Any helicopter pilots on EuroGA?

I also fly both, although have neglected the heli part lately.
I could only describe the scene here at Mallorca, but would not be surprised if it is similar elsewhere.
What I see here is that many (most?) people that get their PPL do it because it was on their ‘bucket list’. Willing to spend 25k for the achievement and for the fun of the project, all fully understandable. And anyway to keep it up as a hobby is horribly expensive at a 600+ euro/hr rental fee for a R44.. So, if it is true what Peter says about these machines being a tool to get in touch with persons of the opposite sex, you firstly may want to make sure your prey has not only deep blue eyes but deep pockets as well
Because of the financial aspect there are very very few heli PPL’s, let alone a community here.

PS. Once going forwards, a helicopter is mostly a daft idea compared with fixed wing.

True, but you correctly use the word ‘mostly’. Probably my fondest memory of flying was doing a three-day tour through Spain with a fellow pilot in his R44. That was the ultimate experience of freedom. We did not speak to any controller and hardly to any other pilot. Almost lost my radio skills.. And you can still make some stretches at 100 knots for 2.5 hrs and experience the rush of speed while going low.

I did a lot of r/c heli flights over the last decade. The hard way from the beginning, loops to inverted flight. The way was not realy cheap. I owned nearly a dozen r/c helis a the same time but sold them except two very smal ones. I never had the desire to fly real helis, because I find real helicopterflying very boring, expensive and no real advantage vs to planes hear in europe. Stop flying r/c helis happened in less than a half year, when I gained a real aircraft on ebay two and a half years ago. LOL

Tigerflyer wrote:

I find real helicopterflying very boring, expensive and no real advantage vs to planes hear in europe.

I find the actual flying, controlling the machine to be fun. Cruising, not so much (that is going straight to some waypoint). Especially if it doesn’t have an autopilot as many of the smaller birds don’t. But aeroplanes are not really any different in this regard for me. High altitude cruising in particular doesn’t do much for me. As for expensive, you won’t get any argument there. But I see an advantage in being able to park it in my backyard much more easily. Private strip is not that easy to do when you have a village every few kilometers, not to mention hills and forests. And they’re IMHO great for sightseeing, exploring the country. I wish I could pack one up in the back of a plane.

Flying low (and slow) in something like this is a real fun. But it can fly 120kt indicated at 115l/h Jet A1, which equals around 60l AVGAS, which is not bad at all.

Flying low is not so good at least in germany, if you like your licence.

I also fly both, though I’m not very active on either helicopters or EuroGA recently :-)

Speaking only as a low-hours PPL:

I have to admit I found the training to be far more exciting than the practical reality of flying a helicopter as a PPL. Particularly from a fixed-wing background, flying in circles at 20-30 feet agl, at about 30-40 degrees of bank, well below fixed-wing stalling speed, controlling your height with only the stick, is an awesome experience. (But not something I would plan to do outside training.)

Compared to fixed-wing pilots, the main difference I noted in the rotary world was a greater awareness of what we were flying over, and how we would feel about suddenly auto-rotating into it…

The UK CAA’s derogation from the SERA 500ft rule makes a huge difference to helicopter flight training off-airfield.

I’ve at last decided to learn how to fly a helicopter.
You should do that!
It’s the pure joy of flying. Even more fun than flying a glider, much more expensive, but much less of a hassle. After less than ten hours of flight I’m already looking for a R44 to purchase.

Would be on my to do list but prices are enormous and I cannot finance another training :( Will have to remain fixed winged.

I did it 18 months ago. I keep an Enstrom 280fx in my garden. I now have 100 hour on it.

Before buying a Robinson look around. An Enstrom costs less if you do low hours, it’s more solid, and nicer to fly especially in auto rotate.