will probably be around 5 hours. Just look around at the machines the industry is using. the Robinsons are great utility machines. Low operating costs so they make great patrol and spray machines. However once you look at what the Jetranger can haul compared to a R44 you quickly realize why its so common. After the Jetranger obviously the astar is the runner up and probably surpassing the Jetranger now, However it is an expensive machine to dish out an endorsement for in flight training. Not sure any of this is helpful. I am a newbie myself. More information is better...right!? Have a great day.

My mistake. It used to be CAW, now it’s Unifor,; aka the “Super Union” lol https://www.unifor.org/en/whats-new/news/caw-cep-merge-super-union

If the Performance Section of the FM says you're too heavy for where you're going. You probably are. Saves a lot of teeth grinding and puts you ahead of the curve so you don't need to use your superior pilot mojo...

So in other words, government employees makes a big deal about doing the jobs they were hired to do in the first place....

I agree 100% flying has lost its luster and I’m tired of hearing “back in my day we’d leave in May and come back in October” we’ll thats why you’re all divorced and your kids hate you! Times have changed and work life/balance needs to be in the forefront of the operators mind now. But like freak said the usual people will pipe up and I’m sure someone will reply about being privileged or some other BS like that.

How many guys out there are just fed up with being away from home and have found the luster of flying isn't quite what the brochure said it would be? I'm taking this season off myself. Maybe I'll get the itch again but after 15 years of flying it's no longer a privilege to fly your machine. I know the usuals will pipe up and say the usual but to each his own.