helicopter vs. fixed wing

[badtransam97]

I need some advice from helicopter and airplane pilots. I currently have my private airplane and nearly finished with my instrument rating, and was planning on going up thru CFII. Well I live in a very small town, and have to drive 1.5 hrs one way to rent a plane, and its been down for a fuel system problem that they cant figure out so... It looks like I'm gonna have to go full time to a school of some sort to get finished. The only problem I have is my dad flew helicopters and since I was a kid that is what I wanted to do for a living, but since there was nowhere within probably 200 miles of here, I started flying airplanes and was just gonna stick with them. Well my question is.. would it be wise to go to school to learn helicopters or go and finish my fixed wing? Is the job market as plentiful and diverse for the helicopters as it is airplanes? Any advice is GREATLY appreaciated!

[redcell38]

Why not do both, you are in a unique postion. You will need to build hours for your commercial certificate in the airplane, however the regs say that all do not have to be in an airplane, Look under commercial requirments in your FAR/AIM , The helicopter will cost you about 100 dollars more an hour than the airplane. So since you will have your instrument airplane, get your private helicopter for half of what you would pay since you are using those hours toward your commerical. You can add on as you go, and you can see if that is really what you want to do before pumping a ton of money into. (It will cost you-lots of money) However If you do it right you can actually get all your ratings in the helicopter and airplane for not much more than just doing the airplane alone. It will also make the checkrides a little eaiser since you will not have to rehash all the info each time.

As far as employment, you will need at least 1000 hours to work as a helicopter pilot (you will have to CFI to do this) If you have 1000 hours you can get hired right away and most of the pay starts at 40-50k, the GOM is always hiring. I know people who got jobs at 500 sitting right seat, but that didn't last long.

[rmepilot]

Look into the TN ARNG, they're a great bunch of guys and why not let someone else pay for your training. Go visit them in Knoxville if you have a chance, it might be worth your while.

Good luck with your quest.

Rob

[Pietrantonio]

I know what you're going through. I've been back and forth too with FW and RW. But, you have to really do what you love the most. I love flying helicopters because it's all flying. The helicopter is a work horse and I love that too. It largely depends on what you want to do and what type of work you want to do. I'd say go with helicopters if that's your true passion. Having dual ratings doesn't hurt you, so don't get discouraged about that either.

Best of luck to you! Things will work out. Like I said, just focus on what you want to do, and go for it.