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Looking For Advice/experiences


Emory
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PS, The decision to finance or not is very situation specific, everything fell into place very well for me and I had it all in fine detail with a bank manager I play rugby with.

 

Financial planning is something that seems to be widely overlooked. A sad fact is that a gross majority of peolpe couldn't keep all of there assets for two months if they had to stop working, regardless of prior income.

 

I would like to be in a place where I could maintain all of my expenses for at least a year if something were to happen to my job. A rainy day (or 365 of them) type fund if you will.

 

The smartest thing you can do once you have a job nailed down in my opinion is have all of your payments such as rent, insurance, car payments, you name it, all payed off monthly based solely on your salary. (Pilots are often payed X per month as a flat rate and Y per hour flight pay.) That way flight pay is virtually disposable, and so long as you have a job, your rainy year fund will remain in tact.

 

I have no idea how I got that far off track, but ill end the long winded rant with a welcom to the industry, and good luck to you.

 

Keep us posted.

Cole

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Really i cant imagine myself going through all the schooling to find out that im "not cut out for it". I would hope that im a little more observant then that. But the way i look at it, if i turn out to be a colossal failure ,even after 50,000 dollars of education, i can always slap on a pair of coveralls and go throw tongs for a year. even in a slow year i make about 70k, so as dissapointing and degrading as it may be, i know that i have the heart to work my way out of that kind of hole. ****, most the guys i work with are paying down similar debts to written off trucks and ex-wives! I would like to go into this with no prior debts (visa/truck/insurance/rent/future shop) which i have mostly taken care of already, and maybe half the money up front for training. Put the rest on a LOC and and get in done early. Even if i cant find work the first few months after training, im not opposed to working the patch a little longer, as long as im moving in the right direction.

 

As far as schools go though,im still lost. Chinook came highly recomended by a pilot that i work with, and i have heard good things about KVH and Bighorn. But honestly, i am also really considering Coast Heli College in Victoria. being my home, i would have a lot of financial advantages, not to mention good weather and a familiar/busy airport. they offer confined space training, long line, and mountain flying (ish). I will definately be visiting them first, and see what kind of impression they make. Has anyone here trained there?

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Ryan went there a while back and seemed to love it, but ill let him fill you in, im sure hes around here somewhere.

 

I dont think you can go wrong with any of those schools. Your not a big guy and youre right at sea level so the 22 in Victoria should be no problem for you.

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I have two lines of credit, both work out to 6% compounded annually, which makes my yearly intres payments worth $3000.00 so the maximum minimum payment, if you will, is $250 a month or so, and obviously the more principal payed down when the intrest is calculated the less intrest one has to pay. So say this month I put away $1250.00, next month's intrest is then based on a $49,000.00 principal and works out to $245.00.

 

Factored into your cost of training, DO NOT forget cost of owning a vehical and cost of living. If you're on a tight budget school just becomes that much more stressful, now I didnt forget these costs, but I did'nt leave very much room for comfort on top of them. I would reccomend ensuring you have, or have access to (parents, pre approved credit, some money in a separate account) money for unforseen circumstances. As much as 10% would be great.

 

I was right on budget, but had I secured a bit more breathing room, things would have been alot easier, and for that matter, a bit more fun.

 

Banks are alot like car dealerships, you can always squeez a bit more out of them. Every last dollar of my processing fees was waved, and I came out 2% better then what they said was the absolute lowest they could go. My advice for this portion is finding a loans officer that always wanted to be a helicopter pilot... they always seem to help out a bit more.

 

I don't mind sharing anything about my training at all, some people did the same for me and I'm better off because of it. That and im on call right now so I cant do much else haha.

 

Cheers.

Cole

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Coast Heli-Collage is a good school/enviorment/instructors.I went there last summer started end July finished and home for thanksgiving.Bob Reimer is a excellent instructor and spends alot of time with confines and logging heli pads that are all over the area,you could spend an hr flight doing confines on the rock bluffs and never leave outer tower control.The coastal area has lots to offer for training areas and variaties from sea level to 6000 peaks,all with a chance to fly them in marginal weather.Overall I highly recomend the school ,go talk to Bob and see if he can fit you in (at least 1 year wait) but talk to him he fit me in. Pick your school carefully as how you get along with the instructors will greatly affect your progress.Good Luck

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