What Will It Cost?

‘How much will it cost?’ is a question we get often.  The answer is; it depends. This question is often extremely hard to answer, as it depends on many factors.  We decided to put this document together to explain the process and the difficulty of answering that question.  We have had a lot of confusion about helicopter training as we don’t offer packages for a rating. That’s because we want you to spend as little as possible to get your ratings, and everyone’s situation is different.  We would be thrilled if everyone who came to our school got their ratings at the minimum times.

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Helicopter:

• Private: 40 Hours

• Instrument: 50 Hours of cross country, 40 hours of instrument

• Commercial: 150 Hours

• CFI/CFII:  No minimum for the licence, but 200 hours to legally instruct in a Robinson

Helicopter Add On:

• Private: 30 Hours  in a helicopter

• Instrument:  15 Hours in a helicopter

• Commercial: 50 Hours in a helicopter

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Private:

It is very rare to get your rotorcraft private rating in 40 hours.  Out of thousands, our examiner has only seen a handful of candidates get it under 45. While it’s good to shoot for the minimum, it will probably take you more. This isn’t an issue if you are pursuing your commercial rating, as you’ll need 150 hours for that check ride. 

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The issue with the add-on is the hardest part of flying a helicopter is hovering, and autorotations.  Neither directly relates to airplane flying. Again 30 hours is possible, but often people fly more.

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Instrument:

Some of the cross country time requirements will be taken care of during your private.  Also if you are just looking to get your instrument rating, and not be a CFI, then it may be a good option to use our simulator for 25 hours (the legal maximum).  Both of these things will drastically reduce your instrument rating costs. If you are getting your CFI/Commercial you may as well fly as you’ll need 150/200 hours anyways.   

The last issue is the cross country time itself.  Due to this requirement, a lot of your instrument rating will be flying point to point.  The hardest part of instrument flying is the last bit when you are approaching the airport. Some people need a few more hours after their cross country requirements are finished, to only practice approaches.

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Commercial

Almost everyone gets their commercial rating around 150 hours.

The Ground:

The final part of the cost puzzle is the ground training.  Being a part 61 school there are no ground training requirements.  We have had a huge range of students varying from almost no ground to a ton.  A motivated self-studier can avoid paying for a lot of ground training.

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Prior Experience

We get a lot of questions from people with previous experience; “I went to Silver State Helicopters and was soloing with 30 hours before they closed… how much will it cost to get my private?”   This question is extremely hard to answer as it depends on so many factors. Ideally, you will just need 10 more hours. In that 10 hours, you will get another solo endorsement, and brush up on everything for your checkride.  But if you look deeper into the regulations there are a lot of requirements for your private rating.  

Here’s how the regs read:

• 3 hours of cross-country flight training in a helicopter

• 3 hours of night flight training in a helicopter that includes -

• One cross-country flight of over 50 nautical miles total distance; and

• 10 takeoffs and 10 landings to a full stop (with each landing involving a flight in the traffic pattern) at an airport.

• 3 hours of flight training with an authorized instructor in a helicopter in preparation for the practical test, which must have been performed within the preceding 2 calendar months from the month of the test; and

• 10 hours of solo flight time in a helicopter, consisting of at least -

• 3 hours cross-country time;

• One solo cross country flight of 100 nautical miles total distance, with landings at three points, and one segment of the flight being a straight-line distance of more than 25 nautical miles between the takeoff and landing locations; and

• Three takeoffs and three landings to a full stop (with each landing involving a flight in the traffic pattern) at an airport with an operating control tower.

So, maybe you have 30 hours.. But you still need three hours of cross country, three nights, and four more solo flights. That doesn’t leave any extra time to practice emergency procedures and other more technical aspects of your check ride. Odds are you will need much more flight time to prepare.

Hopefully you are starting to see how difficult it is to give a blanket answer to “how much will X cost”.  Long story short it depends greatly on the individual. If you want your flight training to be as inexpensive as possible there are two things you can do.  First, look into the regulations (part 61) and find out everything you’ll need. Second be motivated to self study the ground knowledge so that you pay as little as possible for ground training.