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training

Hields Aviation offers a variety of courses to both aspiring helicopter pilots and those who are already qualified. Please select from the following helicopter courses in order to view the relevant information.

Private Pilot’s Licence

This course enables you to pilot a helicopter and take friends or family with you. It consists of a minimum 45 hours flight training followed by a General Flight Test. In addition to the flying, there are also 7 ground examinations - don’t worry too much about these though as in addition to the standard books you need to read, we have excellent ground instructors available to help you.

Once the student pilot has obtained his/her Private Pilots Licence/Helicopters, (PPL/H), issued by the Civil Aviation Authority CAA), they can then build their flying experience in a number of ways. Firstly in order to keep the licence current, you must fly a minimum of 2 hours per year on each type of aircraft you are rated on, included in this must be a flight test.

The qualified pilot can further his experience by qualifying on other types of helicopters, for example the Robinson R44. This 4 seat aircraft is proving very popular on a self fly hire basis because it is fast (135mph) and enables 4 people to be carried in comfort. In order to convert to each type it is a requirement to carry out a 5 hour conversion course followed by a flight test.

Commercial Pilot’s Licence (Helicopters)

Hields Aviation offers CAA approved training for this licence. This training is carried out on a modular basis as follows: Initially training for and gaining the PPL/H, followed by hour building up to the required 155 hours total flight time. In conjunction with the hour building programme, the student has to complete a CPL correspondence course covering all the ground subjects involved.

For the ground school, Hields Aviation strongly recommends Bristol Ground School at Bristol Airport. Their course is split into two sensible modules for which you study before participating in a 2 week intensive course at Bristol. The exams then follow in the week after. This takes place for each module. For more information on Bristol Ground School, please click the link below;

It is strongly recommended to pass all the ground subjects before completing the final 35 hours flying tuition at Sherburn, under the guidance of a CAA approved commercial instructor, before undergoing the final CFT. This flight test is carried out by an examiner from the CAA Flying Unit. The 35 hour modular flying course is available all year round.

Value Added Tax can be reclaimed by candidates successfully obtaining a Professional Licence.

Hields Aviation will offer Work Experience to all successful candidates in an effort to enhance their employment prospects.

Instructor Rating

The helicopter flight instructor course qualifies the candidate to teach other students to PPL(H) standard. Initially you a limited to working under the supervision of a more experienced instructor until you have gained 100 hours of instructional experience and 25 supervised solo flights.

To start the course you are required to hold either a CPL(H) and have 250 total flying hours (100 of which must be Pilot-In-Command) or have passed JAR-CPL(H)/ATPL(H) examinations and have 250 total flying hours (200 of which must be Pilot-In-Command).

The course consists of 30 hours flying, 150 hours Ground School and is available all year round.

Value Added Tax can be reclaimed by candidates successfully obtaining a Professional Licence.

Hields Aviation will offer Work Experience to all successful candidates in an effort to enhance their employment prospects.

Type Ratings / Conversion Courses

All the aircraft on our fleet are available for hire by Hields Aviation customers. From the Bell 47 to the sleek EC120; you can choose the machine that’s right for you. We are proud to be able to offer such a wide range of machines and take pride in continually updating the fleet.

A conversion is a 5-hour course followed by a type-rating test. This new type is then endorsed by the Civil Aviation Authority onto your licence. The courses usually take place over a minimum of 3 days. We are currently approved to conduct type ratings on the following aircraft;

Please visit the Fleet page for further aircraft details.

Night Flying

Sometimes we all find that days don’t have enough time in them! The night rating allows you to fly at night – a very handy skill when you’re running late. In addition to this ability, flight at night is a somewhat thrilling experience and is certainly something to see. In order to obtain a night rating, you must have accumulated 100 hours of total flight time, 60 of which must be as Pilot-in-Command (PIC).

The course is 15 hours of flight time, 10 of which are instrument appreciation, the other 5 hours are at night.

Both Sherburn Airfield and Hawarden Airport

Robinson Safety Course

Held in association with Dick Sanford, the European Robinson representative, pilot and engineer, Dick has great expertise when it comes to Robinson helicopters. These courses are run at Sherburn twice a year and are an extremely valuable source of information to pilot’s who fly Robinson helicopters. The course consists of ground and flight school and occurs over a 3 day period.

Self Fly Hire and Hour Building

Once you have obtained you PPL(H), you can then self fly hire the aircraft on our fleet. For those wishing to gain flying experience and time we can structure your flying to build up a good deal of varied flying. This can often include pairing you up with more experienced flyers and someone at the same level as yourself so the knowledge can be shared and costs reduced.

Discount is available for block purchases of hours and a lower rate is also available for those wishing to hour build mid-week only.