Kenny Keller and Chris break down how long it takes to solo a helicopter. Insurance and manufacturer rules set minimums, but students typically solo between 10 and 15 hours, though some do it in as few as 6 or 7. A Robinson SVR usually requires 20 hours.
Questions this video answers
At least 20 hours of dual before a non-rated pilot may solo (Robinson SVR).
Insurers often require around 20 hours; one person reported an insurer requiring 25 hours.
Some students have been ready to solo in as little as 6–7 hours.
A common/average range of about 10–15 hours.
Approximately 10–12 hours for non-rated pilots at Sweet Aviation (G2).
Chapters
Or, you know, whatever. Our next.
Our Next. Our next 10 videos could be a week of Kenny and Chris's, Right?
Exactly.
A week of our mistakes.
Yeah. Learn from us. Don't do this.
That's good. We'll do that.
Something like that. So, yeah, we'll do that.
All right. Welcome back to the Hogs daily flight brief. Today we're going to talk about helicopter solo. Before we get to that, there's a free PDF down below for helicopter maneuver guide that we put together. That's down below. Do us a favor, subscribe to the channel and click that little bell so you're notified of our upcoming videos. Doing a lot of fun stuff. A lot of good comments going down below in the comments below. So we want. Chris brought this one up. I remember he said, let's talk about how long to solo and we can talk a little bit up, you know, anything. But the first thing comes to my mind is a lot of times insurance will require a number for solo. So you're first off, you're going to check with the insurance company whether you're a private owner, you're going to flight school. A lot of times it's 20 hours. I had a guy the other day just told me his insurance company wanted 25 hours before he could solo. And he has helicopter time and he's got airplane time, you know, 25 before you can solo. There are times when you're not restricted by insurance and there's people who sold a helicopter, you know, 10, 12, 15 hours, and then you've got like the Robinson that has. That's 20 hours before you can solo Robinson. You gotta have 20. So first off, how long is it gonna take me or kind of, what's the minimum or what's required? It's gonna depend on insurance, flight school. It can depend on a number of different factors, but a good general number somewhere around the 20 mark. That's what pops into my mind. What pops into your mind, Chris, or the questions that you were getting that inspired this comment?
Yeah. So, you know, after all the normal questions, you know, some people want to know, well, how long is it going to take me to the solo? You know, and, and, and honestly, there's not an exact number. I would. If you're first learning to fly the helicopter, I would say that you're probably going to be. I'm actually going to go a little lower than Kenny. I, I think, you know, I don't want to use the world, the word normal or anything like that, because everybody's different. But I have seen People that are ready to solo in as little as six or seven hours.
Wow. Okay.
I've also seen people that, you know, are ready. The more average or the average would probably be, I would think 10 to 15 somewhere in there. And then of course there are some people that just take a little longer to pick it up. And Kenny's exactly right. It comes down to a lot of different factors. Insurance could be one. Like you mentioned, the Robinson actually has the Svar where if you're a non rated pilot, if you don't have your helicopter rating, you have to have at least 20 hours of duel before they will let you solo. And that's an svar. That's not even an insurance thing. That's a, that's a regulation, per the Robinson. A number.
Yes.
A lot of it is based on instructor ability. I mean, I mean student, it's. It, you know, most students think that they're ready to do it before the instructor is ready for them to do it. Right. So, you know, I've kind of got a general rule that when the guys are getting close or when the student is getting close, if he can, if he can pick me up to hover and if we can go around the pattern and we can do that a couple times and all, and I don't touch the controls whatsoever, then he's ready to do it. Now, whether that takes 5 hours, 8 hours, 12 hours, you know, it all varies. Right. So to answer the question, how long will it take me solo? It's all based on you and based on insurance and some other factors. Again, like I said for the G2 at Sweet Aviation, if you're a non rated pilot, you're probably going to be in the 10 to 12 hour range.
I would think there are people that are exceptional sometimes. Danny Martin, if you're watching when you started your training, he did so good in the, the first two or three hours, I was like, are you like, were you like sent here by someone to check up on me? Are you sure you've never flown a helicopter before? Yeah, some people that will excel and do really, really well, really, really fast. And then you have the opposite end of the spectrum. I had a guy that had 80 hours and he hadn't soloed tonight. When I had to talk with him and said, man, you know, you're, you're getting a lot of hours here and you haven't soloed. And he was like, it's none of your business what I'm spending and it doesn't matter how long it takes me. I want to do this. And I was like, okay. I just wanted to, you know, have the conversation with. It can be an extreme either way. Yeah.
Yeah. And I think it, you know, and I. And from my experience, I'll just throw this out there, that I have found that the younger students do it quicker.
It's true.
It's. No, I mean, we're getting old, right.
We're in the older crowd now. It's harder to learn as you get older.
Yeah. And then I would say the second are people that are already rated and the airplane are transitioning because they just kind of have the touch of how they need to be on the controls.
Yeah.
So after those two, then it just, you know, then it starts filtering. So I mean, that it just. That's just what the way it is, you know?
Sure. So awesome. That was a great question. Chris came up with that one. You can thank him for that one. So come back tomorrow for Aviation Induced Divorce Syndrome. Aids. It's a different form of aids. Not the one you may have heard of. Chris is live because this morning he's like, I thought he said that to me. And he's like, no, I never heard that. That's a term. It's been around for a while. We're gonna talk about that in the next video. So do us a favor. Go below to grab the free PDF of the Helicopter Maneuver Guide. Subscribe to the channel, click the bell, and we'll see you in the next video. Peace out. I think we're getting better at this.
