Expert: Heiko Hanusch - 9/14/2006

Question
Good day Mr. Hanusch,

I am a helicopter commercial pilot and wants to convert to fixed wing or earn the fixed wing. Should I start from zero or will it be easier because I'm already a pilot? What shoud I do? how long is it supposed to take me?


Thank you.

Regardes,

Answer
Hello Mr. Alajmi,

Thank you for your question.
It should help that you already know the basics and some advanced stuff about flying, so your flight training should be a bit easier overall since you are already familiar with the basic procedures for instrument flying, radio communication, weather etc.. What you need to get is fixed wing time for your conversion to the airplane category (now you have rotorcraft category).
The best way to approach this is to get in contact with a flight school and ask how much of your rotorcraft time can be applied to your airplane rating. I can tell you that some of your cross country time will count towards the overall time requirement. Just talk to someone at a flight school and they can put a time table together for you including any required hours. After you start you should be able to (depending on your available time) finish this in 3 to 4 months.

I hope this helps any,

H2