What can you do with a freshly minted CPL(H)?

General stuff that gets thrown about when Helicopter Pilots shoot the Breeze.
Spry
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What can you do with a freshly minted CPL(H)?

Postby Spry » Wed Jul 9 2003, 17:52

Coming off Koezy's thread about purchasing a tourism business; if for example you have thereabouts 130 hours of flight training under your belt and manage to obtain a CPL(H) is anyone going to let you fly their machines right off the bat (without a more experienced pilot sitting next to you)?

After you get your CPL(H) what is stopping you from asking a local helicopter owner to hire say, one of their R44's, with the purpose of taking paying customers for a joy flight?

Win for owner: money paid for use of helicopter.
Win for new pilot: hours building.

Of course there would be a lot of effort on the part of the new pilot to find paying customers but would the owner frown upon this? Would you be taking business from him or would he be happy that either way he is getting money for use of his helicopter without any hassle of actually employing someone?

I ask because I've been thinking (dreaming) of how to have the ATO help me out with hours building whilst keeping my day job. If I am indeed carrying on a business (joy flights on the weekends) then the hire costs should be tax deductible from my total income (including my day job).

And any flight training I undertake whilst carrying on my joyflight business would be deductible as an education expense. This is my main goal - subsidized training (at least after obtaining a CPL(H) in the first place).

I'd be checking with ATO about the tax questions but what about the idea of private hire of an R44? Would any operator ever do this?

Just wondering. Still only have a single TIF under my belt...
wheatbix
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Re: What can you do with a freshly minted CPL(H)?

Postby wheatbix » Wed Jul 9 2003, 18:22

Spry, it's good thinking but unfortunately there's a few things stopping you.

The first and foremost being that to operate under the charter category (ie taking paying customers) you must have an AOC (Air operators certificate). This means that you either need to find a company who's willing to let you operate under their AOC (and in doing so accept the risk of having you fly under their "banner") or else create your own (=$$$).

You'll also need to find an aircraft owner who's willing to let you loose on their aircraft.

You may be able to fit it under the private category (and therefore not require an AOC) if no-one's making money of it and there's some sort of cost sharing involved.

Either way whatever you come up with i hope it works out 8)
Spry
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Re: What can you do with a freshly minted CPL(H)?

Postby Spry » Wed Jul 9 2003, 19:18

A commercial license does not allow you to do all that much it would seem. :cry:

Well the backup plan would be to convince an operator to "employ" me on the understanding that I would be doing joyflights of which I had drummed up business for myself and be paid on a per flight arrangement - that is no outgoings for him unless I actually bring my own paying customer.

Again though, how many tourism operators would go for something like this? Would they be wanting a full-time employee and me keeping my day job annoy them?

Just canvassing opinions.

Thanks,
Spry.
wilco
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Re: What can you do with a freshly minted CPL(H)?

Postby wilco » Wed Jul 9 2003, 20:59

G'day Spry,
my recommendation, if you want to keep your day job, is to find an operator who will employ low time pilots on a casual basis. These are few and far between however some flight schools will employ ex-students on a casual basis. These jobs quite often involve flying at shows, fairs, fesivals etc. Doing this will mean you are operating under the company's AOC and will be subject to a check ride with the chief pilot and anything else that the company stipulates in their ops manual. Some companies will also employ pilots on a seasonal basis so depending on your other job you may have to look at taking a few months off to go and build some hours. I would also suggest finding a balance between your existing job and that of a pilot. With not much experience in the industry even a few hours of flying can be extremely exhausting and once the mind starts becoming a little bit fuzzy you may get a visit from Mr. C**kup. All the best.
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skypig
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Re: What can you do with a freshly minted CPL(H)?

Postby skypig » Wed Jul 9 2003, 21:06

That should keep Spry busy for a while:
AOC
Chief Pilot
Ops manual
Check ride
Probably not fully covered during the TIF, but hopefully will make sense after gaining a Commercial licence.

SP 8)
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flyguy101
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Re: What can you do with a freshly minted CPL(H)?

Postby flyguy101 » Wed Jul 9 2003, 21:30

Its a nice idea but its like taking on a second job, unpaid, you still need your first paying job.
I found lots of operators quickly forget how hard it is to get hours, and really dont want to know a freshly minted pilot.
its such a pitty

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