Helicopter Pilot Training

Private Pilots Licence

Learning to fly helicopters will be one of the most rewarding and satisfying things you do.  It will become addictive, rewarding, challenging and fun.  It is not difficult, but it does take some getting used to, as you will be learning a new skill like learning to ride a bike.  You will probably feel frustrated at some point in the course.  At other times you will be on cloud nine with what you have achieved.  You will almost certainly enjoy the flying most, but do not neglect the ground school which is there to give you essential knowledge.

The first step in learning to fly is known as the Helicopter Private Pilots Licence otherwise know as the PPL (H).  It is the basic licence that allows a person to fly helicopters for his or her own pleasure.  It is also the first step to becoming a commercial helicopter pilot if it is your long term goal to have a career in aviation.

The Course is set out by the CAA (Civil Aviation Authority) as a minimum training course to which all training schools must adhere.  This is now becoming the same licence throughout Europe so you may use it equally in other countries.  The requirements are:

• Minimum age of 17 to log the hours

• 45 hours instruction of which 10 must be solo

• Pass 7 written exams

• Obtain a class 2 medical

• Pass a Radio practical exam

• Pass a flight test

The 45 hours should be viewed as a minimum requirement and the hours required will vary from individual to individual.  The full lesson plan can be viewed in our PPL EBook below.  Your training is divided between actual flying, ground school and home studying.  The subject matter is not difficult it is just all new.

Flight Training

You can learn to fly on what ever aircraft you choose, different aircraft have different characteristics and we offer training on four different types, the R22, R44, H269 and the Bell 206.  You can see more on these aircraft on our Type Rating page.

Our lessons are normally offered in two hour sessions, entirely flexible around your lifestyle.  The courses are not fixed and you can choose to do three lessons a day or one a month.  Each lesson includes one hour of flying and one hour pre- and post-flight briefing.  The aim of the pre-flight briefing is to ensure that you know in detail the flying exercise before it is flown so that there is a greater understanding of the flight to be conducted.  The post-flight briefing gives you the opportunity to discuss in detail with your instructor the exercises you have just performed and are very important.  Many schools will just fly a student as this is the income part of the lesson but equally important is the ground work before and after.  At Phoenix we try to arrange for you to train with one instructor and will not change that unless agreed with you or you don’t mind training with others.

We have also produced a unique training plan based on our experience, with lesson hand outs prior to your lesson which build to cover most aspects of your flying and hopefully will give you a thorough knowledge and understanding of your course.  These are available free from our web site in the downloads section of the student page.  The student page of our web site is designed to give you all the information you need.  We are trying to make it as interactive as possible with weather and information for your flying.  The lessons are downloadable as PDFs or available from your instructor.

Ground School

You will need to learn some technicalities of helicopter flying in order to be a safe and competent pilot.  There are also seven subjects to cover each with a written exam.

• Aviation Law

• Human Performance and Limitations

• Navigation

• Meteorology

• Aircraft (General and Type)

• Aircraft Performance

• Radio Communication

This is not as daunting as it may sound as really aviation is one subject simply divided into several topics.  The exams are multiple choice so they give you the questions and four answers to choose from.  The pass mark is 75% and the papers are done in-house and will be given to you by your instructor when you are ready.  For PPL we tend to tackle the subjects one at a time, moving onto the next once one is done.  You must have passed Air Law before going solo and should have passed both Meteorology and Navigation before your Cross Country qualifier.  In most cases the subjects are directly relevant to your flying so most students find them of interest.

In addition you will take a Radio Telephony Practical test which gives you a licence entitling you to talk on the aviation air waves to Air Traffic Control Services.

Don’t be too put off by the learning.  Remember this is going to become your hobby and we will help you through a programme of guided study recommending which books to buy and discuss the topics with you.  The syllabus is generally fairly straightforward.

Medical Certificate

You must have a medical certificate before you undertake your first solo flight.  It is recommended that you get the certificate very early in the course, or preferably before you start the course.  The certificate must be a CAA Class 2 for PPL and a class 1 for CPL.  If you intend to go to full CPL we recommend you get a Class 1 as you don’t want to spend money only to find later you are colour blind in one spectrum.  The medical is similar to a life insurance medical.  They are really only interested in anything that may incapacitate you suddenly affecting your ability to fly.  The certificate is obtained from specially appointed Aviation Medical Examiners - they are located throughout the country and we can give you the addresses of air medical examiners convenient to your area or if you look up the web link below you should find one close to you.

About Us

Phoenix Helicopter Academy is a relatively new contender recently set up at Goodwood.  Although the school is new the instructors are not.  The company is owned and run by instructors who between us have been in the industry for a long time and have taken the best of our experiences to approach training in a new way.  Our instructors are very experienced and dedicated to instructing.  We try to instil a very personal service where our students are not treated as a number but on a more personal basis.  Flying helicopters either for a hobby or as a career is one of the best things you can do and we believe the training you receive should be of the highest quality and something you will remember forever.

The Costs

Well unfortunately there is nothing cheap about helicopters.  The buying and running costs are very high.  You should budget for around £13,000 upwards for your PPL depending on hours and the aircraft you chose to learn on.  After you have gained your PPL you can simply self fly hire just like you would hire a car.  We have several schemes and prices again designed to be entirely flexible around your needs.  There is no need for a great initial layout as there is no real time limits set in the course.  We do offer discounts for courses ether paid in advance or in bulk lessons of ten. Probably the best start would be the five hour intro course because after these five hours you are normally much better informed on how to proceed with your training.

What To Do Next

It's important that you gather as much information as possible before starting on your PPL, you must be happy with the school, instructors and choice that you have made.

The first step is normally a trial lesson.  It does count towards your PPL and as it’s a one to one with an instructor it is the ideal opportunity to have any questions you may have answered.  We have expanded on the PPL course in our EBook below and further lesson plans can be found in our student page download section.  Hopefully we have answered all your questions but if we can help in any other way please don’t hesitate to contact us.

PPL Training Document

Click the icon below to open up our PPL Training Document