PPL(H) Advanced Training Course
You’ve dedicated hours and hours to attaining your PPL(H) licence, and now you are all set to get out there flying further and further, taking in the world around you from the most amazing viewpoint! Except, you are aren’t – well, at least not the way you could be. And that’s why we have introduced our PPL(H) Advanced Training Course.
We see many licence holders choosing to remain in the local area using routes that they are familiar with and perhaps not utilising their skills to the fullest to go further afield. So, our new course is designed just for you.
The 10-hour training course has been put together to encourage current private pilots to try and get the most out of their licence by improving accuracy, knowledge and building confidence in areas not fully covered in the standard PPL syllabus.
These include:
The PPL(H) Advanced Course tuition is divided into seven sessions, including two land-away lunch trips, to give you a more practical feel for the helicopter in an off-airfield environment.
The aim is also to improve the accuracy of your flying using tighter tolerances more in line with a commercial standard, which makes it ideal not only for recreational pilots but for those who may be hour building prior to starting a CPL(H) course.
We are offering the course in either the R22 at £280 + VAT per hour or £2,650 + VAT for a 10-hour payment, or the R44 at £440 + VAT per hour or £4,250 + VAT for a 10-hour payment.
As with standard PPL training the booking system is flexible and the course can be completed at your own pace, however we advise attending at least one session per week if possible to maintain continuity and get the most out of it.
To register your interest for the PPL(H) Advanced Training Course, or for any further information, please reply via email to dan@centralhelicopters.com.
- Published in Flight Instructor training
Five reasons why being a helicopter pilot is the best job in the world
Have you always liked the idea of becoming a pilot? Slipping on the aviator shades, firing up the engines, and flying to whichever location takes your fancy? Well, here are five reasons why we think flying a helicopter is the best job in the world.
<h3>1. Because helicopters are very cool… do you remember the 80s?</h3>
OK, so perhaps it’s not quite Top Gun and a speeding F16 fighter jet, but helicopters and flying one has always had qudos, especially, for kids growing up in the 80s. They were the stars of TV shows such as AirWolf and Blue Thunder, and this glamour and exclusivity has continued with the increase of celebrity pilots such as film star Brad Pitt, whose ex Angelina Jolie bought him one to fly around.
<h3>2. Because you’ll be flying machines that cost more than palaces</h3>
There are all sorts of different helicopters manufactured these days. From light training aircraft, to attack helicopters, to high-end luxury, one thing is for sure, they are expensive… very expensive. From the AgustaWestland AW609 with a price tag of $14 million that cruises at a speed of 300 mph – that is around double the speed of a normal helicopter – to the giant Airbus H225 Super Puma that will set you back a cool $27 million. For that, you could well find yourself flying an 11-tonne beast, that can transport up to 20 passengers at any one time.
<h3>3. Because pilots fly in the most beautiful places on Earth</h3>
Do you ever catch yourself gazing out of the office window at the beautiful view? No, me neither, probably because there isn’t one. The same can’t be said for helicopter pilots whose view is pretty good, to say the least. Whether it is flying above the New York skyline, over active volcanoes in Hawaii, or taking in the Grand Canyon in Arizona, helicopter pilots work on a daily basis in the most spectacular location on Earth.
<h3>4. Because it’s not a plane.. it takes real skill</h3>
Flying an aeroplane is a bit like playing elaborate video games – you push a few buttons and it flies itself – whereas helicopters are much more delicate and potentially volatile. This requires a pilot to have precise mental and physical co-ordination. Only the best pilots fly helicopters.
Whether you are flying a group of excited tourists on a day-trip, navigating a storm while trying to land on an off-shore oil rig, or working as a test pilot, the job is unlikely to ever become boring. And, you never know, you might just land a job flying in one of those glamorous locations.
<h3>5. The pay is not bad either</h3>
While the starting salary (around £24-000-30,000) won’t exactly change your life, and you’ll have to hold off ordering your own AgustaWestland AW609, once a pilot is established, payback can come quickly. Starting salaries in the North Sea, where recruits are in demand to service oil and gas rigs, are around £45,000, and can rise to £100,000 at senior level.
Learn more about helicopter training with Central Helicopters. Talk to our friendly team on 01664 823 846.
- Published in (LAPL(H)), Flight Instructor training, Learn to fly
One resolution you’ll love to keep in 2017… learning to fly
We’ve all been there. After finishing off the year with a large slice of over-indulgence, we feel it’s time to get back on the scales, swap something sparkling for a smoothie, dust off your gym membership card, and start making some
real life-changing resolutions.
Fastforward to six weeks later, and our best-laid plans are in tatters. Those good intentions get overtaken by day-to-day events, lose their appeal, or are just simply too soul destroyingly boring to tolerate any longer.
Now, how about making a resolution that you’ll actually stick to? One that really grabs you, fills you with excitement, plays to your sense of adventure, represents a challenge, tests all your skill, and ultimately changes your life forever. We think we’ve got just the thing… make 2017 the year you learn to fly a helicopter.
If that sounds appealing, then there’s no better place to learn than at our Nottingham-based HQ, where we teach CAA-authorised PPL, LAPL, CPL and FI courses, at our modern, purpose-built flight training centre in Widmerpool.
