Best Machine For.............

[touchdown]

My choice would be a PF/W license first to get your feet wet, and even consider a commercial F/W followed by a conversion. This covers all areas like regs, navigation, radio procedures etc. freeing up the student for focus on the helicopter. Type depends on a lot of things such as cost and school reputation. Cost is an obvious concern for most and reputation of the training school should be important to the new pilot looking for a start because the first thing they will ask you is "Where were you trained?" It might be a little foot in the door but every toe helps. My preference is the 47 and a school in the west where density altitude is a factor. Just because there are no 47's out there working isn't a concern. There are not a lot of R 22 jobs either so a turbine endorsment after training (or as part of training) will be essential anyway. The "old 47" is an honest helicopter with characteristics like most larger Bells and the techniques learned on it work well later on. A conversion to turbine is easy but those lessons learned early come in handy. The other types like the 22 or 300 are also good trainers for things like RPM importance and control, autos etc. so don't get me wrong. They all work. The quality of the school should be as much or more of a consideration.

[skullcap]

Well to me 99%of the decision should not be based on price, if the candidate does have the resources then why rule out the 206? There are more than a few schoold who use 206's for abinitio training. At CHC if you get a commercial licence in Penticton there is a pretty good chance they will hire you(may take awhile but....) Huey asked what is best helicopter not best school. I know if i had a need to hire a beginning pilot to fly a 206 and that person had all his time in the 206 would be a lot easier decision to make than if he had all time in robbie. The transition to 500 from robbie may be easier than 206 as is short coupled a/c and pedals feel about the same but the transition to 500 from anything is easy, as is one the easiet a/c to fly.

[Puddle Jumper]

Hey Guys

 

I will keep my 2 cents to myself on the topic. But does anyone know what a 22 or 300 is going for per hour. Just wondering if the cost has went up over the past few years????

[tDawe]

400 to 450 per hour wet, depending where your looking.

[412driver]

you can still sign up at $395.00 per hour for a brand new 300CBi at bc helicopters

[Canrotor]

Hi all,

 

Yes,i have recently noticed a low of $395/hr on a 300cbi to a high of $450/hr on a 300c at a school in Ontario.

 

And the new students keep showing up...!!!!......rich parents or friends @ the bank.

 

Canrotor.

[R22Captain]

Hey everyone.....I'm currently just a lowtime student but thought I'd add my $0.02

 

I'm currently training on the R22. snowedin is very correct on the number of safety issue's which robinson has addressed. And regarding the number of accidents and fatalities involving the R22, they are mainly private machines in the states flown by 100 hour pilots. They are a very difficult machine to fly...with that said...I suppose you will make a tranistion to a 206 easier...at least from my limited experience that's my observation from my own performance.

Regarding the FW issue. I am going to be bias due to the fact that I recently completed my FW commercial before coming here. But everyother buy and gal I train with here have said they would have atleast done their private just to learn circuit patterns and nav and radio procedures. Spitting out 4 minute transmitions trying to call final at 100 bucks an hour is better on the pocket book then 400+ an hour.

[Hueylover]

Well I thank you all for the comments. I figure that product loyalty plays a big part in many of your choices. Also, as was pointed out to me, the 300 had 1.5 million hours with only one fatality not 15 as i posted in the beginning. Still, a very impressive record.

 

Personnaly, i think the 300 is the way to go. A helicopter is a helicopter and none are really easy to fly. The R22 regardless of the modifications is still a very unstable and unsafe a/c, at least in the training role. As to the ol' 47? Well i reckon they ain't making them, they ain't flying them commercially, they are a dying breed.

 

But I thank you all again for your comments. Keep the shiny side up!

 

 

Huey....

[Genus]

I normally sit on the fence on most issues because personal opinion is just that and hard to influence unless face to face with the person. But the issue with training machines has sparked my interest. Hueylover has twice mentioned that the R22 is an unstable and unsafe helicopter in the training industry, now this could be taken that he doesn't have faith in the instructors teaching on the machine or that he will not have the faith that he will become a good enough pilot to fly the machine on his own, either of which don't bode well for a wannabe pilot. Now I'm not knocking Hueylover just the comment.

 

Instructors in Canada are some of the best in the world and regardless which machine you fly on to get your licence firstly look at the instructor and, if you get the chance, talk to some of the graduate and current students to get their feelings.

 

A future pilot shouldn't be influenced purely by the machine alone as many a graduate of flights schools have found work flying different machinery to what they trained on initially and even the machine they initially discarded in the first place.

 

What I am gettting at is, if you have the chance to visit several flight schools and talk to people, do so. Don't let the machine influence your decision as this is a long career if you do it right and you will undoubtly fly many more helicopters before you retire.

 

Again, this is a personal opinion and totally open for comment.

[Jammed left]

Looking back at the different opinions on this one, I think it becomes clear that there are a couple of different things to consider when one asks what is the best machine to train on. Cost, ease of flying, because it flys like another machine....all reasons to pick one over the other....I probably don't need to say it, but the on the decision on where to train...the type of machine that a school uses is a little bit further down the list than some other considerations that are well documented in other places

 

Having said that...I will throw my hat into the ring. I agree with some of the others that a private f/w license is money well spent....even the recreational license will do the job. As well as knowledege about flight, air law..etc. the simple things like comfort working the radios in a controlled environment, allows a trainee to spend more time focusig learning to fly the helicopter. Basically it provides some comfort in the training environment.

 

As for machines....well I like the 22....I know I may stand alone on this but I think that while the flying is a little more difficult in the 22, it has more check marks in the list of things that I would want in a training machine than the others. It is a reliable machine...but like snowedin says that has been well addressed....years ago.

I don't really know much about the 300 except there are a lot more job opportunities available to fresh low time pilots in the R22 than the 300. The R22 is used a great deal by several companies that do hire low time people...the 300, while it may be used commercially, it is not as nearly widespread as the 22. That makes, in my opinion, a 22 endorsement a valuable commodity for the young pilot who is looking to be employable after training.

 

As for it being more difficult to fly....well no one told me that before i started training, and I didn't know until I flew a 206, and by that time, the 22 wasn't a harder machine to fly...the 206 was an easier machine to fly...it's all about what you know at the time ..i think

 

my 2 cents