Brazos Helicopters Training Philosophy

Brazos Helicopters Training Philosophy

We would like every student who considers choosing a helicopter flight school to remember their most important issues. They should be examined in this order: Safety, Practicality (for you), Marketability (in realizing job goals), Comfort (in both the aircraft and the style of training), and finally, Cost.

Safety concerns should include the make and model of aircraft to be used; that is, check out its safety record and suitability towards the types of training to be done. Local weather conditions and density of aircraft traffic should also be considered. We have at least 300 flyable days per year in Central Texas and a very light air traffic load at the local airports. The light air traffic around our area makes for rapid departures to training areas without the danger and delays of dealing with fixed wing traffic. You will undoubtedly hear the argument that to be a good pilot you must learn in a controlled, high traffic density environment. You certainly do need this experience, and you will experience what you need in our courses, but to train with that situation on a day-to-day basis only delays the most important part of your training, handling of the aircraft.

Practicality is somewhat easier to determine. Its easy to know that if you are on a limited budget and need to stay close to home to save money, a school that is a thousand miles away probably won’t do. By the same token, a student that is six foot six and three hundred pounds won’t be able to train in a helicopter with a 400-pound useful load. Also if you want training that mirrors the types of flying that is done in the major helicopter industries, why would you go to a school that has no staff with experience in the industry? Why would you go to a school that specializes in quickly finishing students, prepared only for flight instruction jobs, so that they may flight instruct for a few months before their visas expire? And finally, why would you choose a school whose weather or proximity to heavy traffic will severely limit the amount of flying that can be done?

Marketability is dictated by industry. You should contact operators and pilots in areas you want to work in to determine which aircraft time is more desired by those companies. Our aircraft are well accepted in the industry as extremely fine training machines. The reason being is that when flying an aircraft with marginal performance, some flight maneuvers cannot be accomplished and/or certain emergency procedures will not be practiced.

Comfort is mostly determined by how you feel about the training environment and how smoothly the training appears to be accomplished. A rigid, military style of training is not everyone’s cup of tea; however, some structure is necessary to accomplish training goals in a reasonable amount of time. We structure your training to suit you, the individual. You will not be forced to do maneuvers that you are not prepared for, or do not have the background or prerequisites to do, just to meet instructor or school schedules.

Costs of training are mostly the same throughout the industry. If you make your decision solely on cost, you must realize that a difference of as much as $20 per flight hour only makes a difference of about $3000 over the course of Commercial training. It’s the quality of the training you obtain that makes the difference. To sum it up, we want you to come to Brazos because you feel it is the best possible school for your situation.

At Brazos Helicopters we don’t want you to just obtain a rating, we want you to be the best you can be. As a result, we insist on training maneuvers that most schools just touch on in ground training. We train “real-world”^sm from real life flight experiences and require that our students be prepared for anything the “real-world”^sm has to offer. Flight instructors here believe in the old traditions established by the founders of our profession. We don’t use crutches and catch phrases; we use common sense and useful techniques in our training. We take the best materials, techniques, and theories from the whole of the helicopter industry and present that to our students, not illogical, outdated, or Euro influenced materials you see at some schools. We teach you in a helicopter environment not and airplane environment pretending to be one. We don’t skip the important mechanical knowledge about the aircraft because we don’t know; we DO know and will impart as much of this knowledge as possible. We feel that a sound background in helicopter mechanical systems allows the pilot to head off potential mechanical problems.

Brazos Helicopters works on your schedule, not ours, which makes us a 7-day a week facility. This lessens scheduling conflicts and allows fewer interruptions in training. Brazos Helicopters is not here to take your money; we are here instead to provide the best practical training that can be obtained while progressing at your own pace and within your own budget.

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