listing placed 12 December 2010 United Kingdom

Hughes 269C/300C Schweizer Helicopter Learn to Fly

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300C 9500

Aircraft Overview
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Hughes 300C Helicopter based at Gloucestershire Airport. Several in fact most of the owners have done their PPL(H) training on the helicopter.

The H269C / 300C can take much taller and heavier pilots than an R22 (R22 = 17st. seat limit), which translates to more power to get off the ground with a passenger and full fuel for up to 3 hours plus enough guts to get out of any issues if you and your passenger don't weigh 300lbs!! Alternatively you can re-rig the helicopter for 2x (small-ish) passengers instead of the dual training configuration (LH PIC).

The H300C was specifically designed by Hughes to meet the US Army training helicopter role in 1955, hence the army designation TH-55 and was such a good design, it was produced as the civilian version 269A/B/C has hardly changed in over 50 years.

The rights to produce the Hughes 300 were transferred to Schweizer - therefore the aircraft goes by any number of names that mostly involve Hughes, Schweizer and 269A/B/C / 300C/CB/CBi. Recently Sikorsky bought Schweizer out - Wikipedia has a good overview.

The ironic thing is that the current value of the aircraft (approximately ?80K) is substantially more than the original purchase cost in 1974! The reason is that the components are time-lifed so every so often the key components get replaced and effectively the helicopter gets rebuilt, making it a valuable asset and highly stable investment, unlike an R22 which has a limited life of 12 years / 2200 hours before a major overhaul is required.

Always maintained to the highest standrds and has excellent group reputation. Insured for any pilot including for training purposes (with an instructor of course).

It has been very well maintained and updated, with fairly recent replacement engine and rotors etc. Full schedule of updates and details of engine hours is available to view.

One of the best training helicopters ever built and arguably the easiest to learn in, almost certainly the safest.

The main difference between the R22 and the H300 is the R22 has a low inertia rotor giving the pilot less time to react to an engine failure.

One of the coolest things about the H300C is that in summer you can take the doors off and fly al-fresco.

Aircraft has typical equipment fit plus Skymap GPS and Garmin GPS150+Locator.

Shares like this in a entry level helicopter that you can train on don?t come up very often. Probably the cheapest way to learn by saving over ?100p.h. (?5-6K on an average PPL(H) course. So buying a share gets you the right to turn up anytime (after booking online) and fly the helicopter as much as you want. There is no specific allocation of hours or specific days you can/can't fly. There are multiple instructors based at Gloucestershire airport rated on the H300C so easy to get your license.

This is an excellent opportunity, whether you want to learn to fly, are an experienced pilot who wants an economical runaround, or whether you?re a learner looking to build up your hours and experience.


The Location
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Gloucestershire is a great airport for learning to fly and very heli-friendly with four dedicated helicopter training areas and direct access to uncontrolled airspace.

Dead easy to just pitch up and fly without loads of grief.

There are several instructors rated on the H300 based at Gloucestershire Airport that can do PPL(H) or Type Conversion Courses.


Costs
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Operated at ?120p.h. + VAT wet (approximately ?100 p.h. less than retail)

Standing Charge of ?100 p.m. to cover hangar, insurance, block landings etc.

The hourly cost is to cover fuel and maintenance costs, sometimes theres a shortfall and sometimes theres a surplus in which case the funds are split.

Share available due to split of shares from 1/4 shares to 1/8 shares and reorganization of the group.

Each 1/8 share is valued at ?9,500 - Each 1/4 share is valued at ?18,000.

SENSIBLE offers will be considered but don't be bothering to send anything silly

Great Helicopter
Excellent Availability
Friendly Well Respected Group
Easy Access on A40/M5 Gloucester / Cheltenham
Costs of Learning to Fly - FAQs

If you want to learn to fly from scratch there are basically three or possibly four main costs;

1) The actual cost of renting a helicopter (wet or dry) - typically ?175 to ?225 p.h. wet - with fuel - for a 2 seat.

2) The cost of hiring the instructor - typically between ?60 to ?100 p.h.

3) The cost of taking off & landing at the airfield (all training must take place from an approved facility) - typically ?10 to ?50 per lesson - depending on activity.

4) VAT* - the dreaded VAT. All of the above attracts VAT adding 20% from January for the government.

* VAT can be reclaimed under certain circumstances.

So if you add up all of the above you are typically looking at a training rate of ?360.00 inc VAT.

At approximately 55-60 hours training you would typically be looking at about ?20,000.

HOWEVER if you buy a share in our helicopter your costs per hour are reduced to around (best case) ?224 inc VAT
WHY? The rental cost is reduced from around ?200 to around ?120. Landing fees (Gloucester) are free (pre-paid) plus the VAT on both

So with the same number of hours you'd be looking at more like ?13,500, SAVING around ?6,500.
If it took 6 months to learn you'd also need to pay ?600 as there is a standing monthly charge of ?100.

You can of course sell your share at any time, typically for roughly what you paid for it BUT then you'd have to pay ?200+VAT for each hour that you rent a helicopter for after you've passed your test.
For most people, they fly at least two or three hours a month where the first one breaks even with renting but each subsequent hour saves about ?120.

So in practice, if you fly about 90 hours in the aircraft, you will have covered the purchase cost, but you can of course recover that cost.
It's probably cheaper to borrow the money as a loan to learn to fly (e.g. the amount saved will well exceed the cost of borrowing the money).


GENERAL
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The group was formed as a limited company and the financials (insurance, standing charge collection etc) are managed by the company.

The sharers themselves control the key decisions by percentage.

There is an online booking system.

The group consists of experienced pilots (including CPL) and learners.

The group is managed by the owners so as little additional cost is introduced as possible.

You can be any age to fly the helicopter, you must be over 14 to count hours towards your licence and 17 to fly solo but if you are over 80 we will need to get an insurance dispensation.

Any questions - don't hesitate to ask.

Please Note - this item is a personal sale (no VAT etc.).

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