Helicopter pilot

[Slam]

Amazing how proficient you are with the net gun! Sure beats riding a desk.

 

[Addicting]

Here is my advice, do your VA disability and everything comes out. Get a coach, it really makes a difference. Have your CDR sign off on CDL paperwork most services and states have their own forms. Driving truck locally is great and starts around 25 an hour. There is such a shortage of drivers that you can set your terms. I am home every day, I work 7-9 hours a day, and am off Wednesdays. This will set you up to do your flight training while off setting your income loss. Loosing BHA was a biggie to a budget.

I found I like this schedule so much I am continuing to drive. Family is loving it too.

 

[BAKPAKR]

I'm not a pilot, but I have worked with helicopters for about 15 years. I've worked with them in wildfire, spraying, surveying the Canadian/US border with the State Department, and finally doing wildlife capture work. On many of the jobs I was making more money than the pilots. Most of the pilots had to spend large parts of the year working away from home and seemed to be pretty stressed out much of the time. I was pretty sure I wanted to be a helicopter pilot until I got to know a handful of them, and not one of them recommended that I go that route. Several of the ones that I have stayed in touch with have transitioned to fixed wing or something non aviation related. Although, some days I wish I had.

Here is a video I put together of a whitetail deer capture project in South Dakota. We caught about 650 deer over that month and I of course picked the best shots and deer wrecks to put in the video. I know some of them look pretty rough, but deer are tough animals and only a few out of the 650 ended up hurt or dead.

That is a pretty neat video. How long does it take to figure out the lead with the net gun, and how frigging cold is it hanging from a helicopter in South Dakota in the winter?

 

[Ben Long]

I know nothing about this topic but think it would be very cool to be a pilot, especially a helicopter pilot. I wish you well pursuing your dreams.

 

[DouglasR]

I feel like a pilot is one of the last types of operators that can use his job to pull *****.
I think it would be cool af.
I made out with a female pilot like 3 years ago and still haven’t been able to move on.
Farming via aircraft seems to be becoming increasingly popular in my neck of the woods.
One of the more core jobs out there.
Seems like a lot of $ up front, but unlimited adventure.
Besides the not being able to smoke chron part.
That would suck.

 

[DouglasR]

There was a thread on here about a dudes son wanting to become a pilot a while back that I thought had some pretty good information.
Can’t find it right now tho

 

[Straight Arrow]

Twenty years flight status as US Army helicopter pilot was a highly memorable period of my life. I so enjoyed the flying (albeit with some tense times during a couple tours in Vietnam) and the decision to return to Montana and be able to hunt, as well as fly the Big Sky with the Army Guard, was a good decision. Some of my peers transitioned into commercial private sector jobs and pursued interesting aviation careers, although they travelled often for work. I opted to remain in SW Montana and raise my family in one place.

If you want to fly, then I strongly encourage fulfillment of that goal, as I am confident you will enjoy escaping the pull of gravity and learning important skills.

 

[theat]

That is a pretty neat video. How long does it take to figure out the lead with the net gun, and how frigging cold is it hanging from a helicopter in South Dakota in the winter?

Figuring out how to shoot a net gun accurately can be a bit tricky. It’s a bit like shooting a shot gun from the hip. There is a lot going on that you have to keep in mind. How fast we are flying, how far away from the animal we are, how fast the animal is running, the angle we are intersecting the animal, which way the wind is blowing, and of course not hitting the blades or skids with the net or weights. Really helps having a pilot that understands animal behavior and sets up good shot opportunities.

The cold is one of the most challenging parts of that job for me. It is very cold and windy flying around with the doors off the helicopter. We had to shut down a couple times on that project due to the blood samples we were attempting to collect freezing in the needle before reaching the syringe. Whitetails are pretty feisty, but not too tough to handle. On the other hand, elk are not too bad once they are down, but quite often they are still on their feet after getting netted. This means we had to run them down and tackle them. I would get pretty sweaty, then get back in the helicopter and freeze until the next one. Repeat 20-30 times a day.

 

[Wallydeuce]

Disability? @Addicting mentioned a disability. Check the FAR's. Your flying career might be over before it starts, if you take medication.

I believe our military aviators here will agree: skills atrophy. Training once a week will get you your private certificate in say...2 years. Or more. Fly every day if you can.

 

[Wallydeuce]

I feel like a pilot is one of the last types of operators that can use his job to pull *****.
I think it would be cool af.
I made out with a female pilot like 3 years ago and still haven’t been able to move on.
Farming via aircraft seems to be becoming increasingly popular in my neck of the woods.
One of the more core jobs out there.
Seems like a lot of $ up front, but unlimited adventure.
Besides the not being able to smoke chron part.
That would suck.

