RotorWay Ship Instructor Listings

 

United States of America

There's a few loop holes we learned of while training at RotorWay and beyond.
  Here are a few of them and as we go through the gauntlet of training we'll post more.

1   RotorWay back in June of 2002  had a 60% Failure rate in pilot training, at least that what my last instructor there, Kye Gunn, told me while I was there. The good news is he also told me he was going to change that.

Heres a little update from the 3rd Quarter 2004 Issue of RotorWay's Sport Helicopter Newsletter.
It says that they have made significant impacts in improving their flight school.  Phase one's pass rate is now 85%, Phase II is up to a 96% pass rate and Phase III is now at a whopping 70% pass rate on your first attempt.   I can't comment on the prior pass rates from 2002 when I was there for my Phase I and II because I never was told what they were.  I'm not sure but I think I was the first guy in the outside world to ever hear what the actual percentage rates were.  If it's true, that's a whopping 30% increase which means they must be doing something better now than they did back then when I went for my check ride.  From my biased point of view reading in between the lines it says they owe me and a bunch of other people a bit of a refund doesn't it lol.  On a good note if it's true new folks have a better shot at the gold.  I can't help but wonder if one of the major improvements inacted is allowing you to use an Electronic ECB Flight Computer or if perhaps you still have to do it the old fashioned way so Mr. O'Neill can keep up lol.

2   You have to do some night flying to obtain your license which RotorWay does NOT offer at this time to our knowledge. What they do is refer you to an outfit not too far from them called Quantum Helicopters. While I was at RotorWay for both my Phase I and II training a couple of fellows went there for their night training and said that it was a good experience. If you don't choose to go this route you will have to find a local CFI and more than likely rent a ship too as they more than likely won't do it in your ship. To pull this off in your ship it's got to have Nav Lights.  If you didn't plan on this add another $1,100.00 or so to your budget if you planned on omitting them and only flying in day light.  I'm sure the CFI and ship rental prices vary from place to place but you can be sure it will be expensive, It also seems like you would have to have some acclimation time in the other ship thus adding to the total bill.  In your ship it brings your unexpected cost close to $1,800.00 dollars.  Ouch!
I ended up doing my night flying time here in Tennessee and it ran at or about $700.00 and I really can't remember but it seems Quantum in Phoenix was a bit cheaper.

3   RotorWay says there's an issue with the FAA about training pilots over 210 lbs. Supposedly anything over that seriously affects the cg of the ship. RotorWay says the FAA had recently been checking them out and noticed that pilots recorded weights were over that limit and that was a no no.  Shortly after the news was made public in RotorWay's 3rd Quarter Edition 2002, on page 4 of Sport Helicopter, I found out that in late June or early July of 2002, RotorWay gave a student pilot his check ride that weighed in at 230 lbs. The way I understood the story of how they pulled it off was by doing all their flying before 8:30 am or so because the only ship they had flying at the time was the Exec 90 carbureted ship. After the Phoenix desert heated up they couldn't get the ship off the ground. The really sad part of this story is that another fellow Rotorway student pilot that we personally know was supposed to have his check ride at or about that same week.  RotorWay's chief flight instructor, Bill Orth, called him and said he would have to loose 15 lbs before he could take his check ride because he was over the 210 lb seat limit. Humm, I thought, when I heard about it. Adding it all up meant this fellows weight was 225 lbs, 5 lbs under the other fellow, and it also sounded like they canceled this lesser weighing fellows check ride and gave it to a guy weighing in at 20 lbs over the FAA limits of 210 lb. Im still confused about whether the issue is CG, or the ships lack of power, but if this is all true there's certainly a bit of politics going on at RotorWay. From reading the Article Bill Orth wrote on the subject, Its a Good thing they didnt get ramped checked huh! lol.

