Becoming a Professional Helicopter Pilot
Here we are finally at the courses for the commercial helicopter pilot license, also called CPL = commercial pilot license, the license reserved for young people over 18 years of age that allows them to become professionals in commercial aviation.
As we saw in the previous tutorial, there are two methods to obtain this title. Let’s go step by step and start with the modular course.
This course is built with “modular” modules. Each module ends with the achievement of a title or qualification or an experience prerequisite for the next module.
Let’s describe the various steps:
FIRST MODULE
The first is the private pilot license, which we have already talked about extensively and which allows you to fly for non-commercial purposes with any means for which you have obtained the qualification.
SECOND MODULE
The second module is called “hour building” (or “filling” in Italian) and is not a real training phase but is used to allow you to accumulate the experience necessary to have access to the next steps, i.e. 150 total flight hours of which at least 70 hours of solo flight (they are called “PIC hours” in jargon because you will be the Pilot in Command and there will be no instructor on board).
Small note: the regulation only provides for 50, but it is always better to reach at least 70 to be able to eventually also do the instrument flight qualification on twin-engine helicopters and obtain the night flight qualification which is a prerequisite for the final exam. Write down this information for when you look at the specific module for this qualification.
It is very important to be followed by a flight school for this phase, because theoretically you could also rely on an aeroclub, buy 70 flight hours and fly when and how you want. However, if you want to arrive prepared for the subsequent phases it is better to follow the advice of a school and also grow qualitatively as well as in terms of the quantity of “logged” hours (i.e. written in the flight booklet, the logbook). The aircraft used can be of any type, normally the cheapest you can find on the market since you will have to fly it for practically half of your training.
While you accumulate the experience of the 150 flight hours, you can in the meantime attend the theoretical course, which normally lasts between 9 and 12 months and covers all the subjects that you have already attended during the PPL, even if some subjects are further divided to be studied in more depth and therefore the final exams are no longer 9 as for the PPL but are more. Everything is in English: the books, the manuals, the slides, the exams and therefore it is essential to have a good knowledge of the language, not only to speak on the radio but to get by in any situation, in fact, in addition to the radiotelephony exam in English, you will also have to take an exam called English for aviation, which consists of an interview with an examiner to whom you will have to demonstrate that you have reached a minimum level of knowledge called ICAO level 4. There will be a dedicated tutorial later.
THIRD MODULE
Once you have reached 150 total flight hours, you will be able to access the last module which concerns the preparation for the final CPL exam and the night flight qualification and consists of 30 flight hours during the day and 5 at night with an instructor where you will essentially repeat all the PPL maneuvers but with much more precision and the instructor will require that your decision making refers to commercial and not private operations.
An important thing regarding the parallel progression between theory and practice is that once you have finished the CPL or ATPL exams, you will have 36 months to take the practical exam, so it is necessary to decide to start the exams when you can plan – also economically – the practical part within the limits.
MODULAR COURSE CONCLUSION
Now you have completed your course and you are a professional pilot and to add appeal to your CV you can obtain qualifications on the new types (which as we have already said, helicopters are different from each other) or attend online theoretical courses of specializations in safety, security, dangerous goods, etc…. or, obtain the instrument flight qualification and attend the MCC (multi crew coordination) course which will serve to have the title to fly as a co-pilot in a multi-crew.
Without this course (MCC) you will never be able to be a co-pilot in companies that do helicopter rescue for example or transport on off-shore platforms.
Returning to the theoretical course, there are two types of courses that you can take: the CPL or ATPL course. What is the difference?
That in the ATPL course (air transport pilot license, or the airline pilot license that we hear so much about and for which we have a dedicated turial) the CPL theoretical course is included and also the theoretical course for the instrument flight qualification.
Now, as already said, for a helicopter pilot the instrument flight qualification is not as essential as for an airplane pilot, however if in the future you wanted to obtain this qualification, by doing this course you will have already fulfilled the theoretical part and you will only have to do the practical part. If instead you follow a CPL theoretical course, you will have to re-attend another theoretical course and another round of exams!
So, in any case, even for a helicopter pilot, it is recommended to do the ATPL course.
The theoretical course in the classroom consists of 250 hours in the classroom for the CPL and 650 hours for the ATPL, however you can also follow distance learning courses that must then be completed with a classroom part that normally consists of 10% of the total. Not all schools are certified for distance learning and as we have already mentioned for the PPL they must rely on certified platforms.
THEORETICAL EXAMS
For the theoretical exams, in Italy they are organized in two ENAC locations set up specifically for this purpose, one in Rome at the ENAC headquarters near Termini station and the other in Malpensa, at the airport.
Every month, alternately in one location or the other, an exam session is organized that lasts a week. As for the PPL, you can go to the ENAC website and check the dates of each session. Each week is always organized with the same exams on the same days, so that each candidate already knows on that specific day, the subjects that they can bring.
The cost is around 100 Euros per day regardless of the exams you bring and therefore it is always better to try to fill the whole day otherwise it could cost you 3 times as much.
