Private Pilot Helicopter: What are the requirements?

Helicopter, private pilot. What are the requirements? We're going to cover that for the beginner, for somebody just starting out and you're wanting to pursue a helicopter rating or helicopter license, we're going to cover that with you. I'm Kenny Keller, creator of Helicopter Online Ground School, and we help people learn all the ground knowledge and that's a part of getting the license. 25% of the work is actually getting in the helicopter and learning to fly it. 75% of the work, learning all the knowledge that you're going to need to know to pass these tests, several different tests that you're going to need to do. So for the beginner, what you're going to need is a FAR AIM manual. So the example here we have the FAR AIM manual, 2020. You can do a hard copy. You can also download it to your smartphone, your iPad, and in these days it's acceptable to use an electronic version over the hard copy version. Or you can use both, depending on your preference. Most places now you can kind of go either way, but both of these are a resource. A good pilot uses his or her resources. So to understand what you're going to need to do in order to get the private pilot license, you're going to need to understand what you're going to have to do to fill the requirements of the rating. So we're going to go through it, we're going to hit some of the highlights, but you as the person going for the rating, you're going to need to be able to look this stuff up later because as you're going through your training, you're going to want to refer back to the FAR a manual to make sure that you're covering all the basis, all the things that you're supposed to be learning. Your instructor will be working through it with you, as well as what they call the practical test standards to prepare you everything you need to know to go take the test. Okay, so we're going to go to part 61103 first, and these are just some of the eligibility requirements. You must be at least 17 years of age for a rating other than in a glider or balloon. And we're talking helicopter. Okay. You must be able to read, speak, write and understand the English language. You need to receive a logbook endorsement from an authorized instructor who conducted the training or reviewed the person's home study on the aeronautical knowledge areas listed in 61105 of this part. When you go to learn the knowledge, all these different things, you can do most of it on your own. You can do it with our help through helicopter ground school. You can do it one on one with your instructor or any combination of the above. You can do whatever works best for you. And people do it in a multitude of ways. But you are going to have to have a lot of knowledge to pass these tests. You must pass a required knowledge test on the aeronautical knowledge areas listed in 6105B of this part. So, so there's going to be a pretty good amount of information that you're going to have to take a written test for. And you go to an FAA designated testing center to take that test. And again, there's multiple ways to prepare for that written test. But you're going to have a pre solo written test at your flight school. You're going to have the FAA written test, then you're going to have an oral test and you're going to have a flight test. So for a helicopter rating, you're going to need 40 hours of flight time. That includes at least 20 hours of flight training from an authorized instructor and 10 hours of solo flight training in the areas of operation. Lesson 61107 this part. So basically at minimum you got to do 20 with your instructor in the aircraft, you got to do 10 hours of solo and the other remaining 10 hours can be, you could be possibly be solo. Most likely you're going to be using that as dual time with your instructor to continue to prepare for the test. So it's a minimum of 40 hours. National averages is a little bit higher than 40. You can do it in 40, but not, it's not necessarily going to happen that way. It could very well take you more than 40 hours. We're just quoting to you the minimum that you're going to have to have as a brand new private pilot. So included in this training that you're going to need, you need three hours of cross country flight training in a helicopter that includes one cross country flight over 50 nautical miles total distance, 10 takeoffs and landings to a full stop with each landing involving a flight and a traffic pattern at an airport. Three hours of flight training with an authorized instructor in a helicopter in preparation for the practical test which must have been performed within the preceding two calendar months from the month of the test, and 10 hours of solo flight time in a helicopter consisting of at least three hours of cross country time, one solo cross country flight of 100 nautical miles total distance with landings at three points and one segment of the flight being a straight line distance of more than 25 nautical miles between the takeoff and landing locations and three takeoffs and three landings to a full stop with each landing involving a flight and a traffic pattern at an airport with an operating control tower. Okay, so that's kind of the meat of it. Alright, so again for the entry level people just starting out, you maybe haven't even started flying like yet. You're just looking forward to getting helicopter rating and you're learning more about it. So we'll recap. But the far aim, whichever year you're in currently 2020 at the making of this video, so far aim 2020. This is the Federal Aviation Regulations Airman's information manual. If you're going to do flight training, you're going to have to have this. This is a requirement and like I said, most of the time it's also acceptable to use the electronic version and you just go to the app store and you know, pick the one I like ASA materials. This one I have is from asa. Very simple to use. But no matter what, you're going to have to have a FAR AIM one or the other. And again you can go through these yourself and you're going to need to. This is again a brand new video for someone just starting out. It's not like you just hear this one time and you never refer to it again. You're going to be referring back to this, what we do as instructors, you know, as we're working with you, preparing you for your license, you know we're going through this book and referring that part 61 going to the private pilot section going okay, let's see what do we got to do. And so we're always checking those requirements. There's requirements in here for the solo. So basically the bottom line, you start doing dual flight training and you start studying and at a certain point before you solo, you're the instructor's gonna give you a pre solo written test usually just made right there to flight school. Then you're gonna prepare for the rating and between the time you start till before you take your what we call the checkride, you're gonna need to pass an FAA written test. We talk about that inside Helicopter land ground school. We have FAA test practice within Helicopter land ground school. So we can help you with that. And there's also a multitude of other sources out there, book form and on the Internet. Too many to list right here. But you have a number of choices to help you perform that, prepare for that FAA written test. But you're going to have to do that as an off the street non pilot going to private pilot. And you have to pass that written test. And then your instructor is going to work with you one on one in the aircraft, make sure you're proficient in all the maneuvers that you're going to learn. And then that instructor is going to sign you off to one day sit down with an examiner and take an oral test. And you must pass the oral test before you can even hop in the helicopter and go fly. And this is. So this is the catch. This is why I said it's 25% flying, 75% all the knowledge. The first time I went for private pilot, I failed. And, and it hurt, man. And I'm telling you, it sucks. There's a lot of knowledge to know to be a safe and prudent pilot. And you would, you know, use common sense would tell you, yeah, there probably is a lot I have to know. Weather regulations, aerodynamics, helicopter safety, the list goes on. But it's all contained here. And your instructor is going to work with you. You're going to use the practical test standards. You can use helicopter only ground school where we offer a private pilot course for only $49 a month. We'll put a link down below for that, so hopefully that helps a little bit. We're going back and covering some of the basics for the private pilot stuff. Yesterday we covered the cost of what it may cost you as a private pilot, what it's probably going to be minimum and where it could go that varies on a number of different topics. So that was our video for today. Make sure you subscribe to the channel and click the bell when you do. That way you can be notified of our weekly videos. We do all kinds of stuff. We cover all kinds of topics. We do giveaways, we do training, we do all kinds of things. So subscribe the channel, click the bell when you do that will be notified of our videos and we will see in the next video. Peace out.