I have been looking for some more information on Silver State Helicopters..

I have gone to the seminar in Lakeland Fl.
I have also gone to the interview and was accepted to become a professional heli pilot.

I am a 33 year old single mother of a 15 year old daughter and a 5 year old daughter. I am currently a real estate agent here in Fl. As you all know the market is not doing so well and I was looking into a new career.

In my excitement I sent out emails telling friends and family what I was doing and I was also the first female at the new Lakeland school..

To my surprise I received an email from a friend who has a private lic. and he told me there were many issues with the owner and the company.

So, in my investigative journey through the internet I found this link.
I was hoping to get as much information on this company as I can..
If there are any past students now pilots or just past students or someone who knows of someone involved with this school.
Before I jump into the 70k price tag I would like to know all the info good and bad…

Thanks for your help in advance.
Leah
leah325@tampabay.rr.com

why call it a ship?

i have no idea whats going on with all this blogs but i would like to gain back links can someone explain me how to use those tools?

The new toy looks fun! Using your R22 as a rental and a trainer seems prudent. It should offset some of the costs. Good luck and enjoy.

Jim: Robinson helicopters depreciate more or less linearly from $180k to $30k or $40k over 2200 hours, the point at which they must be overhauled. This ship will probably burn through its 2200 hours in the next three or four years because, in addition to my private use, it will be used as a trainer/rental aircraft at East Coast Aero Club and will be the only rental helicopter at Hanscom Air Force Base, a very popular airport. I’m not actually going to buy a turbine-powered helicopter and spend $500/hour to run it! A R44 Raven II with air conditioning is tempting, though.

The helicopter seems to be working great so far. One controller complained about our COM1 radio, but this ship has a COM2. Mechanically the cosmetically the ship seems just about perfect. We leave very early in the morning for Blythe, Phoenix, and Tucson.

Hey dude, I’m in LA! Would you mind giving me a short ride? For free though. Rent in Santa Monica is painful and has not room left for helicopter joy rides.

I’ve been a bit suspicious of R22’s since two of my collegues and friends died in one.

for details, see:

http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?ev_id=20001211X14028&key=1

They were both highly regarded CFII’s (in the report one is listed as a rated student pilot because he was fixed-wing only). They were decapitated by the main rotor.

I hope that as a CFI, Philip recognizes that pilot-error as a probable cause on a NTSB report can mean a lot of things. If the engine fails and a successful auto to a good conclusion doesn’t happen, that accident may be listed as pilot error, with the engine failure as a contributing factor.

for an example, see:

http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?ev_id=20001212X22205&key=1

Sure, there are always the stupid pilot tricks variety, but many pilot error “caused” accidents are pilots better than most performing at a level that, probably, most pilots would.

What aircraft enthusiast could pass up a tript to the Pima air and space museum: http://www.pimaair.org/I only spent a year in Tucson, so the only other place that I could suggest would be Sabino Canyon: http://www.sabinocanyon.org/Enjoy your trip!

I’m curious how fast it’ll depreciate in the event you decide to upgrade…since you once wrote of saving for a turbine powered model.