Ive done a bit more looking into flying helicopters for a living.
Bottom line is that it costs about $50,000 and takes about six months to get your commercial pilots license here in Canada.
That gets you 100 hours of flying time in the cheapest helicopter there is, and the opportunity to beg for an entry level job with a company that can afford real, working helicopters.
The work its self is often in remote locations for extended periods (and usually in the mountains as I understand it).
And an entry level job (full time) will earn you a salary of about $50,000 per year (senior jobs pay up to about $100,000 per year).
Employment prospects around here at present are particularly dismal, with the current economic situation, and there are many helicopter pilots with many tens of thousands of hours of flying experience who dont have jobs at present. Im not sure that that is a good reason not to "do it anyway"... its just a current fact.
Not sure where that all leaves me, but Ive now done the minimum basic research... Now I shall think... And ride for a while... And come to some conclusion!