Whether you like the idea of building a career in aviation, or are simply flying recreationally for the sheer joy of it, learning to fly is probably one of the most rewarding challenges you’ll ever undertake. Central Helicopters can take you as far as you want to go – we have got all levels of helicopter training covered.
The lowdown on licences…
If you’ve never flown before, then our trial lessons are the perfect place to start. You’ll have a safety briefing with one of our expert pilots, before climbing aboard one of our dual-controlled training helicopters to fly yourself. Get ready for an unforgettable experience, and prepare to catch the flying bug!
The PPL
If you have already experienced a trial lesson and the thrill of piloting a helicopter by yourself, then why not take the next step and obtain your own licence by training for the Private Pilot’s Licence PPL(H)? This will allow you to fly throughout Britain, and even Europe. You will be able to hire aircraft from us and other operators, and even take your family and friends along for the ride.
The LAPL(H)
Another popular pilot licence is the Light Aircraft Pilot’s Licence LAPL(H), the requirements of which are not as demanding as the PPL(H). With a less stringent medical requirement (a “Part-Med”), this licence is valid within the EU for helicopters of less than 2,000 kg maximum take-off weight and carrying no more than three passengers.
The CPL(H)
For those of you who have dreamed of making a living from flying a helicopter, then this is the licence you’ll need.
The CPL(H) is required if you want to become a fully-fledged commercial pilot. The opportunities to fly commercially are varied, and include flying off-shore into oil rigs, to working for a helicopter tours company, to working as a flight instructor.
The FI
Becoming a flight instructor is one of the most rewarding challenges as a helicopter pilot. The training course leading to achieving the coveted Flight Instructor’s Certificate (FIC) is an intensive programme designed to develop the pilot’s flying skills, give a thorough understanding of all aspects of helicopter flight theory, as well as build presentation and teaching skills.
Why Central Helicopters?
Our family-owned helicopter tour and flight training company has been successfully training the next generation of pilots for a number of years, with one of their lead pilots, David Marsland, one such success story.
David, who has progressed through the various stages of flight training with Central Helicopters, including the FI licence, will be overseeing the 2017 training programme.
He said: “We are proud of our high success rates for newly-qualified pilots, which is based on giving more personalised training to smaller numbers of students.
“Students fly in our Robinson R22 and R44 helicopters from our our recently developed heliport, which includes our state-of-the-art training centre.”
However far you wish to pursue helicopter training, make learning to fly your 2017 resolution.
To learn more in the coming months about what’s involved in our helicopter training, and for expert advice from our instructor David Marsland, keep your eyes peeled to our blog.
Find out more, or call 01664 823 846.
TEACHING OTHERS TO FLY!
Becoming a Flight Instructor is a challenge. And rightly so – your future students will be relying on you to know an awful lot more than them, for you to pass that knowledge and experience on to them – and to keep them safe whilst you do so. The Flight Instructors training course is an intensive programme involving 125 hours of ground school and 30 hours of flying over a 5 – 6 week period.
Pilots take on this challenge for many reasons. For some, it is a vocation – the job satisfaction to be gained from guiding students through their first tentative trial lesson through watching them go solo for the first time and on to achieving their Private Pilot’s Licence is immeasurable.
For others, it is a sensible way of ensuring that they can fly throughout the year (and earn throughout the year) as a professional helicopter pilot. The charter and pleasure flying season tends to slow down significantly from September onwards whilst flight training carries on year round. It is also said that Flight Instructors make better Commercial Pilots as they are constantly teaching their students how to fly correctly – and Commercial Pilots make better Flight Instructors as they are teaching their students with plenty of “real world” commercial flying to talk to their students about.
Having said that, new EASA rules mean that Private Pilots can now train to become Flight Instructors, which means that it is now possible for sufficiently experienced and skilled Private Pilots to earn from their hobby, being paid to fly at weekends and during holidays, keep their regular careers going – and improving their piloting skills as they train for their FI qualification.
And for those pilots whose ambitions lie in the world of larger aircraft, flying Search and Rescue or in the North Sea, becoming a Flight Instructor not only hones the flying skills that the larger helicopter operators are looking for, it also enables pilots to build the flying hours and experience at a faster pace than a pure Commercial Pilot may achieve. And the FI Qualification may also come in useful later in a pilot’s career – someone has to teach pilots how to fly the bigger aircraft!
Here at Central Helicopters we are ideally placed to provide Flight Instructor training. Our dedicated heliport facility means that students are immersed in the world of helicopters throughout their time with us (it is amazing what you can pick up by chatting with other pilots and students over a coffee in our comfortable café / reception area), and the flight training area is not disturbed by fixed wing aircraft wanting to land! The Heliport building has brand new, comfortable briefing rooms and conference facilities so you can concentrate on ground school and theory study without disturbance or distraction. And Central Helicopters are fortunate to have one of the UK’s most experienced Flight Instructor trainers leading the course – Geoff Day has joined the team. He has almost 15,000 instructional flying hours under his belt and he is here to pass on the benefit of that experience to you!
Call in to Nottingham Heliport or call 01664 823846 for a chat about our Flight Instructor programmes – we look forward to seeing you soon!
- Published in Flight Instructor training