Helicopters to the Rescue

Getting a pilot's license with the intent on learning to fly a helicopter is a very ambitious goal. But of all of the aircraft, the helicopter is probably one of the most versatile and useful kinds of flying in society. However, it might be obvious that it is more complicated to fly a helicopter than a conventional private airplane. So the training is more extensive, difficult and expensive as well. But adding the helicopter to the list of your piloting skills on your resume will make you tremendously marketable in a field that is always in need of well trained pilots.

You don’t have to look far to find ways that helicopter pilots are getting great jobs in all segments of society. Every local news team has at least one if not several traffic or weather helicopters to help report the news. Every day these pilots whisk a news team off to the heart of a fast breaking story, often a story that is filmed directly from the cockpit of their helicopter.

The need for helicopters to assist law enforcement is easy to witness by just watching any cop or detective show on television or in the movies. But the way the pilot of the helicopter becomes a big part of many police situations is not overstated. For law enforcement, the need to get right to the heart of a crime situation is nothing short of critical. Time makes a big difference when it comes to solving a crime or stopping a dangerous situation from spiraling out of control. So many times it is the helicopter pilot who can take a team of highly skilled police or FBI officers right into the middle of a trouble situation with pinpoint accuracy. And when those heroes of the police department can save a life because you got them there fast, there is no way to estimate how great you will feel about your role in that important job.

Helicopter pilots can find great employment giving rides around the city during the holidays, flying busy executives to high stakes business meetings from the top of skyscrapers, whisking rock stars away from overly adoring fans or working for hospitals getting remote patients to medical care quickly and saving lives in the process. This means that the chances are your life as a helicopter pilot will be exciting, fast paced and always doing something urgent taking you to the most interesting of places.

But of the many ways that helicopter pilots find great jobs helping others in society, rescue missions may be the most meaningful. During the hurricane Katrina disaster, it was a common thing to see helicopter pilots going in and plucking people off of rooftops to take them to safety and to be reunited with their grateful families. In forest fire situations, helicopters are what are used to dump water or chemicals on the fire to try and stop the burning. And it is the helicopter that is used to get in the middle of danger and get people out or to get the injured to medical professionals quickly and save lives. Your skills in handling that complicated aircraft will never seem more crucial than when you are using them to benefit your fellow man in trouble.

You should know the demands that will be put on you when you start on your course to learn to fly a helicopter and get a pilot's license that says you can be counted on to handle this important vehicle with skill. Unlike a conventional airplane, the helicopter and maneuver straight up and side to side with phenomenal flexibility. It can hover over a location virtually in one place and be landed with nothing more needed than a small plot of ground to place it down on rather than a long landing field. The skill to be able to actually do these maneuvers with this precision flying machine take time and money to gain.

You will work very hard in pilot's school for helicopter pilots. And this specialization of pilot training is anywhere from 5-10 times more expensive than conventional pilots training. But if you can get the training under your belt and the experience to show you can handle a copter like pro, the employment opportunities are abundant and the money good for you to have an exciting and diversified career flying helicopters as your job and your passion.

Getting your Pilot's License on the Cheap

There is a difference between being economical and being cheap. And when it comes to getting your training for your pilot's license, you want the best training you can get. When you finally get to the point that you can fly an aircraft, not only will your life be in your hands, the lives of others, possibly your family and friends may depend on being able to handle that aircraft with skill and with a good background in training.

But flight school and pilot's training is not an inexpensive operation. You are learning to operate some very sophisticated machinery and to learn a new skill that is different than anything else you have ever done. But even though you do not want to cut corners on the important elements of your training which is time with your flight instructor and in the air learning to handle that aircraft, with some extra effort on your part, you can cut some costs and not compromise the quality of your pilot's license.

There are two big sections to pilot's training which are the theory and the practice or the book learning and the application or hands on learning you do working directly with the aircraft. When you go up for your pilot's license, you will face a pretty rigorous written exam. So much of your time in flight school will be in class walking through this material.

But there is no requirement that you learn this material from an instructor. You can work with a Part 61 flight school which has the flexibility or tailor your program (as opposed to a Part 141 school which conduct classes in strict accordance with guidelines) so you can do a lot of that study and concept learning independently and not have to pay to sit in class to learn what you could have conquered at home for free.

You can buy books that will walk you through every aspect of the pilot's license test and sit down at your kitchen table and learn it all as fast as you are able to absorb knowledge. Many of these tutorials will have quizzes and example tests so you can have someone work you over pretty good so by the time you walk in to take the written exam you are ready.

Of course there are plenty of online sources that can give you the same in depth training absolutely free. Sometimes studying online is easier because it’s a bit more interactive and fun. One such site is http://www.flightcentral.net/sport/training.htm but you can Google "pilot's license training" and locate others from reputable agencies that will do the job just as well.

The hardest thing about home study is to keep yourself accountable and moving forward though. So set a schedule of what you are going to achieve and make steady progress, just like you would if you were in a classroom setting. You can then download the Practical Standards Test (PTS) and study the actual layout and questions that you will be required to pass "open book". So by the time you are ready for the test, you are really ready for that test.

You can also work with your instructor to help you be totally prepared when its time for actual flight training in the air. He can give you the checklists so you are ready when you show up. If you make mistakes, learn what you did and practice that skill in your armchair at home.

