Re: leaving army air corps into the civil commercial rotary world

Rotary

leaving army air corps into the civil commercial rotary world

richie 08/11/2006, 2:17 AM

I am a serving member in the army air corps, a lynx pilot. i am relatively inexperienced (500-600hrs) but am trying to find information on how i could use this experience to gain employment in the civil sector. the questions i would like answering are: 1. is there much call for rotary pilots at the minute? 2. are ex army pilots desirable, taking into account NVG/IFR/USL ratings? and finally which is the best licence to go for ATPL(H) or CPL(H)? i know ATPL(H) is the hegher of the two but what is the actual difference between the two? any help or hints would be greatly apprectiated! rich

Re: leaving army air corps into the civil commercial rotary world

puff o'wind 15/02/2007, 10:34 AM

Hi, I am not a rotorhead but I fly with ex rotorheads,so here goes...

the main call in the UK for chopper drivers is on the rigs. After that it's bits and bobs. It's a hard world to gain access to I gather and by far the greater number of heli pilots transfer to fixed wing for several reasons (1) it is better than spending eight hours a day on the rigs in North Sea weather, which can be evil, and (2) it is better than spending eight hours a day five days a week in a helicopter! (remember that in civi street you'll be up against the 900 hours a year rule and probably flying a LOT more than you'd ever dream possible in the forces. Certainly the guys I know got sick to death of the sheer physicality of 80 hours a month in a chopper)

Most of the younger guys fly fixed wing for a job but continue to fly helicopters either for the police or ambulances etc.

From what I have seen my advice would be to get your fixed wing ATPL (frozen) while the queen will still pay and start looking at the airlines, meanwhile use all the clout you have in the heli world to get into the poilice helicopter units. I have a few mates who MIGHT be willing to talk to you if I ask them.

If anyone comes up here and tells you I'm totally wrong...believe them: I can only tell you what my colleagues have told me as my only experience of helis was half an hour on a Bell 47 ;o))))).

HTH

David

Re: leaving army air corps into the civil commercial rotary world

Gipsymagpie 11/03/2007, 9:17 AM

Fellow rotary head....

Whatever you do, and this may not fit with your career plans, try to get 2000hrs total (of which 1500hrs P1 rotary). This will get the cost of getting your licences down significantly. HM in her generosity will effectively gift you a CPL(H) after you have done a reduced number of exams (£650 from Bristol Groundschool). Then, you convert those to the ATPL(A) exams which is relatively straightforward, and then pursue the modular route to the ATPL(A) which is:

PPL(A) (which shouldn't be too expensive if you have a Service flying club to hand and you did JEFTS)

CPL/IR(A) (you get lots of credits for being a military IR pilot) using your early retirement gratuity)

...which gives you a frozen ATPL(A)....voila! I assure you this is much much cheaper that starting from scratch. Any questions just PM me. Note all the above gives you a CPL(H) (good for the police helo world and an ATPL(A) for the airlines - flexible!!!)

Gipsy.

Re: leaving army air corps into the civil commercial rotary world

Alex 01/10/2009, 3:44 PM
Hi I know this is off topic - but if you're still using this site, I have a load of questions about the AAC, it would be an enormous help to be able to ask someone who's actually in or has been in the crops - if you don't mind could you send me an email alkerbuss@hotmail.com

I’m basically interested in finding out

-how to get in as an AAC pilot,

-whether getting a place is likely (given that you do well at Sandhurst/Aptitude tests)

-how much of your time is spent flying/at a desk/planning/other (generally)

-What exactly is the age limit/sight requirements – I hear you can apply at 28 and I’m 26 and Sandhurst etc would take a while …

I asked the careers advisor about this and there seemed to be some grey areas, but as an active AAC member I thought you might know a little more? Any thoughts on this would be appreciated.