May that female pilot was my old flight instructor.
*sigh*

 

[KB_]

I wasent a pilot, but a door gunner (rear end on the osprey). I really enjoyed flying and often thought of becoming a pilot after my enlistment. Ended up not being in the cards by the end, but man I did enjoy flying.

Get this, I'm terrified of heights lol.

 

[Scott85]

Disability? @Addicting mentioned a disability. Check the FAR's. Your flying career might be over before it starts, if you take medication.

I believe our military aviators here will agree: skills atrophy. Training once a week will get you your private certificate in say...2 years. Or more. Fly every day if you can.

Everybody who leaves the military after 20 plus years has some type of disability. I do take one medication that will have to be stopped before I can get my medical cert and the Doc talked about taking me off of it anyhow because the botox is working for my migraines. Thanks again for your advise, I'm about to enroll in an online ground instruction school and the closest air base to me as a flying club where I can fly for $150 an hour (wet rate).

 

[Straight Arrow]

Get this, I'm terrified of heights lol.

Me too! However during thousands of hours of flight time it didn't seem to bother me ... as I was always tightly strapped in with strong shoulder and lap harness.
But standing on the rim of a canyon looking down really spooks me. 'Don't even like to climb ladders.

Relieved to never even consider jumping out of a perfectly intact aircraft ... I trained extensively in perfecting the autorotation to escape in one piece even without a well functioning engine to power a landing. The standing night flight joke was, "If engine failure at night, turn on landing light. If no suitable autorotation landing area is in sight ... turn off landing light!"

 

[KB_]

Me too! However during thousands of hours of flight time it didn't seem to bother me ... as I was always tightly strapped in with strong shoulder and lap harness.
But standing on the rim of a canyon looking down really spooks me. 'Don't even like to climb ladders.

Relieved to never even consider jumping out of a perfectly intact aircraft ... I trained extensively in perfecting the autorotation to escape in one piece even without a well functioning engine to power a landing. The standing night flight joke was, "If engine failure at night, turn on landing light. If no suitable autorotation landing area is in sight ... turn off landing light!"

Yea I've never been able to figure that one out. I could hang out the back of an osprey with nothing but a gunner belt. But my wife got me up to the top of the Sears Tower and I was shaking like a leaf. Something about buildings really gets me. Even thinking about it makes my arm hair stand up. Spider man is an idiot.

 

[Shortbowshot]

I'm a fixed wing pilot so I have little use for something with 10k parts spinning way to fast. But I will say I worked for an Air Med company for 15 yrs. There seemed to always be a shortage of pilots. I believe the minimum was 1500hrs to be hired at that time. As some above have said. Flight instructing is the most economical way to build time quickly.

 

[Irrelevant]

1. I want to be @theat when I grow up.

2. We see helicopter pilots crash and die about every 3-4 years here in Wenatchee flying low trying to blow rain off cherries to keep them from splitting. The most recent one was very lucky.

Crashing copter landed on tractor driven by East Wenatchee man

ORONDO — Two people were hospitalized Wednesday after a helicopter crashed onto an orchard sprayer south of Orondo while drying cherries.

www.wenatcheeworld.com

The one I thought would be cool was the pilots that fly S&R in the north cascades or around Rainier.

 

[Scott85]

I'm a fixed wing pilot so I have little use for something with 10k parts spinning way to fast. But I will say I worked for an Air Med company for 15 yrs. There seemed to always be a shortage of pilots. I believe the minimum was 1500hrs to be hired at that time. As some above have said. Flight instructing is the most economical way to build time quickly.

So would agree that fixed wing is the way to go?

 

[DouglasR]

1. I want to be @theat when I grow up.

2. We see helicopter pilots crash and die about every 3-4 years here in Wenatchee flying low trying to blow rain off cherries to keep them from splitting. The most recent one was very lucky.

Crashing copter landed on tractor driven by East Wenatchee man

ORONDO — Two people were hospitalized Wednesday after a helicopter crashed onto an orchard sprayer south of Orondo while drying cherries.

www.wenatcheeworld.com

The one I thought would be cool was the pilots that fly S&R in the north cascades or around Rainier.

More and more of the farmers around here seem to be getting helicopters and a lot of those dudes are just red necks with money and some of that stuff when they’re landing the helicopter on the roof of their semi to fill it up with chemical seems like some flying by the seat of their pants cowboy chit that could go south quick.

 

[BirdManMike]

 

[Flatrock]

Not a helicopter pilot but went through flight school for fixed wing and eventually flew for the airlines for 8 years. From what I've seen, if you want to do helicopter, you damn near have to go through the military. Otherwise it is just insanely expensive. Fixed wing is bad enough but helicopter more so. Anyways, if you have any questions, shoot me a PM.