4   When I was at RotorWay in June,2002 for my Phase III check ride I was told I wasn't allowed to use my Electronic E6B calculator in flight planning for my check ride by Bill Orth. Funny thing is in RotorWays 3rd quarter edition of Sports Helicopter in an article written by Bill Orth himself on page 2 (bottom right hand side of the page) Items for the check ride that states to make sure you bring your E6B flight computer along for your check ride. I guess the absence of the word "Electronic" means you can't use one.  I never dreamed that meant using my Electronic E6B was taboo during the check ride especially since 2 other guys used them during our Phase II training under the guidance of Bill and Steve in class.

RotorWay's flight school has Lots and Lots of gray areas and if you like people that play with the rules and your head this is the place to go.

5   RotorWay uses low time CFI's, at least that's what they did with me in my Phase III check ride course. The CFI fellow that I flew under, Kye Gunn, was in my opinion a top notch pilot, of course when you think about it, at my 80 or some odd hours of flying who am I to judge. He had a few things he did that was totally different from what Bill Orth taught me to do in my Phase I and II training but everything he showed me appeared to work and I think in time he will be a wonderful instructor. I was Kye's 2nd student ever in his newly chosen career and just like learning to fly, learning to teach someone else to fly takes considerable time to learn. When your spending your hard earned moneys and your precious time to conquer something as difficult as this it's not a good thing to have a first time teacher teaching you, at least in my case it sure wasn't. What proved this to me was when I flew with a CFI fellow on Sunday in Tulsa, Oklahoma, after I burned at RotorWay the entire week before hand. After 2 laps around the pattern this fellow was telling me what I was going to do wrong next before I even did it from the 3rd lap on. In other words this fellow had so much time teaching others he recognized exactly what I was doing wrong and had the ability to get it into my head in a very short time.

RotorWay International
4140 W. Mercury Way
Chandler, Arizona  85226
Phone # 480-961-1001
Fax # 480-961-1514

www.rotorway.com

Email:  RotorWay@RotorWay.com
 
Flight training at RotorWay is broken up into three phases.
Things not covered there - you have to take
the written test (which has to be done at an FAA test center),
the night flying requirement (which can be done while
at the factory at a near by facility they can refer you to) and
plan on additional training beyond the minimum taught at the factory.
 

Until 2001 or so we didn't know of any instructors that would come to you

and now there seems to be several. All of them have great references from people, so if this is for you here is what we know. 

One thing that has come up you may want to check into is that some insurance companies won't insure your ship if you don't go to at least Phase One at the RotorWay factory training center, we saw this in print somewhere and also were told this by the insurance company we had for our ship. Make your decision wisely or you may be in for an expensive surprise.
These guys that come in and train you in your ship we are told include the night flying and alot more flying time (your not sitting on the ground while somebody else is learning) not to mention the one on one time you get and it seems to us that it would be a much better deal than going to the factory for training UNLESS you had a bobo in your ship, something to really take into account we think.  You also must have them listed on your insurance policy, possibly costing you more than you counted on. Donna and I had 2 different fellows listed on our policy who weren't CFI rated and It didn't cost us any extra to add them so I think Its a freebie but check with your insurance provider just to cover your butt before you take the plunge. These guys can tell you all about it, I'm sure by now they have done been there and done that and have all the answers for you.

Bill Albrecht, CFI, RH
 
21305 SD Hwy 25
De Smet, SD 57231 

I will train in my Hughes 269A/TH55 or your RW.
I am hesitant to do any training in my 162F because of  insurance/liability.

