Kenny Keller (HOGS) explains options for helicopter pilots who are struggling to finish ratings or build flight time. He describes using the FAA Airman Certification Standards (ACS) for recent checkrides, current scheduling (May–June largely booked; spots open for July), and time-builder offerings: day trips (e.g., Chicago, Indy, Gross Hill MI), 5- and 10-hour blocks, a 10-hour special that was extended by a student, and a longer 30-hour block reserved by a student. He details an R44 (about 150 hours) kept between checkrides for time-building, checkout/access procedures, instructor support, and promotional terms (no-charge for Keller to accompany for filming). He also promotes HelicopterGround.com (ground school) and the Helicopter Training Blueprint (privateblueprint.com) with a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Questions this video answers
574-767-1797
May 22, 2024
Robinson R44 with about 150 hours
May and June are pretty well booked; spots are available for July
5-hour blocks, 10-hour blocks (including a 10-hour special), and a 30-hour block example
Chapters
Hey, are you struggling finishing up a rating? You can't seem to get an examiner lined up or the aircraft's always broke or the flight schedules constantly book. We have a young man coming out for a cfi. He's been at a flight school for six months trying to complete a cfi. His ground knowledge is excellent, but he can't get on the schedule to fly, so he's coming here for us to finish him up. We've done four commercial rides already this year and yes, Randy, we are using the airman certification standards. So yes, we've tested out four people with the new acs. And guess what? I don't mind it at all. I actually kind of like it over the pts. You know, we normally would like to complain about stuff the FAA does and I think this one actually makes a little bit of sense. So we're using this now, helping people get finished up. If you want to get a checkride, we've got May and June pretty well booked up, but we've got spots now for July. If you want a July checkride, reach out to us. Hogsmember support 574-767-1797 and then we got something else we're going to offer here. Some day trips for rated pilots, kind of a time builder thing. We recently went to Chicago a couple times and realized just how awesome and amazing that is. So we got a special. If you're rated in R44 and qualified, we'll do a flight to Chicago, do a day trip, get you a little cross country chime, give you a good rate on it. So reach out to us about these day trips and we got some other cool places we could go to. We could go down to Indy. And I just did a check right over in Michigan at Gross Hill Airport, an old naval station. And that's really pretty flying up there. There's another one. If you want to build some time, we'll give you a special deal and we'll do some fun trips. And I'm not going to charge you for my time if you let me go along so I can film and do some video and take pictures. That's how we're going to make that kind of a fun special offer. Put some time on the aircraft, generate a little bit of cash flow for the helicopter and get you some flight time. And then time builder specifically, we've been doing some time builder specials. We have, we put out a 10, 10 hour special and we had a gentleman end up going, well, can I get 20? And then he bought another 10. So he's booked up June. So we're kind of liking these time builder specials. If you're working on a rating, we could do a five hour block, we could do a ten hour block. If there's something that you want to do, you want to get accomplished, we know that getting on a schedule, an aircraft is a problem usually, right? So what we do here at Hogs, we do the final approach course where somebody comes in, we work with them usually three to five days, they take a check, right? Then they go home and then the helicopter has a break. So in between our checkrides we have this R44. Very well maintained, has 150 hours on it. Cleanest R44 that you'll fly as far as any used ones out there sits here for a week or two at a time while we're doing other things than catching up on HOGS business. So we've decided this is a pretty good deal for us to generate some revenue for the aircraft while we're having the mechanic come in, take a look at it in between check rides and while we're catching up on HOGS business, the aircraft sits here. So the beauty if you need to build a five hours or 10 hours because you're trying to get an SFAR endorsement or you're trying to build for your commercial, whatever the case is, we know there's always those times where you need to build some time fast. Here sits an aircraft that we can block off for you. The gentleman coming out for 30 hours, he has it blocked off every day for two weeks. So for two weeks he can just. Once we check him out, he's buying some time with instructors first and then he's just going to go fly. And so every day he can have it. He wants to fly morning, evening, nighttime, whatever he wants to do. Once he's checked out, he'll know how to get in the hangar, he'll have access to the aircraft, you'll know how to order fuel and he can just go fly like crazy and burn up that time. So if you're looking for some type of a time builder special again, reach out to us. 574-767-1797 and if you're looking for a ground school, we do helicopter on ground school. That's what we do. Helicopterground.com I'll put that link down below. We help people get through the overwhelm. It's proven. Now out of these last group of students we had come up here, a couple of them struggle pretty hard. They tell me they're ready but then they get here and their knowledge isn't as good as what they think it is. So using this you can help yourself to make sure you have the knowledge. But we know this is a common problem around the country or even probably around the world. Everybody wants to fly, nobody wants to do ground. We can help you with that@helopterground.com with the kind of money that you're spending on your aircraft training, it's a drop in the bucket in the money that it can save you with having videos available to you 24 7. It's a no brainer, an absolute no brainer that comes with the 30 day money back, no hassle guarantee. And if you're brand new to all this, hey we got. Haven't talked about this book in a while. Still pretty proud of it. Helicopter training blueprint. It's privateblueprint.com that will put that link down below. You can get this as a free PDF or you can actually order the physical copy as well. We'll put that link down below as well, so keep it pointing to the wind and we'll see you next video. Peace out.
When you feel the pressure to fly, but know the right decision is to stay on the ground, hit the hogs no go and live to fly another day. Helicopterground.com.
