Anyone know of the best local school in the Vancouver area is for going from scratch to Commercial Helicopter rating?

Should I get my Private Licence (rotory) first then go for the commercial rating?

How hard is it to get hours on a bird? Do they rent helicopters here once you have your private pilots licence?

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

Johnny

Hey there.. if you are looking for heli flying, I would recommend Premier Helicopter Training at Pitt Meadows. I know Rob, he is very good at preparing his guys for industry, not just the flying. I would urge you to contact him, one of his students just got a job with Qwest, and this particular student hasn't even finished his hours yet. You can contact Rob through the website http://www.premierhelicoptertraining.com Anyways, it also goes without saying that you should check all options before you commit, you know how that goes! Anyways, hope this helps.

The first thing you may want to consider if you are planning to get a helicopter licence is to learn how to spell "rotary".

I've heard a lot of good things about Costal Helicopter College out of victoria. I was planning on applying there until I decided to upon my current school (Fixed wing).
For rotary wing I'd check out http://www.caaviation.com forums. Basically it's the helicopter equivelent of these forums.

THere's a whole list of schools in the "Heli" forum on this site too, and if you have any specific questions, I'd be more than happy to help you out. There are MANY questions you should ask before deciding.

STL