It is also important to keep in mind that each candidate has three limits:
What if you slip up? You have to retake all the exams from the beginning!
Abroad the sessions are organised differently and a student could decide to go and take the exams in a foreign school (it seems like science fiction for Italy but abroad the flight schools organise the exam days and it is the authority that goes to them and not vice versa!) however even when going abroad the three constraints we have mentioned remain so be careful to plan your sessions well.
The exams must be completed before being presented for the practical exams, however remember that it is always better to complete them before starting the next phase.
Each module we have described can be done in different schools: you can get the PPL in Italy, the hour building in Austria, the theoretical exams in Germany and the practical part in Sweden.
For each module you will have a European certificate that will give you the freedom to move where you think best, or to interrupt the course for a period of time – perhaps to find the economic resources necessary to continue – or to give priority to other aspects of your private life. The important thing is to put all the pieces together and respect the preparatory nature of the steps and the prerequisites.
The advice we want to give you is to do most of your training in a single school and not to dilute it over too many years, because it is important to be followed continuously throughout the course and to give consistency to your progress.
Now let’s move on to the integrated courses.
If you check the regulations you will find three types of courses:
In this case the regulation is very difficult because it was a copy-paste of the airplane regulation (they basically changed the A of airplane with the H of helicopter) without taking into account many peculiar aspects of the rotary wing.
In fact, these courses are difficult to put into practice from an educational point of view because the qualification for a twin-engine (ME: multi-engine) turbine helicopter is not trivial and in the ATP course there are even discounts in flight hours compared to a normal course, so if in a modular course you will do this qualification at the end of the entire course when you have almost 200 flight hours (and it will still be very difficult) in the ATP courses you would do it with half the experience and with fewer hours of training… okay, it is cheaper, but on a training level it doesn’t make much sense.
ADVICE So the advice of the schools is normally to enroll in an ATP course to be able to attend the ATPL theoretical course which is very important as a theoretical requirement but then at the end of the practical course, give up the instrument flight part with twin-engine, possibly postponing it after obtaining the license, with a little more experience and a few more hours of training. In this way, by giving up part of the training but reaching at least 135 flight hours, you will be able to request a downgrade to the CPL exam on single-engine, which is the best solution. In the next tutorial we will explain how to proceed with the instrument flight qualification separately. After this somewhat complex preamble, let’s get to the heart of the course.
FULL THROTTLE!
As already explained in the previous tutorial, the integrated courses start immediately in “full blast!” mode.
You need to be convinced to enter this world, know definitively that you want to become a professional and have the financial resources to complete everything in 24 or 36 months depending on the course you choose. This is the time limit imposed by EASA and if you exceed it, you will have to do additional training that the school will determine depending on your path.
THEORETICAL COURSE
So we start immediately with the CPL or ATPL theoretical course, without ifs or buts, and we delve into the subjects in a specific way, in English and with other students who may already have experience in the world of aviation.
Some schools, to overcome this gap, organize preparatory courses in order to standardize the level of the classes. The theoretical exams are held in the same way as those for the integrated course because the qualification acquired will be exactly the same, even if taken with two different paths.
You will start your flight hours right away and you will have to carry out the practical part in parallel with the theoretical part, including exam periods, summer, winter… no type of break is included in the package!
The activity will no longer be divided into modules but into phases that the school will communicate to you, and between one and the other you will not obtain any qualification. If you decide to change school, your experience can only be recognized if the new school accepts the standards achieved in the previous school.
Up to this point we have mentioned the critical points, however we do not want to demonize this course, but to make you realize how necessary it is to apply yourself. Obviously, you will come out of this course with an absolute preparation given that in a few months you will have absorbed without wasting time all the notions you need to know, you will have immersed yourself in the aeronautical world up to your neck and you will not have wasted time on anything else.
At the end of the integrated course, the qualification you will have acquired is the same as that of the modular one, so if you think you have the requirements and the tenacity for this type of course, dive in and don’t waste time.
If instead you want to evaluate step by step whether this is the right life for you, you want to take more time to fulfill the economic commitments of this enterprise and you don’t have time to follow a full-time course…. go back to the modular one!
In any case, once you have completed the course, whether modular or integrated, you will have become a professional pilot in all respects!
Licenses issued after 2014, as we have already described in the PPL license tutorial, are valid throughout the European Union (plus some neighboring countries that have adhered to European aviation regulations) and never expire. It is an acquired qualification, like a diploma or a degree.
Obviously, if you do not fly for a certain period of time, you will have to return to a flight school and fly with an instructor before you can fly alone again. In the next tutorials, we will give you all the information on validity, maintenance and possible reinstatement after expiration.
COSTS
As for costs, it depends a lot on the course you want to attend and especially whether you want to get the instrument flight qualification or not. In the next tutorials, there will be some more explanation because first we have to explain some other details.
This tutorial was very intense and full of notions… we recommend that you watch it at least a couple more times, take notes and then contact us if you still have doubts.
If you have any questions or curiosities, fill out the information request form.
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