I'm asking for fellow helicopter pilots to give some much needed advice. I feel like approach has vectored me out and forgot to set me up on a final approach course, so there I am, just heading further and further away.
I finished my CFII last June from a well respected company called Northeast Helicopters in Connecticut. Great company with great instructors. They weren't hiring at the time I finished, as every pilot knows hiring season begins around March, so I ended up leaving my wife and kid for a little bit to fly with a friend in Florida (who no longer is there). That was short lived but gave me some tour experience and some time in an R44, unfortunately, only ended up with like 7 hours. When I got home, I quietly traveled and introduced and interviewed at some companies in the New England and tri state area. Nothing really came of any of it but didn't want to entirely really on Northeast to hire me when the time came.
Anyway, Christmas time comes around and come to find the chief pilot at Northeast hired a flight instructor who had just finished. Undeterred, I would visit the school often and make a point to sit down and make friendly talk with the chief pilot. He would inform me that I would just need to stand by and wait for the call to have me come in to get hired. Excited, since I knew 2-3 more instructors were leaving, I patiently waited but still quietly interviewed at other places. In January I find out the chief pilot once again, just hired another new instructor who had JUST finished. Now, I see a pattern and come to realize the pilot has a bug up his ass about me. Come to find out, my quiet interviewing wasn't quiet and he didn't appreciate that. as well, my legacy of real steep approaches and doing small confined areas (within the margin of safety of course) spread through out the school and now the instructors were at a race to to contend with my legacy creating what he thought to be chaos and he was losing control. The chief pilot, who was a navy seamen and I...a Recon Marine, are at an impasse now. I may have voiced my opinion shortly there after finding out. The chief pilot hasn't ever flown in the real industry since he went from being a student there to being an assistant chief when he finished CFII. I use to actually train along side him. No its funny, I have less hours but more experience.
I just need some advise or help here. It has taken me 5 years and close to $200,000 to get where I am at. I don't want to just throw that away. My problem is I'm at 345 hours, not enough to get a shit tour job which require 500 hours. The other problem is I only have 7 hours in an R44 and I need 25 to teach in it and that's what 95% of the schools use now. So, it turns out I'm just short of the hours needed to get hired pretty much anywhere. I have looked into leasing an aircraft and trying to start a small flight instruction school but that's not feasible and I have looked into renting an aircraft but at $500/hour, I just don't have $8,000 lying around. Co-pilot positions don't give me PIC time and if they do, I don't have the hours to qualify for those.
Any advise or help would be much appreciated. Thanks....
Tony
I finished my CFII last June from a well respected company called Northeast Helicopters in Connecticut. Great company with great instructors. They weren't hiring at the time I finished, as every pilot knows hiring season begins around March, so I ended up leaving my wife and kid for a little bit to fly with a friend in Florida (who no longer is there). That was short lived but gave me some tour experience and some time in an R44, unfortunately, only ended up with like 7 hours. When I got home, I quietly traveled and introduced and interviewed at some companies in the New England and tri state area. Nothing really came of any of it but didn't want to entirely really on Northeast to hire me when the time came.
Anyway, Christmas time comes around and come to find the chief pilot at Northeast hired a flight instructor who had just finished. Undeterred, I would visit the school often and make a point to sit down and make friendly talk with the chief pilot. He would inform me that I would just need to stand by and wait for the call to have me come in to get hired. Excited, since I knew 2-3 more instructors were leaving, I patiently waited but still quietly interviewed at other places. In January I find out the chief pilot once again, just hired another new instructor who had JUST finished. Now, I see a pattern and come to realize the pilot has a bug up his ass about me. Come to find out, my quiet interviewing wasn't quiet and he didn't appreciate that. as well, my legacy of real steep approaches and doing small confined areas (within the margin of safety of course) spread through out the school and now the instructors were at a race to to contend with my legacy creating what he thought to be chaos and he was losing control. The chief pilot, who was a navy seamen and I...a Recon Marine, are at an impasse now. I may have voiced my opinion shortly there after finding out. The chief pilot hasn't ever flown in the real industry since he went from being a student there to being an assistant chief when he finished CFII. I use to actually train along side him. No its funny, I have less hours but more experience.
I just need some advise or help here. It has taken me 5 years and close to $200,000 to get where I am at. I don't want to just throw that away. My problem is I'm at 345 hours, not enough to get a shit tour job which require 500 hours. The other problem is I only have 7 hours in an R44 and I need 25 to teach in it and that's what 95% of the schools use now. So, it turns out I'm just short of the hours needed to get hired pretty much anywhere. I have looked into leasing an aircraft and trying to start a small flight instruction school but that's not feasible and I have looked into renting an aircraft but at $500/hour, I just don't have $8,000 lying around. Co-pilot positions don't give me PIC time and if they do, I don't have the hours to qualify for those.
Any advise or help would be much appreciated. Thanks....
Tony
