About Helicopter Flight School

Helicopter flight school has a variety of different avenues that you may want to consider before paying the $10,000 to $70,000 that it costs in order to learn to fly. A medical examination is the first step that is required to ensure that you are in a healthy condition to be licensed, upon completion of your course.

In the US, there are two types of approved helicopter flight schools, Part 61 and Part 141. The difference in the two schools is that Part 141 has a certain formula for teaching their students to fly and the training program has been inspected and approved by the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration).

Aside of passing the medical examination, you must be at least seventeen years of age and you must be able to read, write, and speak English fluently.

There are a few different types of license that you can obtain:

• Private Pilot License (PPL) - entry level qualification for private purposes (i.e. friends, family, and colleagues)


• Commercial Pilots License (CPL) - standard professional license


• Airline Transport Pilots License (ATPL) - senior license that most professional pilots will want to obtain


• JAR (Joint Aviation Regulations) - European based licensing. You must convert/change to this type of licensing in order to have the authority to fly commercially over Europe

Written examinations are required for each sector of licensing. Each license has a required amount of hours for class work as well as actual flying time. The hours required for licensing, depending upon which course you are taking, can range from 40 hours to over 150.