Fork in the Road

[BHawks 0]

I'm probably going to get a biased opinion here, but, I'm bored so I am throwing this out there for commentary.

A buddy of mine went to the NZ skydiving school, unfortunatly he broke his ankle on a jump and won't be jumping for awhile. Probably the July class. He is down there in NZ with his ankle in the air saying "are you healed yet, are you healed yet?"

Basically the fork in the road is, join him in NZ or join the National Guard with a I would say with a pretty darn good chance to fly helos.

Hmmm...both in the sky...hmmm...

Anways, thoughts?

Thanks

[NewGuy2005 53]

Are you nuts?? Fly the helos!!! Skydiving will always be there.

[BIGUN 1,303]

There are no friends below 2,000'

Nobody has time to listen; because they're desperately chasing the need of being heard.

[Beerlight 0]

I'm thinking of bailing and going for helo training (civilian, not mil) myself. Lots of jobs currently.

[bigdad510 1]

I agree with the above. Skydiving will always be there. The longer you wait to fly helos, the more experience you're losing because of time. I chose a different route in my life, and when i wanted to fly helos again, it was too late. Don't pass up the opportunity.

Brad

[skydvr69 0]

Quote

I'm thinking of bailing and going for helo training (civilian, not mil) myself. Lots of jobs currently.

I'd love some more info about that.

Flying helos has always been a dream of mine, and if it was actually feasible to pursue, well then....

To the OP, I say... If it's something you want, and you can get "free" training, it seems like a no brainer to me. Skydive recreationally during your career training....

[Beerlight 0]

friend of mine flies helo's offshore supporting oil/gas rigs.

He said due to pilot shortage, they are parking helo's without pilots to fly them. Now the question is, how long will a pilot shortage be???

It's expensive to get trng (40K to 70K), which will get you about 200 hours. After that, hopefully you can flight instruct to get you to the magical "1000" hours where a company will hire you.

I'm looking at one school (Vortex in La) that has a program supported by one offshore company (Air Logistics). You go thru Vortex's program and have a guaranteed interview with Air Log. Start pay with Air Log and most of the other offshore helo companies running around 50K per year. Not bad, not good. My friend has been flying offshore for 15 years now and is making about 100K per year.

Should take about 1.5 years to be hireable.