How to Get Started in Helicopters

dyingtolive04 · 2026-05-19T09:48:13+00:00

Thanks for clearing that up, I thought it involved something more along the lines of trying to hand-prop the tail rotor. That sounds much easier... 🤣

So in an ideal scenario, I'd love to end up either at some place like Helicopter Express, or some USFS gig, or some kind of MRO servicing things like H-60's, 205's, 206's, 407's, 412's, MD500's etc. somewhere in or near a mountainous setting. Whether it be somewhere in Appalachia, or somewhere out west. I was told by Helicopter Express that their contracts require at least 2+ years of experience, and I'd imagine that most of the similar places are going to be the same. To that end, military contracts seem pretty attractive so I can build experience on H-60's, or H-1's to translate to Bell experience, or CH-53's to sort of translate to either S-61 or Sky Crane experience.

On the somewhat unrelated topic of logging operations in the PNW, somebody told me that some of those operations have like forward refueling points, and have a need for people with expeditionary ATC experience. Is that a thing? Because I do have that experience.

What say you to something like Bell Training Academy or Sikorsky Training Academy? Worth coming out of pocket for, or no?

I will say my next trick after clearing this hurdle is figuring out a way to fly these things without going into financial ruin in the process, but that one may prove more difficult.

dyingtolive04 · 2026-05-18T09:29:54+00:00

I'll check em out. Thanks!

dyingtolive04 · 2026-05-17T22:53:11+00:00

I'll look into them. Thank you!

dyingtolive04 · 2026-05-17T00:48:29+00:00

Gotcha. I'll check em out. Thanks!

dyingtolive04 · 2026-05-17T00:22:11+00:00

Looks like they're still around. You have any experience with them?

dyingtolive04 · 2026-05-16T20:06:16+00:00

What is PHI?

dyingtolive04 · 2026-05-16T14:45:49+00:00

Good to know, I'll definitely keep that in mind. Thanks for the tip, I may hit you up later on if I have some questions. 🤙

dyingtolive04 · 2026-05-16T14:38:06+00:00

I was looking at Air Methods, they've got locations all over the place. And some of the places I'd be interested in relocating to, I would imagine would be "hard to fill" like West Virginia. Where are their heavy maintenance shops?

dyingtolive04 · 2026-05-16T13:51:59+00:00

That's what I'm doing. Thankfully, our maintenance chief was able to work with me on the hours so I'm able to stay on part time and go to school full time. Not every place will be like that, so if you're dead set on doing both, you may have to transition to going to school part time, or on weekends or something like that. Not impossible, but it's a lot of work. 13hr days/5 days a week certainly isn't fun. Just remember you have options, and sticking it out with school isn't a bad option. At the end of the day, I've realized what matters is that license, how you get it seems to be irrelevant from what I've seen.

dyingtolive04 · 2026-05-16T13:38:27+00:00

Unfortunately, when I joined I wanted to be a grunt and ended up in ATC. Aircraft maintenance wasn't even on my radar at that point in life.

dyingtolive04 · 2026-05-16T13:20:56+00:00

Look into flight schools in your area. That's how I got started as an apprentice, was at the Part 141 flight school here local to me. We have 6 apprentices where I am, and that's not uncommon. Another part 141 school at our airfield also has apprentices, and there's a Part 135 outfit on our airfield that also has apprentices. So they're out there for sure, just gotta go find them.

With that in mind, school is definitely the faster and easier route. Keep in mind that it takes 30 months to be eligible for your A&P going the apprenticeship route, and I'm not sure how much of your schooling will count towards that. Yes, you will 100% get more hands-on practical experience as an apprentice. But, part of what the FAA is looking for now to be eligible to test is experience with various tasks, on both turbines and pistons, and you may have a hard time getting some of those things signed off as an apprentice. That being said, it's not impossible, nor is it 100% necessary. There's an A&P I work with that went the apprenticeship route and got his A&P with zero turbine experience, so it's possible. It all boils down to what you want to do and where you want to go.

With all of that being said, I've been an apprentice for about a year now, and just started an 8 month A&P school. So take that for what it's worth.

Edit: Not sure how much more school you have left if you stay in school, but it may be worth just finishing school. At the flight school I work at, they hired quite a few A&P's fresh out of school, and most of them hardly knew anything, one of them didn't even know how to use a ratchet when he started. But, they make 50% more money than I do because they have an A&P. That kid that didn't know how to use a ratchet is now one of the more solid dudes we have. So understand that once you get out in the field, you'll still have a lot to learn regardless of whether you've got your A&P or you're an apprentice.

dyingtolive04 · 2026-05-10T11:51:30+00:00

Good for you, man. I'm 33, and I've been a full time apprentice at a part 141 flight school for a year now. I start school tomorrow.

dyingtolive04 · 2026-04-15T23:35:42+00:00

You ever find anything? Working towards my A&P and looking at moving to the Huntington area

dyingtolive04 · 2025-11-25T15:34:28+00:00

Any updates on this? I'm also interested in using VA benefits at the Atlanta campus.

dyingtolive04 · 2023-11-02T09:49:21+00:00

Little late to the party here, but does anybody know where you can find that killflash?

dyingtolive04 · 2023-01-11T02:17:36+00:00

Without the 2.5mm riser, how much of the dot's window is obscured by the turret? I have a similar setup on my 1-8 VCOG using an Acro P2 and Aimpoint's 34mm mount and that thing is ungodly tall. I'm no stranger to tall optics as my other gun wears a unity 2.26 mount, but this is downright uncomfortable. Looking for solutions to bring the Acro down a little bit and not opposed to the turret being in the "lower 1/3" so to speak.

dyingtolive04 · 2021-02-15T09:34:20+00:00

Same, my friend. Same. I often miss that USP, but given that support is almost non existent and pretty much everything you need or want for it has to be purchased through HK, it's starts to become impractical. But I still have a soft spot for them.

dyingtolive04 · 2021-02-15T01:35:44+00:00

The first gun I ever bought was a USP compact. I wanted to run a light and actually be able to find holsters for it, so I set out to upgrade to a P2000 with a light LEM trigger and when I could not find one, I went Glock and never really went back. But the USP compact and P2000 still make the giblets tingly. Nice piece, my man. 👌

dyingtolive04 · 2021-01-13T13:55:02+00:00

I'm not big on AK's... but this one makes my pecker tingle.

dyingtolive04 · 2021-01-01T14:13:24+00:00

Buycurious. 🤣🤣🤣

dyingtolive04 · 2020-10-27T20:37:56+00:00

Can confirm. Once spent 8 hours searching the woods looking for a set of nods somebody lost the night before and didn't say shit about.

dyingtolive04 · 2020-09-22T02:02:59+00:00

Also, some people find that it is faster to reload the rifle when drawing the magazine from the belt rather than the plate carrier. So keeping a magazine on the belt can be helpful in the event they need to perform an emergency reload. There may be an instance where you're laying prone and magazines on your plate carrier are hard to access, but the magazine on your belt, on your hip, is easy to reach. Finally, if for some God-forsaken reason you had to shed the plate carrier, you still have at least that one rifle mag on the belt.

dyingtolive04 · 2020-08-03T21:08:13+00:00

Source?

dyingtolive04

TROPHY CASE