There has lengthy been a debate on the benefits of Half 141 versus Half 61 coaching. Pupil pilots are confused by the variations and are due to this fact unable to find out the best way to profit from the advantages provided by every.
The next stays the identical, no matter whether or not your prepare beneath Half 141 or Half 61: 1) Written assessments. 2) Oral examination in test trip. 3) Flight portion of the test trip. 4) License issued.
Measurement of success is similar at each sorts of colleges: 1) Instructors make or break the varsity. Educated, skilled instructors are key. 2) Some flight colleges have a excessive dropout ratio. Profitable colleges ought to have at the least 90% of the scholars they prepare attain the certificates and rankings they signed up for. 3) Plane upkeep is essential. College students ought to very seldom have flight classes canceled as a consequence of plane being grounded. 4) The college accident report needs to be zero or near zero, indicating that the varsity locations a excessive worth in your security.
On the floor, it seems like all helicopter flight colleges are very comparable. Because of this it’s so helpful to grasp the variations between Half 141 and Half 61. The 2 largest variations are: 1) Half 141 coaching requires following an FAA authorized Coaching Course Define (TCO) . Half 61 doesn’t require a TCO be used in any respect. 2) The flight faculty itself and the Chief Flight Teacher have to fulfill stringent FAA necessities. Half 61 just isn’t topic to those FAA necessities.
Let’s begin with Half 61 helicopter coaching and flight colleges. The vast majority of helicopter flight colleges within the USA right this moment are Half 61 flight colleges. Many Half 61 helicopter flight colleges begin off with one licensed flight teacher and one helicopter. The flight teacher provides one-on-one coaching to potential college students and teaches the scholar as she or he sees match. If the trainer is nice, extra college students be a part of the varsity and the proprietor purchases extra helicopters and hires extra instructors to fulfill the demand.
There aren’t any FAA inspections required for a Half 61 helicopter flight faculty. The flight faculty is free to coach their college students utilizing their very own chosen strategies. They’re anticipated to comply with the principles and rules within the FAR/AIM for Half 61 flight colleges and coaching, however are usually not topic to FAA inspections to verify that they’re doing this.
Half 141 coaching and flight colleges have to fulfill very particular necessities and requirements. The helicopter flight faculty itself is issued an Air Company Certificates when it passes the FAA inspections. Services and plane that will likely be used for Half 141 coaching are inspected. The Chief Flight Teacher is required to take an annual test trip with the FAA.
On the coaching facet, the flight faculty submits a separate and distinct Coaching Course Define (TCO) to the FAA for every certificates and/or score that they need to educate beneath Half 141. For instance, a Non-public Pilot TCO can be submitted. This incorporates lesson plans for each Flight and Floor coaching. The flight faculty must submit one other TCO for Devices in the event that they needed to show Instrument rankings beneath Half 141.
Do not assume {that a} Half 141 helicopter flight faculty provides all their certificates and rankings beneath Half 141. Many solely get hold of FAA certification for Non-public, Instrument and Industrial certificates. It takes a whole lot of work for the flight faculty to create TCO’s and to show beneath Half 141. The FAA requires that the flight faculty hold in depth pupil documentation for Half 141, together with very detailed info on pupil progress. That is nice for the scholar. It’s time consuming for the flight faculty.
There are a couple of very massive flight colleges that solely supply Half 141 coaching. They’ve set schedules for his or her lessons and educate many college students on the identical time. Additionally they have regimented flight schedules. These few very massive flight colleges usually have a really excessive ratio of international versus home college students. It is because SEVIS (Pupil Alternate Customer Data System) requires that flight colleges be FAA licensed as a Half 141 flight faculty to be able to apply for permission to coach worldwide college students. The Veterans Affiliation (VA) has the identical Half 141 requirement for veterans to make use of their VA advantages.
Most Half 141 colleges additionally supply Half 61 coaching for a similar applications. For instance, it’s possible you’ll select to do your Non-public Pilot beneath Half 141 or Half 61. Faculties that provide each coaching strategies present essentially the most flexibility to the scholar.
The scholar attending a Half 141 helicopter flight faculty will get all the advantages of attending a Half 141 faculty even when they select to do some or all of their coaching beneath Half 61. That is as a result of faculty being topic to random FAA inspections. They’ve to keep up their excessive requirements always to retain their certification.
The drawback of Half 141 coaching is that the TCO needs to be adopted within the sequence written. Each pupil learns in another way and a few folks desire the flexibleness of Half 61 coaching, which allows the scholar to cowl supplies within the sequence applicable for him or herself.
This brings to mild one other benefit to a flight faculty that provides each Half 141 and Half 61 coaching. They’ll usually use the TCO to your Half 61 coaching. That is nice for the scholar pilot as you get the advantage of a structured Coaching Course Define that’s FAA licensed, whereas on the identical time with the ability to cowl supplies within the order that fits you greatest.
One other benefit to coaching at a faculty that provides each is that you may combine and match your coaching. For instance, I did my Non-public Pilot beneath Half 61 as I needed the flexibleness to leap round within the curriculum. Flying devices could be very structured and is about studying procedures, so I select to do my instrument coaching beneath Half 141. I discovered the structured strategy and studying sequence labored rather well for my Instrument coaching. I went again to Half 61 for my Industrial coaching.
Studying to fly a helicopter is enjoyable, thrilling and costly. Study all you possibly can about your helicopter flight faculty and the applications they provide earlier than making your remaining determination. Fly protected!
