A short YouTube episode (Kenny Keller) addressing a viewer question: can new private helicopter pilots rent school aircraft after completing training? The hosts explain that many flight schools or owners decline rentals post-certification primarily because of insurance and liability—train-only policies can be cheaper and more restrictive. They discuss renters insurance (roughly $1,000–$1,100/year cited), share personal insurance anecdotes (speaker paid ~$18,000/year initially then later ~$10,000/year), and note insurer demands (e.g., requiring 350 hours before adding a recent CFI to a policy). The episode closes with a downloadable Helicopter Maneuver Guide and channel CTA.
Questions this video answers
January 22, 2021
About $1,000–$1,100 per year
About $18,000 per year
About $10,000 per year
350 hours
Chapters
Oh, well, don't mind me on the numbers.
They'll figure it out.
I should just stop saying the numbers in case I gotta move them around.
There you go.
All right. Next episode as promised for hogs Daily brief helicopter rental after training. This came from a member since we started this series, seven, eight, nine, nine days ago. And they said, hey, could you do a video on renting a helicopter after training, meaning after you're getting your license, license. And they put parentheses in their, in their comment. Very discouraging. I'm pretty sure I know what that means. A lot of times flight schools, well do the dual training with you. They'll let you solo the helicopter for the time that you need. They'll help you do the dual training, finish up your license and you're a brand new private pilot. And then guess what, they won't rent the helicopter to you. The reason I think that is done is because some guys get a break on their insurance policy if they tell the insurance company, hey, we're just going to do training, we're going to let them solo, but we're not going to do a rental. Because once you're renting, you're still kind of under the supervision of the flight school, but you're then a rated pilot. You can make decisions on when you're going to fly, where you're going to go, what you're going to do. So companies, one, they may not want to pay the extra insurance to allow you to solo. Two, they don't want the liability of what you're going to do with their aircraft once you become a rated PIL and you go out and start flying. So that's my gut instinct on you know why this person said, very discouraging. I get it. When I owned an aircraft, I had the full blown policy. I could do whatever I wanted. And we soloed people because I didn't think it was fair to train someone, get them all the way through the radio and go, oh, but sorry, we're not going to rent our aircraft to you. What do you think about the rental idea?
You know, honestly, I haven't looked into many of the flight schools, but I.
Believe.
I would think that the bigger ones would allow you to do that.
Sure.
But I, but I do know when I first started off, I mean, I think Kenny's told the story before. I didn't start with Kenny. Kenny became my primary, but I started with another, I should say company, but it was only technically one guy and one aircraft. I started with that person and he was, he was hang on let me get rid of this static 200 he was straight up with me. He told me from day one that he wasn't going to rent the air. And I thought well, after my, you know, after I got my, my rating I said well that's several hours later. I mean I'll think about that later. But it was a concern to me because I obviously wanted to rent and fly on my own and take friends and family and build time for commercial and that kind of stuff. So you know, I was a little shocked by that because I think it's kind of expected for airplanes that you can rent a 172 after you, you know, do your training or whatever.
Sure.
But yeah, so I would say, you know, they need to be upfront with you from the get go. You know, they need to, they shouldn't be surprised at the end of your training that you come there, rent and they go we don't do that. They should be up front with you on that. And I think I agree with you. I think it all comes down to the insurance. And you know, you can, you know, you'll find that we're going to talk more about it later that you know, once you start putting instruction on your policy and then and or renting to a 50 hour pilot, the insurance just skyrockets.
Yes.
So I think a lot of that is, is the liability and the insurance reasons why they don't do that.
Exactly, exactly right. A private owner will say hey I got this helicopter, you want to use it for training? Yeah, sure. We'll still got a lease agreement. And then that blows their minds when they check with their insurance company and to do training there's there it skyrockets. So insurance is a big one. I have an older video that I'll put down below where we go in detail on it. But you know, the second question was from a person wanting to buy helicopter. I want to know all about R22 ownership and insurance. Do your research because as we're telling you, every single insurance company has different policies we're going to cover another video later on solo insurance. It just every single situation is different on the pilot, on the aircraft, on the company. And there's a many insurers out there and you'll be surprised at how the differences are sometimes between insurance companies. So what's an R22 going to cost you? I don't know. My insurance for my instrument. The first insurance company I had was $18,000 a year.
Holy cow.
And then I got a better deal later down the road for 10 grand a year. And the one at 18,000 was super restrictive. And we want to tell this story. Houser did his private commercial CFI with me. He got his instructor rating. I want to put him on the insurance. And the insurance company said, well, have him go get 350 hours and make a model and we'll put him on your policy. And I blew up. I lost my mind. I went, I'm paying you $18,000 a year. I'm listed on for your company as a check pilot and someone that I trained. Are you kidding me? I freaking blew up. I lost my mind. Thank God. Another operator said, kenny, call this guy. To this day, we're better this great friends. This insurance man said he gave me a policy for ten grand a year. He's like, kenny, you can hire whoever you want. Just send us their info. Want to put Chris on whoever send us their pilot info and you're ready to go as the underwriter, we're not going to tell you you got to have 350 hours for the guy that you just trained.
That's just ridiculous.
So the number of scenarios you can run into with insurance, that's why you have to check into it for your, your situation. And you brought up something. Renters insurance. Renters insurance, yes.
So for sweet aviation, we require our students to have renters insurance. And it is. And the helicopter insurance is, it's going to cost you. I, I haven't checked into it because obviously I work for the company, so I'm insured there. But I believe it's going to, it's right around a thousand to eleven hundred a year to get helicopters, renters insurance. So that means for us, you solo our aircraft and before you solo the G2, you have to have helicopters, renters insurance. And I think it's going to cost like 1100 a year. So because I know it's, it's roughly almost 100 bucks a month.
Sure. That you have to pay. So I'm glad you brought that up. I've never had to get it. The schools I trained at, they didn't require it. I didn't require it. And I made sure with my insurance company, like, I don't have to have. They don't have that marriage insurance, right? No, absolutely not. But that situation could be different anywhere you go. So again, do your research. And that's something you want to pose to a flight school when you start. Am I going to need rent? Can I solo? Can I rent? And are you going to insure me after another part of doing your research. All right, we better roll on. Get rolling on the next one.
So.
Hey. Helicopter Maneuver Guide Down Below. It's free. You can download it. It's got all the maneuvers as per the Helicopter Flying Handbook. It's a cool download. Down below. Subscribe the channel, click the bell, and we'll see you tomorrow. For helicopter helmets, the member question. What's the deal with Hel? Should I wear a helmet tomorrow? Peace out. These are getting lengthy.
