I would think that if your goal was to build time, I would certainly explore multiple options. I have seen where people will look for other pilots to share time when transporting an aircraft for maintenance, etc. A lot of it depends on what your goals are, how much flexibility you have in your timeline, and the quality of the time you want to put in.

I highly recommend checking out Maria’s blog. She has a lot of experience with helicopters and has a lot of great posts on various helicopter – as well as other – topics.

Interesting stuff here. I was indulging in the similar thoughts for ages.

One of the suggestions (Maria) was to go with CFI directly. In that sense after gaining CPL for further hour building, would you offer your services? That would include dual as well solo once confidence inthe client builds after some time.
This would require you to hold a CFI rating but would bring in cash for your flying time and same time wouold be reasonably cheaper to an individual client?

Its assuming that ownership of helo by single individual out of question.

Please comment.

First of all, why would you buy a brand new one? Right now, the market is flooded with perfectly good used R22s from failed flight schools (think Silver State) and over-extended “rich guys.” I think you can get a fine used one for around $100-$120K. When I bought mine in 2000, it was a 1999 model with only 168 hours on it; it looked brand new — and it only cost $132K. (I sold it for $105K in 2004 with 1068 hours on it.)

Don’t buy used from a broker. Use Trade-a-Plane.

Second, anyone who finances anything over 20 years is throwing away huge amounts of money paid in interest. Why would you do that unless you could get a tax deduction on interest paid? (Like for a business?) I borrowed $100K on my R22 and financed it over 6 years. Payments came in around $2000/month. I borrowed $160K on my R44 and financed over 7 years for the same monthly payment (interest was lower; about 7.5% now). I want to OWN the aircraft one day. I don’t want to pay for it until I sell it. And I don’t want to give more of my hard earned money to a bank than I have to — even though I CAN deduct the interest since the helicopter is a business expense.

But maybe that’s just me.

As I mentioned in your original post on this topic(http://www.pilotmikekc.com/2006/01/10/purchase-vs-rent-robinson-r22/), I think you can work the numbers a little better and, with a partner or two, can make it quite affordable.

Another other option is to lease from someone like the Spitzers in California or Rich Carter in Seattle. Rich has at least a half dozen R22s sitting on the ramp at Boeing field; I bet he’d love to get one of them into the hands of a couple of folks who would fly it a dozen or more hours a month.

There are a lot of options out there with so many helicopters not being flown. Work this idea a bit. If you’re serious about getting a helicopter rating, why not try to find a few local pilots like yourself who are willing to take the plunge with you?