YouTube vlog (#81) by Kenny Keller answering a HOGS member who asks about starting a helicopter tour company in an exotic, non‑US country. Kenny gives practical, experience‑based advice: thoroughly research costs (aircraft purchase options—piston vs turbine—insurance, maintenance), local regulations, seasonality and market demand; plan for multiple aircraft and pilots; expect high and sometimes underestimated expenses and be prepared to lose the invested capital. He emphasizes planning, having disposable funds, and that helicopter ventures are expensive and emotionally addictive. The video closes with a short personal anecdote and a subscribe/CTA.
Chapters
Today, work hard. That's the theme for this video. We have a member asking about starting a helicopter company. So we're gonna head outside and do this one on the deck. Good morning, day 81. Copy with Kenny. I am Kenny Keller, Creator Helicopter Airline Ground school. I have a question today from a member who wants to start a helicopter tour company and I'll just say in a rather exotic location. Sounds like a great location. It is in another country. He's one of our private pilot members working on his ratings. Gotta do this video in a hurry today. It's chilly out here, but I wanted to share the sunrise. Another beautiful morning. Oh my God. He's working on his private. Then he's going to pursue instrument and commercial. He says I'm fortunate and blessed to have the opportunity to buy and soon one day start up another business flying. Can you shed some light on my goal here and inform me of some pointers and tips? I also listen to your podcast and will continue to do so. Well, I'll be studying in the meantime. Take care. Thanks again. Okay, can I give you some tips? A lot of you know or may have seen the video in the past where I say, as far as a private individual goes, don't buy a helicopter unless you have money to burn. Okay? I've made that very clear on helicopter ownership. So in general, for the average person, I don't normally think it's a wise move to buy helicopter unless you have disposable income where you can buy the aircraft and it not hurt you. Now, as far as starting a business, he's already a businessman. That's good. He wants to know if I have any tips for him. My tips would be, have you looked into the cost of helicopters? Piston turbine? Have you looked into the cost of insurance? Because insurance is a big one. Have you looked into maintenance cost and the area you're going to be opening up, what local regulations are going to be involved for this country? It's a country other than the US So I have no idea what to tell him on, you know, what legalities of operating a business in that country could be. So I can't give him any advice there. But my advice is research. You're already a businessman. Research, research, research and research and whatever you think it's going to cost you, man, I would probably, I don't know, I guess say double it and that might be exaggerating a little, but helicopters are plain expensive. I think if you were going to go to another country and start a helicopter tour company, I would hope that the bankroll, the money that you have available is a pretty good chunk of money. And again, I would be doing this as this is something that if it fails, it is not going to hurt you in your current position, in your life, with your family, whatever your case is. I would only do it if you can afford to take the hit if the business fails. Now, I'm a dreamer. And again, his idea sounds great and the area he wants to go to sounds great. I would just have to say research, research, research and do more research. Find out everything you can and just think about the fact of how expensive they are. You're going to have to have employees who's going to do your maintenance, what's the insurance going to cost you? What are the seasons in this area where your traffic may be good for rides and, or not. And the other thing that I can think of is back, back when I was running a company, I wasn't doing a tour company, right? I'm trying to run a flight training company in the middle of nowhere, Indiana. So that was against me, right? Who wants to come to Indiana to train? I do have to cut this video short here. So I do have a member coming from Illinois today, but he's coming to fly with me because he's a ground school member and he wants to come here and try the instrument. He's been flying R44. He wants to come try out the instruments. So he's coming for a couple days to fly. Now with that being said, you know, being in an exotic location with a lot of tourism, that would be great. My other tip would be think kind of big. If you're going to dream and you're going to do this, I would say probably more than one aircraft and definitely more than one person flying. A couple of people that could do actual flying for you. There's just so much involved in running a business for any business, right? We know this. Then you put aircraft in the mix and you got to think about the aircraft maintenance, routine maintenance, what happens when the aircraft breaks, unexpected maintenance, something just, you know, happens. So I really wish him luck. I am a dreamer, but my tips would be research and really, really look hard at the numbers and really understand what you're getting yourself into. Plan, plan and plan and plan and have some, whatever money it is you're going to invest, make sure it's money that you could live without. If you've got that kind of money, great. I can tell you when you operate, start operating a helicopter company and it doesn't go as planned. It doesn't go as well as you think that it will. And you get involved and you buy the aircraft. And it was like me when I was in it. I can remember couple years into it, my buddy's going, dump that damn thing. Get rid of that helicopter. And then once you're in, right, you're like, oh, my God, sell my baby. You know, so it's, it's. Helicopters are addictive and I could see someone, you know, sinking yourself into it and then doing like I do, where you just don't want to give up, right? You just don't want to give up. So add your thoughts what you think that this helicopter ground school member should, should look at. What are your thoughts on moving to another country and opening up a tour business and trying to make a go of it? Well, I need to wrap this up because I got to get ready and head to the airport to meet our ground school member. Coming in. Day 81, coffee with Kenny. Thanks everybody for joining. Please subscribe and click the bell. Every single like and subscribe helps. Every single. Comments. We appreciate it very much. Thanks everybody and we'll see you tomorrow in day 82.