The more you get out of the way on your own, the less time in the airplane which costs by the hour. And by taking charge of your training and only using the experts for hands on training you need, you get just as good an education in flying but you save a ton of money.

Getting Your Pilot's License for the Fun of it.

There are a lot of great motivations for getting your pilot's license. The field of aviation is full of employment opportunities and if that is where you want to make your career, you can keep adding to your skills and climb the latter to more responsibilities as you learn to fly bigger commercial aircraft, for more money as well. Another motivation that often drives us to want to fly is that it opens up new ways to be of service to others. If you like to work with charitable or church organizations, being able to fly to sites of disaster is an extremely valuable skill to offer.

But one great payoff for the investment of work and money you put into getting your pilot's license is that you can have a lot of fun when you can take to the skies and do some exploring from that high up. Being able to fly whenever you want to adds a whole new world to your entertainment life and it might become your recreation of choice, at least when you first get your license.

For one thing, being able to get up above your city gives you the ability to explore your town in an entirely new way. You can find your house and get a perspective on the neighborhood that you may have never seen before. You can follow streets along and see little neighborhoods and businesses that you had no idea was there. Take a friend a few maps with you and enjoy gazing down on the city from literally the birds eye view.

Flying opens up whole new opportunities for your dating life for sure. Taking your best girl up for what is without a doubt the most romantic way to view a sunset is sure to get the romantic juices flowing. And because flying extends your borders to other communities and even to border states, you can dash to a nearby town for an exotic dinner or follow your favorite sports team around much easier than by car.

As soon as you begin using your pilot's license to explore the world around you, you are going to discover some natural wonders near where you live that you may have never seen before. You may find hills and even mountain ranges that will call to you to come and explore from the sky. And as long as your gas supply is good, you can wander those hills with complete freedom knowing you can get back to your landing strip with a new adventure under your belt.

If you spot a stream or river that you had never tracked down before, you will want to get back into the sky as soon as possible to follow the trail of that river to see where it runs. Your imagination will be going wild imaging the lives of those who live along those banks. The great thing about flying is that you don’t have to be held to any highway or road. You can go to the most remote locations and gaze down and even take pictures and know that true thrill of exploring and discovery.

If you are a camera bug, the open skies will give you chances to get photos unlike anything you ever could capture before. Imagine flying near a souring eagle and being able to get close ups of that majestic bird in a natural setting. You have seen pictures like that but to be able to capture it live will be a thrill that will be hard to top. That camera will get a work out with the huge diversity of nature shots or even great pictures of the really majestic architecture of your own city that takes on an entirely different aspect when you photograph it from the sky.

The range of ways you can explore the world and have new adventures flying free would just keep opening up to you. And you could explore them with loved ones, friends and family and get a lot of wholesome fun because you took the time to get your pilot's license.

Getting Some Help with Pilot’s License Training

For a young person who is looking ahead to a career that is full of growth potential, fun, good pay and that offers adventure, becoming a pilot can’t be beat. And it’s a terrific career field to explore because whether is piloting small charter aircraft to flying the big jumbo jets, the world needs good pilots and it’s a career field that is sure to have plenty of jobs available in the future.

But one reason that a job as a pilot pays well and has such a strong potential for long term employment is that it not only takes a certain aptitude and physical ability to be able to pilot an airplane, it takes some very specific training that is not easy and not cheap. And while you may be entirely capable of taking on the physical and mental challenges of flight training, sometimes the cost of getting the schooling to get your pilot’s license can be a challenge.

Like anything else, there are ways for a young person or any qualified flight school candidate to get some help with the costs of flight school. A good place to start finding scholarships or grants to get your pilot’s license are the local aviation societies in your town. Networking with working airline crews and people already in the industry can give you the inside information on what local clubs and groups might be looking for flight training candidates to sponsor.

One source of funding that you might not have thought about is your local chapter of the Boy Scouts of America. Aviation is one of the merit badges that many scouts get that begins their love affair with flying. And alumni of the scouting program who themselves went on to success as pilots often want to sponsor solid young people like you find in the BSA program to realize their dreams of flying an airplane too. You can inquire about such program by contacting your local BSA office and asking about the Aviation Explorer Scout program. They can put you in touch with the adult leader who is running that program for older scouts and he will know more about available scholarship money.

Of course, a place for funding of flight training would naturally come from the airlines themselves. They have a vested interest in seeing up and coming pilots get good training. So one clever way to begin rubbing elbows with the right people is to get a job at the local airport or with an airline in some support function. Even if you are just sweeping up around the hangers, you can get to know employees and express your interest in working your way up the latter until you are a full fledged captain of an aircraft. The airline may have employee development programs then that you can take advantage of.

Many of our current pilots gained their flight training in the military. For obvious reasons, the United States Air Force trains a lot of pilots. And while you will primarily learn to fly military aircraft while you serve your country in the military, it’s a skill that easily translates to civilian flying and it’s a great resume entry when you get out at the end of your tour and are ready to make that natural transition to piloting civilian aircraft.

So don’t let funding stop you from realizing your dream to become an airline pilot. There are agencies that want to help you make that dream a reality that are out there. You just have to be industrious and get out there and find them.