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Professional Pilot Program

The Star Helicopter Professional Pilot Course is for individuals who wish to become career Helicopter Pilots. Unless you are working as a Certified Flight Instructor (CFI or CFII), most companies will not hire you unless you have at least 1000 flight hours Pilot-in-Command (PIC). You need close to 800 more flight hours as PIC to reach the golden 1000 hour mark after you earn your CFI rating. To obtain the additional 800 hours of PIC flight experience you can realistically expect to spend close to $200,000.00 dollars of helicopter rental time, and you will not have the same experience level as a pilot who obtained his 1000 hours as a working CFI. So for those of us who are not independently wealthy and want the best real world flight experience possible, we designed our Professional Pilot Course.
Our Professional Pilot Course provides you with the license and ratings needed to be employed as a CFI working for Star Helicopters, which then enables you to gain hours and experience as an instructor, tour pilot and be assigned commercial flights to reach the desired 1000 hours PIC. It generally takes about 18 months of instructing and commercial pilot flights before reaching approximately 1000 Pilot in Command (PIC) hours.
Many of the students at Star Helicopters want to take the maximum training possible to give them a true competitive advantage. Furthermore, they want to maximize the benefit they receive for the money they spend. For this reason, Star Helicopters has developed the Professional Pilot Program, a comprehensive curriculum of ground and flight instruction designed for the serious student with little or no flight experience.
This challenging program is tailored to each student’s career ambitions, and will provide the training and flight experience required to complete most or all of the following courses:
• Private Pilot
• Instrument Rating (Is an optional rating)
• Commercial Pilot
• Certified Flight Instructor – CFI
• Certified Flight Instructor – Instrument – CFII (Is an optional rating)
Star Helicopters can give you more training at little additional expense. For example, by completing your instrument rating prior to the commercial examination you will save money. This is because those hours will count towards the 150 hours required for your commercial certificate.
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Our Employment Guarantee

You successfully complete our Professional Pilot Course and your Hired! (See Restrictions Below)
The advantage to our Professional Pilot Program graduates is that it is our goal to hire all of our students to work as a CFI for Star Helicopters upon graduation. You will be trained and mentored throughout your training towards the successful completion of all of your certificates. Upon graduation from our program you are a professional pilot and you will be hired by us. (See Restrictions Below)

Privileges and Limitations

Commercial Pilot Program is oriented toward the student who wishes to make a career as a helicopter pilot. The syllabus is designed to prepare you for the practical demands of professional flying. The certificate you obtain at the end of this course will qualify you to fly most of the commonly-used civilian helicopters. The Commercial Helicopter Pilot license allows you to fly a helicopter and carry passengers and baggage for compensation or hire.

How Long Will It Take?

When maintaining a full-time schedule, completion of training should take about 12 – 18 months. After successfully completing our Professional Pilot Course, the next step would be to work as a Certified Fight Instructor (CFI), earning a wage and acquiring hours at no cost (unless you are doing additional training for your own benefit).

Eligibility Requirements

  • Be at least 17 years of age at the time of your FAA Private Pilot examination
  • Be at least 18 years of age at the time of your FAA Commercial Pilot examination
  • Be able to read, speak, write and understand the English language
  • Hold an FAA Class II medical certificate
  • Pass 6 FAA written examinations
  • Pass 5 FAA Oral examinations
  • Pass 5 FAA Practical Flight tests
  • Obtain 200 hours of flight time of which 100 hours are logged as PIC (pilot-in-command) and 50 hours must be in helicopters

FAA Professional Pilot Aeronautical Experience Requirements

  • 150 hours Dual flight training – R22 (Flight training 50 hrs IFR, 20 hrs CFI, 20 Hrs CFII & 5 hrs R44)
  • R22 PIC sign off
  • 30 hours Solo – R22
  • R44 PIC sign off
  • 200 hours ground training
  • Books and Supplies
  • Pilot aids
  • 5 FAA Practical Test / Examiner Fee’s (PPL, CPL, IR, CFI, CFII)
  • 5 FAA Practical Test’s – 1.5 hour rental (PPL, CPL, IR, CFI, CFII)
  • 6 FAA Written Exam’s (PPL, CPL, IR, CFI, FOI, CFII)
  • Solo Insurance
  • Medical Class II
  • Robinson Factory Safety Course
  • R22 Instructor Endorsement
  • R44 Instructor Endorsement

Medical Requirements

Prior to your first solo flight you must obtain a Class II Medical Certificate and Student Pilot Certificate. It is our belief that you should obtain your Medical Certificate as soon as you decide to train in our Professional Pilot Program. In the unlikely event that you are not able to pass the medical exam you will not have spent your time and money on training. Your instructor will assist you in finding an appropriately-certified physician to administer the necessary examination.

Employment Restrictions

We are committed to the goal of hiring each of our Professional Pilot Program graduates. We take flying seriously and expect nothing less from our Students and potential Pilots.

There are responsibilities that we expect each of our students to adhere to as well as rules imposed by the FAA. Your Flight Instructor will mentor and guide you throughout your training to insure your success with us. You will always know where you stand with us. Our doors are always open to assist you. We want you to succeed and we will offer suggestions and help along the way to help you achieve your Professional Pilot goals. Your successful completion of our program starts you on your Professional Pilot journey and gives us another well trained Professional Pilot!

Consider your training period to be a yearlong interview with us. At any time that you do not conduct yourself in a professional and safe manner, your flight instructor will consult with you. Depending on the severity of the incident, you may receive additional training, an incident report in your training packet or termination from the Professional Pilot Program.

Attendance, although we do not have a fixed schedule and training is at your own time and pace, we won’t tolerate excessive no-shows to the training that you have scheduled. We expect a 24 hour notice of cancellation, unless you have an emergency. We figure if a student repeatedly fails to show up for their training, they may repeatedly fail to show up for work.

If you have an attitude or personality that rubs everyone the wrong way, you probably won’t fit into our company! If you have an issue with a particular instructor of ours, we will make arrangements for you to train with another instructor.

Once you complete your Private Pilot training you will be asked to take a pre-employment drug screening and be enrolled in our FAA random drug testing program. If you fail the initial drug screening or any random test, you will be terminated from our program immediately.

Alcohol abuse and use is not tolerated by us or the FAA while you are training. What does that statement mean to you? The FAA rule is no alcohol within 8 hours of Piloting an Aircraft, while under the influence of alcohol or a blood alcohol level of 0.04 or greater. As Professional Pilots we follow the 24 hours from bottle to throttle rule of common sense.

DUI, if you receive a DUI during your training, your Medical will be revoked by the FAA and you have basically ruined your chances at becoming a Professional Pilot for years and you will be terminated from our training program.