Helicopter Flight Training Courses

ELT Aviation provides helicopter flight training in central Kentucky. We are headquartered in Lexington, Kentucky. We are a full-service helicopter training facility. We provide all levels of helicopter flight training. Our helicopter flight training programs include:

In addition to our standard helicopter flight training programs, we can customize a training program for you or your organization.  Please view a specific course for more information about our helicopter flight training programs.

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General Helicopter Training Questions

Our primary flight training helicopter is the a Schweizer 300CB.  This helicopter is an extremely safe training platform.  Learn more about our the Schweizer 300CB helicopter.

When most people ask this question, they want to know the minimum required.  The Recreational Pilot Rating has the lowest time requirements.  The Recreational rating can be achieved in approximately 35 hours, with 30 being the regulatory minimum.  We include an additional 5 hours for actually taking the checkride.   The most common initial rating is the Private Helicopter Rating.  The FAA requires a minimum of 40 hours for the Private rating.  However, students generally take between 50-70 hours to obtain a private helicopter pilots license.  The primary factor is the time devoted to flight training.

We also find that student that use our fixed-price courses finish sooner as they have removed the concern over funding, or the cost of an individual flight.  Learn more about our pricing options for flight training here.

In theory, yes. However, most people are not able to become proficient enough to be a safe and competent helicopter pilot with only the regulatory minimum hours of flight training. So, when comparing schools, consider the pricing options when people quote the minimum, but qualify it with that it may take more.

We take the guess work out of the cost to obtain your helicopter licenses.  We provide many of our flight training courses at a fixed price, so there are no surprises.  The cost of the of our various helicopter training courses are listed on our pricing page.

Thank you for your service.  However, we do not accept GI Bill at this time.  We are looking into getting approval as we would like to allow our veterans the opportunity to use their benefits to receive helicopter flight training.

For the Fixed-Price courses, you have two years from the start of training to complete the course that has been purchased.  The pay-as-you go and member options do not have a time limit as the hourly rate is subject to change. 

We provide several different payment options.  As the name sounds, our Pay-As-You Go option allows you to pay for each flight after the training is completed.  Our Fixed-Price Courses require payment up front.  Learn more about our pricing options for flight training

Yes, we will rent the helicopter for certificated pilots.  If you did not get your rating with ETL Aviation, we will need to do a check out flight before renting the helicopter.  Unless you have recent experience in the Schweizer 300, it will likely be a couple of flights.  We want to ensure that you have good throttle management and can perform emergency maneuvers.

The biggest hurdle for people for student completing their helicopter flight training is lack of funds. It is expensive and a big commitment to fly helicopter. In the following article, we offer some tips or advice on funding your helicopter flight training. However, this should not be considered the only options. Get creative, learning to fly helicopter is a fun and rewarding venture. There are not many helicopter pilots that regret getting their rating.

Probably not. It is like planting a tree, the best time was 20 years ago, the next best time is today. If you are able to drive a car and have no major medical issues, you are most likely physically capable of learning to fly a helicopter.

Although these steps are not set in stone, we recommend the following

  1. Take an introductory flight to ensure that learning to fly helicopters is something you would like to pursue. 
  2. Select your school, we heard ETL Aviation is a great flight school for helicopter training.  Some key aspect of selecting a school are location, equipment, quality of training, pricing, and more.  This article from Bold Method on how to select a flight school is worth reading.
  3. Obtain an FAA medical.  To obtain a helicopter private rating (or above) the pilot needs at least a third-class medical.  You do not want to invest a lot of time and effort into flight training only to find out that you have a medical condition that prevents you from achieving your flight training goals.  Although you can still train without a medical, you cannot fly the aircraft by yourself.  
  4. Start your flight training.  We have several helicopter flight training programs.  The two initial options for people without an existing rating are the Recreational Pilot or Private Pilot