Helicopter Careers: What it takes There’s a demand for pilots and an average starting pay of $60,000 a year. So how do you get from here to the cockpit of a helicopter? The truth - if it were easy, everyone would do it. It takes hard work, an investment of time and effort, and a commitment to accomplish the goal of becoming a professional helicopter pilot. To fly professionally and earn that pay requires 500 to 1,000 hours of flight time. So how do you get those hours? The reality - you don't just go to school, obtain your commercial pilot certificate, and walk right into one of these jobs.  You’ll have 200 hours of flight experience when you’re done with your initial training. Then you’ll need to build that up to 500 to 1,000 hours. So how do you log that extra flight time ? The best way – get the additional hours you need by working as a Certified Flight Instructor (CFI).  Teaching others what you have just learned will make you a better pilot.  While flying with your students you are actually honing your skills, building hours of flight experience towards your first commercial job, and getting paid for it at the same time.  This part of the journey will take anywhere from 6 to 12 months to build enough air time and extra experience in order to qualify for that first commercial helicopter job. By the way, we at Summit Helicopters make it a priority to support our own licensed students by hiring from within to continue on as instructors if at all possible, because we know they are well trained ! So how long does all this take ? In general, it takes 2 years from the first lesson to that first commercial helicopter job.  This is why we have a loan program that offers 2 years of deferred payments, so that you can hold off on paying for your training until you're ready with a good paycheck to cover them.   Helicopter Careers: What to expect from training Here’s a brief look to answer one of the most commonly asked questions. You're about to learn a complex skill requiring a lot of knowledge in a short period of time.  This is not rocket science – we’re not teaching you to build a helicopter – we are teaching you how to fly one. You’ll need to learn about airspace, regulations, aerodynamics, weather, navigation, etc.  If you can add, subtract, multiply, and divide, you can do this. Understand that you'll naturally feel a bit overwhelmed the first few weeks.  This is normal and no cause for concern.  Remember that your CFI went through this not too long ago and is now teaching you, so the process does work.  I'm reminded of an old saying, "How do you eat an elephant?  One bite at a time."  Approach flight training the same way, and just bite off a bit at a time and enjoy yourself. Students seem to set their own pace according to their personal learning rhythm. The first thing you'll do is attend orientation.  We will explain in detail what you happens during training, what the school resources are, who to go to if you need this or that, etc.  We'll help you fill out your paperwork, introduce the schedule for your first few weeks, explain how to use your syllabus to study ahead for training, and direct you to the proper books and supplies.  You may be assigned a CFI at this point depending on how soon you'll begin training. After orientation, you'll be scheduled for your private ground school class, simulator instruction time, and you’re on your way to accomplishing your goal.  During the course of your training, you'll have flight time reserved for 2-3 hour blocks, one-on-one ground instruction for 1-2 hour blocks, and ground school classes at various times.  You'll have written tests you need to accomplish along the way as exams at the end of each course (a total of 5 practical exams).  You’ll use your syllabus as your flight training guide, which your CFI will follow as the basic outline for your entire course of training. Since each student moves at their own pace, it is important that you not compare yourself to others around you.  They may be training more often, or perhaps they have prior aviation experience, so just focus on your own progress.  Also, do not compare your own flying to your CFI.  He/She is a Certified Flight Instructor, and should be better at it than you (otherwise what are you paying them for?).  It can be frustrating when you're having a hard time hovering, the helicopter seems to go all over the place, but the instant the CFI takes the controls, it is rock steady.  This is a good thing - it means that he/she can fix whatever mistakes you make and keep you safe, which is his/her first priority. Enjoy every minute of your training since you only get to learn it once. Most people have fond memories of learning to fly, even from the challenging days.  Before you know it, you'll be confidently sitting in the left seat with your first student nervously waiting for you to teach them what you know !