What Helicopter Pilots Can Expect To Spend

For a helicopter pilot, a commercial license is also a prerequisite for CFI training, as is an FAA Medical Certificate. Also, you must be 18 years old and speak English. Flight training is often provided in a Robinson-R22 dual-controlled helicopter and ground instruction is also included for preparing the student for the FAA exam. In order to become a CFI for the Robinson R-22, the FAA requires that during the course of your career you must have logged in at least 200 hours of helicopter flight time with at least 50 hours in an R-22 helicopter and at least 10 hours of dual instruction.

The majority of the training cost, like in a winged aircraft, will fall into the same three categories so the longer it takes to become proficient, the more it will cost. When estimating training costs, however, helicopter schools will combine both the aircraft rental and the instructor fees together. Flight training hours are usually estimated at between 10 and 25 hours and ground instruction at 10 to 50 hours.

Estimated individual costs for helicopter instructor training:

• $2,400 to $7,500 - Dual-control aircraft rental/instructor at $240 to $300/hr.
• $400 to $2,750 - Ground instruction at $40 to $55/hr.
• $600 to $800 - Misc.

Total estimated cost: $3,400 to $11,000 to get a CFI helicopter license.

Worth A Note

Upgrading a private pilot’s license, whether it’s a helicopter or a winged aircraft, is actually a stepping process. For instance, you need to hold a private pilot’s license to get a commercial license. And once you have a commercial license, you are qualified to either upgrade to an instrument flight rules rating (IFR) or obtain a CFI license. If you have a CFI license but don’t have an IFR rating and wish to teach instrument flight rules, you must enroll in the instrument certification course to upgrade your CFI license to CFI-I. A multi-engine rating is also another add-on to your CFI license that requires extra training for the ME-I upgrade.