So recently I have been on this goal track to go get my commercial license to fly helicopters. Since I am a vet, I would be able to attend one of the colleges and have the GI bill cover the licensing from private to instructor. To do this I would have to sell my truck and quit my full time job as a cop.

Does your department operate helicopters? I'd say you're in a pretty good position to get hired for that  if they do. I know of a few state patrol officers who went from zero time to helicopter pilot with the state picking up the cost. Otherwise not worth the trouble if you are looking at getting a civilian job but to answer your question a degree won't matter if you have the experience an employer is looking for.

Bad idea regardless of degree.  No market for a 250hr commercial copter pilot unless you want to work for free. I know St. Louis PD trains their pilots themselves from 0 time to commercial, get a job there or similar dept.

I wish my agency had a getto bird. Its just a small mountain town.

Have you tried for WOFT or a Guard slot?    How about internal LEO hiring?

Your bigger problem will be competing with the vast amount of military pilots.   Barring some unforeseen future war,  there is going to be a drawdown, and those .Mil pilots have turbine experience that you just can't buy.

Commercial pilot jobs are very much a "who you know" kinda thing.   When I was hiring pilots, The first thing I needed, was for someone to have the experience to be Insurance qualified.   This part is huge.  Typically, that means you have to have not only a couple thousand hours in type, but also be "recurrent qualified".   The recurrent training is around 10,000 or more for million dollar equipment.  

The second part is you have to have the right personality.   That's where recommendations come in.

It's more competitive than you could imagine, and the internet just makes it worse.   I would post a want ad, and get 100 resumes in a couple hours.   How do you sort through all that?     Connections.  

The Degree is a distant third down the list.   You can pick one up on line if needed.

Make sure the school you pick hires their instructors from their trainee pool.   Then make sure you kiss a lot of ass.  Get a job pumping gas or working the counter, and make a good impression.

My experience is with fixed wing, but I'm pretty sure these things are universal in the business.

Just so you know, it doesn't work that way.    "Dirt cheap" doesn't get you there.  People literally pay 100 bucks an hour just to sit there building time.    

The job available to you would be flight instructor, and it's a 80 hr a week job.    You might only be flying ten hours a week, but you have to be available when the student is.  

Finding a part time job that you can do in your down time, is very difficult.  

Go to a big Helo school and make friends with some instructors.  take them out for a beer and get the inside skinny.   - Don't tell them you are a prospective student, you don't want the sales pitch.
Tell them you're interested in WOFT.

Do your due diligence and look before you leap.  

Fwiw- fixed wing has a great future from now, until maybe 5-7 years into the future.   If you bust your ass starting today, in 5 years, you could be a Regional Captain or Narrow body F/O making $90,000 no degree needed.  

That would be a 187% more logical career move.

You don't need a bachelor's degree, you just need hours.  I have a BS in Aviation and a MBA, neither helped get me aviation jobs, but they definitely helped me do my job better.....same goes for my A&P.  A heli ATP won't really get you a job over a someone with a commercial either.  

Hours trump everything until you hit 1500-2000, then experience in the particular field or make/model after that (e.g. 1500 hrs EMS  or 10 yrs EMS.)

BTW, as far as PD, DEA, FBI, etc......yes they may train their own pilots, but you need to be a cop or agent for several yrs before you can put in for the aviation dept.  Then, you better be liked by the person making the decision.  I know people with hundreds of flight hours that have been passed over for someone that is ZERO time.  It's all politics and there's tons of other guys that want the same thing.

If I was to fly full time I didn't necessarly have any plan on doing for a law enforcement agency.

I'm not sure you're tracking.   People are just saying that would be one way where you might have a leg up on the competition.  

What you are asking is similar to someone asking "What are my chances of getting a job as a professional musician / Hollywood actor, without a College degree".  

You think it's a cool job, but the problem is, so does everyone else.   And a lot of your competition includes kids with unlimited mommy money.  

It's not that the job is impossible to get, only that it is competitive in ways you might not imagine.

