From 0 to Commercial Helicopter Pilot

[lemmingjames]

Hello,

Fancy a career change and becoming a commercial heli pilot has picqued my interest.

Therefore, im just wondering if anyone has gone from 0 to becoming a commercial heli pilot?

Ive got a friend who flies for the coast guard (?) after a stint of doing oil rigs and has suggested, to start making any sort of money, id need to invest 100k in training to get all the relevant acronyms.

I guess my questions are, upon qualification, how easy is it to find work afterwards? I appreciate that i might have to work abroad for work but is it a case of ended up in the arse end of nowhere in Africa/Alaska/Siberia to build up a portfolio? Do companies prefer those from a military background or doesnt it really matter?

Are jobs few and far between in this country so you'd need another flexi job?

Thanks

[lemmingjames]

jeremyc said:

Try this previous thread: Becoming a commercial helicopter pilot

Or perhaps this one: Ask a helicopter pilot anything

Thanks, i thought id seen something 'recently' about this but couldnt find it

Paul Lazzaro said:

Have a long browse on pprune.org and then ask question on there if still needed.

Thanks for the link, ill check it out

[lemmingjames]

Yeah siko replied on yhe other thread about it being 6-18 months so guess it kinda suits on that idea really.

Apparently there's more jobs coming out now though

Was away with 2 american airline pilots. Apparently massive shortage of pilots out there but imagine its hard to get trained up.

Guess I'll stick to what I'm doing and emigrate somewhere to apply my trade