I write today to share with you my past and present experiences with helicopter flight training, and hopefully, relieve you of some hardships.

I started my flight school search in 2005, the way I think most of us do; on the Internet. I was quickly drawn to many of the large schools. On my school visits, I was impressed by the business, people bustling about, marking down flight blocks on boards, the steady buzz of calls on the radio at dispatch. If I’d known about all the details that coincided with this environment.

I toured several schools and always went on a demo flight while there. After two years of working in construction, I had saved up enough money to support my budget while I was in school. I secured my financing and my family and I moved across the country into our new rental home. The logistics were perfect; the budget, the house, and the area. I was going to live a dream.

My aspirations and hopes soon turned into worry, concern, and doubt in a matter of months. What had happened? My perfect plan wasn’t working. Terms such as ‘pilot factory’ brought on new meaning. I found that busy radio wasn’t so conducive to beginner learning. Only after several days of waiting two to four hours to reserve my time slot on the pattern board would I truly understand how much time I would waste due to the overwhelming amount of traffic. But, all that aside, with all my efforts focused on studying and flying I was still unsatisfied with my rate of learning. I always felt incapable after my lessons. After multiple attempts to reconcile the problem, I decided to give up on my logistics and started a new search for a flight school.

After careful investigation I decided on Northeast Helicopters. We unfortunately, could not afford to move many of our belonging back to the east coast with us, and were lucky enough to have family that would let us stay with them until we got back on our feet. I now work three days a week and have classes the other four days and I have never been happier.

The staff at NEH is like family. The facilities are comfortable and accommodating. The aircraft are highly maintained and always available. The airspace is subtle and complex. Please take my advice, and if you think you’ve found the perfect school already, take the time to come visit us. Don’t forget your log book.

Adam Moody - Pro-Trac student

Posted on August 27th, 2008 by Rhonda
Filed under: Students