That fucks the rest of us trying to make a living flying. Please don't do that.

Find a way keep your cop job and earn your tickets. You'll be a lot better off.

Amen!

Why not? Good pay and plenty of quality training. Same retirement and not subject to the economic issues that normal aviation encounters.

I got what people were saying about the chances being greater in law enforcement. Just trying to keep the options open to gain the experience.

Not a pilot. This is all second hand info from my time in the Guard ca.1993-2001.

In my National Guard squadron we had several guys who were civilian pilots as well. The news helicopter guy was making 24k and the Cop was making 50k. One high hour rotary wing guy was making the transition to fixed wing. He was flying puddle jumper prop aircraft for similar pay to the news helicopter guy. His rotary wing hours may have helped with flight hours I don't remember. Once he transitioned to narrow body jets his pay would double, wide body he expected it to double again.

All these guys got paid to attend flight school as WO's in the guard. They got hours on Uncle Sam's dollar as well. If you qualify for WOFT this is the route I would go. Stay a cop, join the Guard as a WOC for WOFT. Get the wings then find a department that has Helicopters. One of our WO pilots even flew for the Fish Cops(Ohio Department of Natural Resources). He relocated tranquilized bears, counted blaze orange during Deer Gun Season, and moved other wild life to restock quail and fish.

I don't know about the degree part, but a friend from HS got his license outside of Salt Lake City a couple years ago and is flying tours and the such over NYC today.

Another way not mentioned here is to start as a pipeliner fixed-wing pilot and get the rotor wing cert on the side. From there just build time and gain Right of way experience. Sooner or later you.ll rack up enough time to apply for helo jobs such as powerline patrol or other careers. May not be ideal for your situation but that is an avenue available. Fwiw, I used to be the guy hiring helo and fw pilots for those jobs.

Your not going to get hired by a corporate flight department unless you have four year degree.

Now that's not true at all. My CP is a high school dropout with a GED.

Absolutely untrue, however, you are unlikely to be hired without connections.

Most, if not all, the helicopter pilots I know/work with do not have a college degree of any sort.  I know a few who have GEDs.


Do not work for peanuts.  You'll lose a lot of respect if you're openly out there looking for work and willing to do it for next to nothing.  Demand a fair wage for the work you are doing.

Just the other day, was the first I heard of this. I work with a lot of retired CO Army NG guys.

Not true.
I know many flying in the NYC area for major company's that don't a have  4 yr degree.
Some require and some prefer it. It really comes down to the right blend of pilot, experience, and whether or not the person is a good fit for the operation. Connections most certainly help, but not always.
I have been at it for 22 yrs.

My BIL has a commercial rotary ticket with no degree. He went to one of the big schools, Silver State, and was an instructor for them until they filed for Chapter 11. Got on with a company flying charter flights, that eventually went Chapter 11. Flew some odd and end stuff for awhile until another pilot, he knows, retired from an oil company. BIL was recommended to the company and now he is flying pipeline inspection and they are sending him to get his single engine fixed, commercial.

He is still building hours, should be around 900 now, to get that turbine rating.

My understanding is that under 800 to 1000 hours means high insurance premiums.

Its who you know in most cases.

MPD165

I'm pretty sure that's not a thing.    Any rotor wing guys care to clarify?

There isn't.

A prospective employer may prefer turbine experience.  Their insurance company might prefer it.

But there is actually no such thing as a Rotorcraft- turbine rating.


Edit to add-  Having (or not having) a college degree will have essentially zero impact on commercial rotorcraft employment opportunities in the US.

Having one won't hurt but it won't help either.

No turbine rating.  Just minimums to meet insurance.  For ems some states and accrediations require 500 hrs of turbine time for pilots.

That's what I was implying, just didn't come out right. It was solely to keep the rates down.

I've known plenty of guys that went straight into turbine, mostly local government or military though.

MPD165

Ratings, Certifications, Qualification, Checkrides, Typerides, etc. they all sound virtually similar, but they have very specific, unique meanings within the industry.