Big North Sea operators such as Bristow Helicopters - at a time when it appeared that the industry was going to expand rapidly - sponsored ab initio helicopter training for Sikorsky S-61 first officers. Now few, including Bristow, sponsor training. Oxford, UK-based McAlpine Helicopters sales manager David Lewis, who came into the industry through Bristow pilot training in 1974 and has worked in both North Sea and corporate helicopter pilot roles before joining his present company, says the shortage of top-end helicopter pilot experience is sufficient to warrant government intervention. The military supply is no longer enough, he adds, and too many pilots move to airlines. Although high-hour captains on the North Sea can now earn similar salaries to those of Boeing 737 captains, that is as high as a helicopter pilot can go. So if they are looking for further monetary reward they can only move to fixed-wing operations.
The cost of training as a helicopter pilot, and of gaining a helicopter instrument rating (IR), is higher than that for a fixed-wing pilot, largely because time on flight-training devices and simulators does not earn any reduction in flight hours. All they can be used for is cockpit and procedures familiarisation to enable flight hours to be used more effectively. Even for a military helicopter pilot with 3,500h and a full military IR, conversion to the European Joint Aviation Authorities civil licence/IR costs about £20,000 ($33,000). This is not a field into which would-be ab-initio pilots are going to venture without industry financial assistance, and many military pilots elect to convert to fixed wing. Police services are increasing their use of helicopters and therefore their uptake of helicopter pilots, but they are assuming that they can buy experience. They cannot go on assuming the supply will always be there, says Lewis.
Meanwhile, the helicopter training schools find that the work they do is a combination of preparing owner-drivers for their private pilot's licence, former military personnel aiming for civil ratings, and working for a few operating companies that may have dropped sponsoring ab-initio training but that will pay for a pilot to train for an IR if they have to.
Source: Flight International
