Helicopter Training
The Helicopter is very probably the most versatile and useful piece of machinery in the world, from the time of Leonardo Di Vinci's first drawings to Igor Sikorsky's first production helicopter these machines have been a source of inspiration and wonderment to man.
Helicopter Training is a very rewarding and challenging undertaking, whether it be for pleasure in the form of a private helicopter license or a commercial license for someone looking for a career in the industry.
The first step to a Helicopter license is a Trial Introductory Flight (TIF), if you have never been in a helicopter before this will give you an indication of whether or not you wish to continue training, during you TIF you will be give the controls and be shown basic helicopter manoeuvres, it is not a lesson and there are no expectations on you.
Anybody can Learn to Fly a helicopter, it just takes basic coordination skills and patience, it is no harder than driving a manual car for the first time. Obviously it can be unforgiving when a mistake is made, that is why you can only be trained by qualified Instructor and you will not be allowed to fly solo until your instructor considers you competent enough to do so.
Once you have decided that helicopter flying is definitely for you the next step is to obtain an aviation medical, I recommend you do this before you begin training just in case you may be deemed medically unfit to hold a pilots license, if this is the case you can still fly but you will always need a safety pilot or alternatively you may be deemed fit but have restrictions placed on your license.
With your TIF and medical out of the way you can get on with the business end of your flight training...almost, firstly though there is the small issue of exams, 7 subjects in total, at private license level these are fairly straight forward, the commercial exams are on the same subjects but cover them more thoroughly. You need a pass mark of 70% or better in all of these exams except Flight Rules and Air Law where 80% is the minimum required. Again anybody can achieve the required marks in these exams, some just have to work harder than others to get them. It is not a requirement to do the theory exams before you begin flying and in fact it is helpful to have ten or so hours of flying under your belt to understand the practicality of flight, I only recommend getting the exams out of the way in order for you to concentrate one hundred percent on your flying.
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