Allows you to teach students in a helicopter.

Having just gained a commercial licence, becoming a flight instructor is a standard route that pilots take to keep flying and to vastly improve their abilities. This rating allows you initially to teach for the private licence but is also the starting block to move into advanced training.

We offer a full-time instructor course to show you how to fly and teach from the other seat, pick up and correct students’ mistakes, whilst giving you the confidence to succeed in your ground and flying instruction. The course is run by one of our FI Instructors.

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Flight Instructor Rating Requirements

​For your flight instructor rating, you must be at least 18 years of age by the time you apply for your licence. You also require 250 hours of total flight time on helicopters, of which:

• 100 hours should be PIC if you hold at least a CPL(H).
• 200 hours PIC if you hold a PPL(H) and have completed the CPL(H) ground exams.
• 20 hours PIC should be VFR cross-country flying.
• 10 hours of instrument flight instruction should have been received.

Your flight instructor rating training course starts with a pre-flight entry test. You receive 125 hours of ground school on methods of teaching and learning, plus theoretical knowledge instruction. We give you 30 hours of flight instruction on effective teaching methods, which gets you to the standard where you feel comfortable teaching your own students how to fly.

Finally, you will take a test to demonstrate to a UK CAA examiner that you possess the knowledge and flying ability to teach the next generation of pilots with your new flight instructor rating.

Next steps to more advanced training:

At Helicopter Services, we can add new privileges to your existing flight instructor rating, or we also offer courses to become a:

• TRI(H) – Type Rating Instructor,
• IRI(H) – Instrument Rating Instructor,
• Or an FE – Flight Examiner

If you wish to enquire about any of these, you are best speaking to us about your personal situation and requirements.

We also offer Flight Instructor Refresher Seminars.