1-800-216-9924
 
Email:  balbrecht@iw.net

Todd Carroll, CFI, RH
 Nevada
 Phone # unavailable

Joe DeAngelo, CFI, RH
 426 South 12th Street
Quicy, Illinois  62301
 Phone # 217-224-6087
 Email:  deangelo@met.com

Jonathan Leedahl, CFI, RH
 Leonard, ND
Phone # 701-645-2578

Todd Levan, CFI, RH
 Phone # 507-876-2547
Email:  Tlevan28@aol.com

Orv is the fellow on the Left
Orv Neisingh, R/CFI, RH
 8844 Co. Rd. 9790
West Plains, MO 65775
Phone # 417-255-2201
Cell # 417-464-9999
Fax # 417-255-2202
Web Site: www.whitedoveaviation.us
 Email:  osn@wpcs.net

Donna and I have met this fellow many times out in the field and both he and his wife are super people.  To date I haven't personally flown with him but I know several people who have.  Orv is said to be an excellent CFI and brings an immense knowledge or RotorWay helicopters along with him.  Orv won't fly in your ship until he's gone over every inch of it from top to bottom which means you not only get excellent flight instruction, you get a fellow that's safe and knows exactly what he's looking at.

Darren Raliegh, CFI, RH
A Former Chief Pilot of RotorWay 

Email from Darren on 12/7/01
My 24/7 responsibilities as a news pilot/reporter for a television station
do not allow me to get away from my current duty station long enough to
perform flight instruction.

While I am still willing to answer questions
regarding the flight characteristics of RotorWay products, I am no longer in
the business of training RotorWay pilots.

 Phone # 702-814-1791

AirMark Helicopters
PO Box 17205
Clearwater, FL 33762-0205

Hanger/Office 727-540-9424 
Cell 727-410-7908

 email: airmarkhelicopters@worldnet.att.net

Jan Rovde, CFI, RH
 Boston, Massachusetts
Phone # 617-461-5339
 Email:  bhelicopter@aol.com

 CFI Frank Sweet and yours truly

Frank L. Sweet, CFI
 Academic Air Helicopter Service
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Riverside Airport
Phone # 918-749-0657

 Frank Sweet is a super fellow who instructs with a Schweizer Helicopter and he will also do instruction in your personal RotorWay ship but you will have to take it to Tulsa, Oklahoma.  Frank has an arrangement with John Spurling to do a complete overview of your ship before Frank will fly in it.  Frank is an excellent instructor and is also the local NTSB investigator consultant for the FAA in Tulsa. I am not positive but I think Frank can also instruct in many other types of helicopters so if you need to have any particular type of ship training give him a call, he's most likely your guy and he's always happy to be of service in any capacity he can.  I guess you can see I am kinda partial to this fellow since he managed to teach me something in .6 tenths of an hour I couldn't seem to do in 10 hours at RotorWay.

The short version of the story is for some reason while I was at Rotorway in June 2002 for my check ride I couldn't do a power recovery autorotation and spent $1,470.00 hard earned bucks trying to.
        Frank had me doing full engine out 0 stop sitting on the ground autorotations in 6/10ths of an hour in a totally different type of helicopter so I can't say enough about this fellow.

Feel free to contact me at N162FA@Aol.com for further information, I'd be more then glad to help.  For the long and detailed version visit and read the Flight Training Section.

CFI RH, FW
CFI Helicopter and Fixed wing.
    John has his own Rotorway Exec with an EAA transition training exemption and he
will train you in his helicopter or he's willing to travel to you .
Long Island  New York , Republic Airport.

631-949-1568.

 jtomaino@suffolk.lib.ny.us

Australia

Michael J.Roberts trading as Kosciusko Helicopters

Michael is a Grade 1 instructor with 30 years in the helicopter industry and has completed the RotorWay factory course including an instructor accreditation check ride with John O'Neill

He has 800 + hours in the RotorWays and has flown all their types including the Jet Exec.

Michael is available to travel to the owners location anywhere in Australia or NZ.  Michael's company doesn't have their own RotorWay, but they do have an R-22 and an R-44 available for training if people don't want to train on their own machines but they are more than happy to do a full licence on their own machine if they wish.  Also included with all their full licence or type rating students they have successfully completed full touch down autos as it is a requirement for an Australian licence.

For anyone interested all their contact details are on the web site:

www.kosciuskohelicopters.com.au

 
Last Updated
November 3, 2004

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