Helicopter Training / Instrument Rating

FAST Helicopters is a Flight Training Organisation approved by the CAA to conduct courses for the Instrument Rating (Helicopter), or IR(H).

Courses take place at Thruxton Airfield in Hampshire and utilise a newly purchased Flight and Navigation Procedures Trainer Level ll (FNPTll) helicopter simulator together with our in-house IFR certified AS355 Twin Squirrel helicopter.

FAST Helicopters' Thruxton base is located on Salisbury Plain giving us the enviable position of being able to carry out practical training at both military and civilian aerodromes close by.

Requirements to start the IR(H) course

• Hold a PPL (H) with night qualification
• Hold a CPL (H)
• Hold a Flight Radio Telephony Operator’s Licence
• Hold a Medical Class l/ll
• Have 50 hours cross country as PIC in aeroplanes or helicopters, of which at least 10 hours must be in helicopters. Graduates of integrated courses have dispensation from the 50 hours cross country requirement.

Flight training for the Multi Engine Instrument Rating - what is involved?

• 55 hours (minimum) instrument time under instruction of which 40 hours (maximum) in an FNPTll and 10 hours (minimum) in an IFR certified twin-engine helicopter. (5 hour credit for JAR PPL (H) and CPL (H) holders)
• Credits awarded for Qualified Service Pilots (QSP)
• Credits awarded for IR Conversions from ICAO IR (H), ICAO IR (A)
• Pass IR (H) Skill Test observed by UK CAA Flight Operations Inspector

Heading the IR(H) course is Captain Richard "Russ" Grant, a former RAF Squadron Leader and instructor at the prestigious Empire Test Pilots' School at Boscombe Down.

To discuss the Instrument Rating course for Helicopters, contact FAST Helicopters today, or pop along to our Thruxton base for a chat.