How Much Do Helicopters Cost? What Is The Range?

[bednobs]

prompted by a little daydreaming about euro millions, i was wondering about helicopters. How much are they, how much for a pilot on standby, and what sort of range and speed do they have (say i wanted to visit parents who live 65 miles away, how long would it take? would there be enough fuel for a return trip?)

[jno]

looks like sort of £50,000

http://www.cos.aero/HelicopterTraining/CareerGuide/HelicopterPilotSalaries.aspx

[bednobs]

i wonder if the pilot would accept less if i let them live on my huge estate?

[jno]

I looked on some American ads for pilots and they provide stuff like pet insurance. So you might need to tot up the extras. Paying for his funeral every time he crashes could work out expensive.

[Fitzer]

Surely only a one-off expense Jno, per pilot that is :-)

[bednobs]

jno, i'm going to hire a female helicopter pilot therefore no crashes

[jno]

good thinking, and if she's multitasking properly she can hang the laundry out on the rotors to dry

[boxtops]

Gives a whole new perspective to spin-drying, jno!

[jno]

she could walk the dog the same way (only on a slow spin cycle though)

[EDDIE51]

For the 'inside' information on anything to do with aviation just look at this site . The Professional Pilots Rumor Network.
http://www.pprune.org/
There is a subsection 'Rotor Heads' for Helicopter pilots. I find the 'Freight dogs' section very interesting . Pilots call passengers ' SLF' ( 'Self Loading Freight' )
When the chopper hit the crane in London this site had the pilots name up within 10 mins ! while the news networks did not even know what had happened.

[237SJ]

Hiring a helicopter costs about £500 per hour. I`ve got a mate that flies one and I might be able to do you a deal..:-)

[bednobs]

well i'll keep that in mind, thanks sj