Helicopter Ratings
Hover offer a variety of helicopter ratings and helicopter conversions.
For more information, please see below :
Night Rating
The Night Rating is a rating to fly Helicopters in Visual Met Conditions (VMC) at night.
The aviation law states that legal night is 15 Mins after sunset to 15 Mins before sunrise.
It is important to note that this is a rating to fly visually with good illumination i.e. stellar or local illumination. This is not a rating to fly when Visibility is marginal.
Training Method
We spend a minimum of 10 hrs training ‘under the hood’ meaning Instrument Training.
This gives you as the pilot the trust you need to have in your instruments to believe them when you are disorientated.
Once you have built this relationship with your ‘panel’ meaning your instrument panel, we move onto flying at night visually, confirming what you are seeing constantly by looking at your instruments.
The minimum flight time for night rating is 10hrs of Instrument Time (IF) and 5hrs of Night Flying.
This rating is a must for the potential career pilot. Most pilots enjoy this rating immensely as it gives you great accuracy in your general day to day command.
Helicopter Instructors Rating
Due to a shortage of helicopter instructors world-wide, there is a certain demand both in South Africa and abroad.
Helicopter Instructing is an ideal way of accumulating hours whilst enjoying your job and meeting people.
Although at times it may be challenging, this gives you an excellent grounding for experience before you make your move into other avenues of commercial helicopter flying.
While instructing you are bound to cover most extremes. Whether it be weather conditions, repeated advanced auto rotations or confined landings, this will definitely set you up to be able to handle any situation later on in your helicopter career.
It may also take a certain type of person to be able desire this rating. The instructor rating may require a person with patience, understanding and excellent people acumen.
Instructor rating requires approximately 20 hours of instruction from a Grade II instructor.
Requirement: PPL – Private Pilots Licence to commence instruction.
Tip: The Helicopter Instructor Rating flying training hours can be credited towards your commercial helicopter licence CPL. There is a huge cost saving, as the 20 hours (approx) contributes towards the 200 hours required to be a commercial pilot.
However, you may not be permitted to write your instructor rating exams, this until you have all the credits required for all commercial subjects / exams.
The sequence of the helicopter instruction rating can be carried out as follows:
PPL >>> 20 hours of instructor training >>> All Commercial subjects completed >>> Instructor Rating Exams >>> 200 Hours completed & Commercial Licence>>> Final helicopter instructor rating flight test >>> Instructors rating endorsed on your licence by the CAA.
Helicopter IF Rating
The Instruments (IF) Rating teaches pilots how to operate instruments in the aircraft or helicopter. This can be done as part of your commercial licence or done separately.
The benefits include being capable to navigate, establish weather decisions or applying instruments for knowing your flying capabilities.
The minimum requirement for the IF rating is to have a Private Pilot’s Licence (PPL). However, the conventional PPL issued in South Africa, only permits you to fly Visual Flight Rules (VFR) in Visual Meteorological Conditions (VMC). Generally, this means in clear conditions.
The IF rating could be described as a “safety net” should you find yourself in unexpected adverse – generally weather – conditions. More often than not, pilots opt to fly under cloud cover instead of over. Naturally this can cause consequences, specially if you are flying in Mountainous Terrain. South Africa is not very forgiving as far as consistency of land level is concerned.
The IF rating can likewise be known as the : Instrument Meteorological Conditions (IMC) Rating.
The IF Rating requires approximately 40 hours of instruction.
NOTE : Guess work is not an option!
Game Capture Rating
South Africa has numerous game farms.
During capture season, there is a huge demand for helicopter game capture pilots.
Please contact us for more information
More information about Helicopter Ratings
A helicopter rating is a certification issued by an aviation authority that allows a pilot to operate a helicopter under specific conditions and limitations. There are several types of helicopter ratings, including:
- Private Pilot Helicopter (PPL-H): This rating allows a pilot to fly a helicopter for personal or non-commercial purposes.
- Commercial Pilot Helicopter (CPL-H): This rating allows a pilot to fly a helicopter for hire or compensation.
- Airline Transport Pilot Helicopter (ATP-H): This is the highest level of helicopter pilot rating, allowing a pilot to fly for a scheduled air carrier.
To obtain a helicopter rating, a pilot must complete a certain amount of flight training and pass written and practical exams. The training typically includes instruction on flight maneuvers, navigation, emergency procedures, and weather planning. Pilots must also meet certain medical and flight experience requirements.
Additionally, helicopter ratings can have additional endorsements such as Night and Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) that allows a pilot to operate the aircraft in different conditions like during night or in poor visibility.
It’s important to note that obtaining a helicopter rating requires a significant investment in time and money and is a challenging task, but it is also highly rewarding and opens up a wide range of career opportunities in the aviation industry.