pyrodood

I am very interested in pursuing a career as a professional helicopter
pilot.

I have been checking into schools. I have found two that are the
closest to me about 1-1.5 hrs away from where i live.

Silver State Helicopters, Los Banos, CA
Helicopter Adventures, Inc., Concord, CA

I was looking for opinions on these schools. If you've attended
either school i would appreciate your feedback on their program. Also
if you have any knowledge about either school and/or which one would
be a better choice, i would greatly apreciate that as well.

Thank you.

JOHN

P.S. I am 20 years old. Am 6'3", and weigh around 185 lbs.

selwaykid

John
I don't know if Helicopter Adventures is still operating at Concord? I
thought they moved the entire operation to Florida. If they haven't, I
recommend them with no hesitation. I don't know anything about the
Silver State operation at Los Banos. The company has been around for a
while but they were not in Los Banos when I was crop dusting there a
few years back - with helicopters.
Another company you might consider if you have to move to train,
Vortex Helicopters in Mississippi.
With the expense involved, take your time and check out anyone you
train with very carefully. Getting the ratings are easy compared to
getting gainful employment afterwards. A low time helicopter pilot is
not that attractive to most companies due to insurance demands and
costs. That is a fact more so for helicopter than fixed wing.
Ol Shy & Bashful - 21,000 hours and about to retire from the cockpit

kathryn & stuart fields

John: I tried HAI when they were in Concord. I had already been flying my
Safari helo. In 6 hrs in the HAI Schweitzer 300CB I had no confidence that
I could even hover the thing. I think that the instructor was on the
controls all the time. All of their instructors were foreigners, mainly
interested in building time so they could go somewhere else, and I had some
communication problems with one from the UK. I went to Zemlock Helicopters
in Chino Ca and the first thing the instructor did was put his full coffee
cup on the floor of the Bell 47 and tell me not to spill it. I had the
controls from the get-go and knew that I could at least hover the thing in a
few minutes. Also the rates at Chino were the cheapest I've found anywhere:
$150/hr dual. Mike Zemlock has trained a bunch of the helicopter pilots in
the LA area. Ken Brock of the gyrocopter fame told me that if you learned
to fly with Zemlock you would never die in a helicopter. ( I thought that
maybe it was because Mike would scare you out of ever getting in one again,
but that was not the case) Still flying the Safari and will take brush ups
with Mike anytime. BTW Zemlock likes to teach....
Stu Fields