Before committing to anything you should realize that becoming a helicopter pilot is expensive. The instruction is expensive, the hours of practice are expensive, and overall you can easily spend $20,000 to $40,000 by the time you get your private or commercial helicopter license.
Another preliminary step is to find out if you're medically fit or not. There's no point in spending the thousands of dollars necessary for training if you're physically unable to get your license.
If you want to be a career helicopter pilot, the first thing to do is to enroll in helicopter training school. In the U.S., about half the states have helicopter training schools. California has the largest number of them, but other large western states like Utah and Arizona have several helicopter training schools, too. In the east, there are helicopter training schools in the states with the densest populations, like Florida, New York, and Ohio.
Being a helicopter pilot may seem glamorous and revered, but before getting into it, you must understand that becoming a professional helicopter pilot takes a lot of training, practice, and hard work. By the time you're there, you'll get a minimum of two licenses and log hundreds of hours of flight time. But if you're up for the challenge, read on.
The very first step is to go for a helicopter ride. Helicopter rides feel very different from the feeling you get in a fixed wing aircraft. Most schools offer introductory flights, or sometimes even trial lessons, and you should take advantage of this. You're going to be spending a lot of time in that cockpit, so you'd better be sure it's a place you want to be.
If you've gone on an introductory flight and loved it as much as you thought you would, then the next step is to research the flight schools in your area. If there aren't any in your area, you'll have to relocate - at least temporarily - to wherever your chosen school is. Check into the instructors' credentials, how much it costs, whether financial aid is available, school hours, and the type of helicopters used during instruction. Make sure you have satisfactory answers to all these questions before continuing.
Because helicopter training is so expensive, some people decide to join the military or the National Guard as a route to receiving helicopter flight training and logging the necessary flight hours. Of course, joining the military isn't a decision to be made lightly; it's a major commitment. And you have to make sure that your service will include helicopter aviation.
Ensure that you meet eligibility requirements for undergoing helicopter training, including your age, ability to read, understand, and speak English, and medical and license requirements.
Your initial training will apply toward your getting your student pilot's certificate. You don't need it to take lessons, but you do need it to solo. You'll have to have a specific number of solo hours for your private and commercial licenses. Obtaining your student's pilot certificate requires the following: fluency in English; age of 16 or older; a current medical certificate from a designated medical examiner of the federal aviation administration (FAA).
After you have your student certificate, it's time to go for your private helicopter license, a process that requires written, oral, and flight tests. You'll need at least 40 hours of flying time and you'll have to meet various other requirements to take the three exams needed to earn your private pilot's license. After you have obtained your private helicopter pilot's license, you can fly anywhere at any time, but you cannot work as a helicopter pilot for pay. To do this, you have to have your commercial rotor-craft license.
To work toward your commercial helicopter license, you'll have to earn your commercial license, which will involve written, oral, and flight exams, but you can only do this after you've logged at least 150 hours of flight time and meet other eligibility requirements. While you're going for your commercial certificate, it may be worth your while to become a certified flight instructor and get your instrument rating as well. While these are not required for some jobs, they are required for many others.
Next you'll fly the required number of hours for the commercial job you want. The requirements vary. If you want to become a flying emergency medical services pilot, you will be required to log more hours than if you were to become an aerial photographer, for example. Working as a flight instructor is one way to log the required number of flight hours for higher paying commercial helicopter jobs.
