Is Enrollment At A Flight Training School In Your Future?

Ready for something really different? Consider a career as a commercial pilot. Enroll in a flight training school and you could embark on a thrilling career. How? Show up at a flight training center in your region and take the first step.

Whether you’re just beginning the process of developing a professional career or are looking to reinvent your life, flight training school could be an interesting option. Pilots are in demand throughout the U.S. and the world, so by showing up at a flight training center you will not only kick start an exciting new phase of your life, you’ll be helping to alleviate a global pilot shortage and have a job waiting.

So what’s involved in aviation education? Commercial pilots have more stringent requirement than private pilots, so we’ll look specifically at education for commercial fixed wing pilots, those who go onto become commercial airline pilots.

Airlines require pilots to have a minimum of an associate’s degree, and often a bachelor’s degree, and to have attended a Part 141 flight school (schools with programs approved and monitored by the Federal Aviation Administration). Earning an aviation degree can take anywhere from a year and a half for an associate’s to four years for a bachelor’s. That education will include a minimum of 250 flight hours, or in flight training.

Pilots need a lot of training to be ready to take to the skies. Aviation courses typically include Commercial Aviation, Navigation, Aerodynamics, Meteorology, Safety, Law, Aircraft System and Components, Physiology and Crew Resource Management. These courses are in addition to their hands-on in-flight training.

Ready for a change? A career as a commercial pilot could certainly get things moving in a new direction for you.

Helicopter Training Prepares Pilots for Exciting Commercial Careers

What job can a commercial helicopter pilot do?

Helicopter pilot careers appear to be pretty thrilling. Medical evacuation, fire fighting, law enforcement, mountain search and rescue, and border control are some of the high intensity, high reward careers available to trained commercial pilots. Aerial photography,  advertising, sightseeing tours, geological survey, fish and game census, highway patrol, and carrying workers and supplies to and form offshore oil rigs are some other heli pilot careers.

What do helicopter pilots earn?

According to salary.com, median salary for a helicopter pilot is $86,627, with the top 10% earning $133,998

How to become a helicopter pilot

If you want to fly as a commercial pilot, versus a private pilot, you will need to enroll in an FAA certified flight school, earn a series of certifications and complete a certain number of flight hours – typically 210.

Helicopter training programs can be found everywhere. In mild, sunny climates like those in Nevada, Arizona and California, Pilot Training programs have proliferated. But even rainy and extreme weather prone areas like Washington and Texas have seen helicopter pilot training schools that are thriving. Programs tend to concentrate in or near larger population centers, so you may need to extend your search if you live in a small community. Some aspiring pilots will transplant for the duration of their training program to one of the sunnier locations in order to maximize their good weather flying time and complete their program faster.

Programs vary in length, but a full time student could complete the required curriculum and flight hours in a year and half to two years.

The cost of flight school

Flying a helicopter for a living is not for everyone. It can be an exciting, adrenaline-inducing adventure, but it does require an investment. The training and flight school hours required to earn a commercial helicopter pilot license can run $75,000-$85,000.

For those with VA education benefits, the majority of tuition costs may be covered. For others, financial aid packages and scholarships are available. Flight schools with Department of Education accreditation, like Charter College Aviation, can offer qualified student pilots Title IV Financial Aid in the forms of Federal Student Loans and Pell Grants. These resources can significantly affect both the out-of-pocket cost to the student and provide options for long-term loans.

Helicopter Pilot Training Leads to Interesting Career Options

 Helicopter pilot training schools offer a world of opportunities!

If you’re looking for an exciting career full of change and possibility, and you possess operations and critical thinking skills, you might want to consider helicopter pilot training. There are dozens of possible occupations for helicopter pilots, including sightseeing tours, television news, highway patrol, rescue, aerial photography and advertising, fire fighting, medical transport and more - basically anything that requires taking off and landing in small spaces. You could even end up working as the chauffeur for a tech billionaire!

And as so many 1970s-era helicopter pilots are now looking at retirement, combined with the increasingly global society we live in, the demand for new helicopter pilots is high, creating even more opportunities for new pilots.

Helicopter pilot students must be at least 16 years of age and be able to pass a first class medical exam. To get started, you’ll first need to investigate helicopter pilot training schools to find the one that’s right for you. There are hundreds of pilot training schools across the United States, so it’s a matter of finding one that’s close to you geographically, but that also covers the skills you’ll need for your chosen profession.

Flying lessons are typically conducted in dual controlled aircraft, until the flight instructor deems the helicopter pilot student safe to fly solo. The student will then have to complete both written and flight examinations under the guidance of an FAA inspector. Once these exams are passed, the student will be allowed to fly with passengers, but not for hire. A private pilot can then learn additional skills and pass additional exams to earn the right to fly commercially.  The more education and experience you get, the more flight opportunities you’ll have.

If you’re interested in earning a degree, you can look at career colleges that partner with helicopter pilot training schools. For example, Charter College, based in Oxnard, Calif., is partnering with  flight training schools across the country to offer the Associate of Applied Science in Aviation: Rotor and/or Fixed Wing. The flight schools offer ground school and general flight instruction, while Charter College provides students with the aviation and general education courses to prepare them to earn their FAA licenses and seek entry-level employment as commercial pilots or flight instructors. The program takes 70 weeks to complete and includes 210 flight hours for the helicopter pilot program. Another advantage to going the career college route is that their financial aid teams can help you ascertain what federal student loans you might be eligible for and then help you get it.

If you think you might be interested in becoming a commercial helicopter pilot, visit a flight school near you and take an introductory class. After all, the sky’s the limit!