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Hey just wondering if there is any helicopter pilots doing tours on the Big Island. My hubby is convinced he wants to quit his ems job to go fly tours on the big island. I would love to move to the BI but with 5 kids in tow I'm not sure he would make enough money to live comfortably over there. Any advice tips or info is greatly appreciated! This is his plan within the next 3 years! Thanks in advance
Cami
Need to add, many of the locals blame the helicopter tours (and the coquis) for destroying the peace and quiet of Hawaii. At least one property has spelled out F YOU (but not abbreviated like that) in giant letters that the passengers can see. Just FYI, that could be an indicator of how popular you might be with the neighbors if they found out his occupation. Most people really don't mind, and see it as a necessary concession to bring money and jobs to the island, but others are extremely animated in their dislike of that industry.
My hubby knows what they make but they supposedly get lots of tips so I was just curious if the tips are consistent and if bringing a family of 7 over was do able. About the people who don't like the helicopters seem a little silly to me but I guess I will deal with that when we have to. Thanks for the tip though!
My hubby knows what they make but they supposedly get lots of tips so I was just curious if the tips are consistent and if bringing a family of 7 over was do able. About the people who don't like the helicopters seem a little silly to me but I guess I will deal with that when we have to. Thanks for the tip though!
I don't know about tips, but I've heard the work is very inconsistent, since it's driven by tourist demand, and that's highly variable and seasonal. Right now tourism on the Big Island is said to be down a third over expectations, so this wouldn't be a good year to start. And a lot of what drives the helicopter tours here is the desire to see spurting lava from the volcano, and that comes and goes.
Still, for a young, single guy with a frugal lifestyle, who can save money during boom times, to tide himself over during the bust times, I suppose it could be more appealing than surveying powerlines, or whatever else it is that civilian helicopter pilots do on the mainland.
But wait... married, with FIVE kids! Oh, heck no. They don't make that kind of money, and it's not steady work or a stable income. Sorry.
Any other wage earners in the household? One paycheck won't keep that many fed unless you've already got the rent paid somehow. Are the kids old enough to work? Does he have his own helicopter? Is he starting a tour business or does he want to fly for someone else?
Helicopter tours fly out of Hilo and over near Waikoloa which is up the coast from Kailua-Kona. So, you'd be looking at housing (for seven people) near one of those two areas. Check Craig's List for rental prices, but roughly $1,200 - $1,600 on Hilo side and about $1,800 - $2,200 on the Kona side. Electrical rates for seven folks should probably run about $350 a month (just a sheer ballpark guess and possibly on the low side if you rent an all electric house), water (if it's available) should run about $60 - $80 a month otherwise you'll be catching rain for your water. Sewers and trash pickup are fairly rare expenses since you'd have to be living very close to the center of either Hilo or Kailua in order to have such services.
So, shelter on the Hilo side on the cheap is a rough estimate of around $1,610 more likely just over $2K. Kona side on the cheap around $2.2K to around $2.6K. That is housing with bare utilities, no cable, no phones.
Hmm, feeding that many folks, well, you're probably not eating out much. Five kids for breakfast (how many are teenagers?) about a gallon and a half of milk and a box and a half of cereal? Figure milk at $6 a gallon and cereal at about $5 a box so that's $9 for milk and $7.50 for cereal and no coffee or eggs or anything else to that breakfast. Sandwiches for lunch? A loaf of bread $5 for the relatively cheap stuff, $2 for condiments (partial jar of mayo or mustard/ketchup) add in $7 for lunch meat of some sort. The packaged stuff, no real deli counters around here. Dinner - figure some sort of inexpensive fixed dinner such as spagetti & meatballs with a side salad. Jar of spagetti sauce $4, spagetti noodles $2, hamburger for meatballs $5. 2# of lettuce $3, carrots $2, tomatoes $3, jar of salad dressing $4 and there's nothing to drink other than water. So a basic day of food for five should run about $55 on the cheap. If you add in sodas or snacks, then add in another $20. Probably around a minimum of $70 per day to keep the tribe fed. Times 30 days a month, so food around $2,000 a month for basic food. Not fancy food, basic inexpensive food. No soda or beer/wine on the list, add in more for that if you want it. Actual amounts will probably be around $2,500 to $3K or more because of snacks and such.
So, roughly, food and housing should run about $4.7K to $5.6K. Now add in shoes, clothes, cars, insurance, medical expenses, cell phones, cable, toys, air fares to the mainland to visit folks, etc. etc. etc. Oh, and taxes, don't forget those. At $80K a year, you're starving with no car. He would need to bring in $220 each and every day to keep the tribe in just basic shelter and basic food.
How much do helicopter tour pilots get paid? How often do they fly? What about a week's worth of bad weather?
You'd also be moving away from your current support systems. How often do relatives or friends help out with childcare?
I took a helicopter tour in Juneau, Alaska and the pilot looked like she was 16 years old. I'm not exaggerating, I honestly thought that somebody had put their kid in the pilot seat for a photograph or something. I asked her how long she had been flying and she said 2 years. And we were flying in dense clouds, high winds, and landing on a glacier. So if your hubby can't get a job in Hawaii, perhaps he wants to work in Juneau. Helicopter season is May-September, and the locals there complain about half as much about helicopter noise (probably because they only fly about half the year).
I flew in helicopters in Alaska in the '90s with ex-Vietnam combat pilots who worked for contractors all over Alaska, but only during the late Spring to early autumn period.
During the winter months, when a lot of Alaska tourism and contractor work was inactive, they would spend the winter flying tours on the Hawaiian islands. Some Alaska helicopter companies would have the copters shipped back and forth between the states depending on season.
The Alaska pilots I flew with found the Hawaii tours boring for them because they had to fly in a relatively slow pace with no hard banking or low flights. In Alaska, once outside Anchorage airspace, these guys reveled in being able to fly at treetop level or skimming the rapids flying over the raging rivers, and sometimes setting down to do some grayling fishing in a mountain streams.
Hey just wondering if there is any helicopter pilots doing tours on the Big Island. My hubby is convinced he wants to quit his ems job to go fly tours on the big island. I would love to move to the BI but with 5 kids in tow I'm not sure he would make enough money to live comfortably over there. Any advice tips or info is greatly appreciated! This is his plan within the next 3 years! Thanks in advance
Cami
Wow, five kids! I came from a family with five kids, but that was 50 years ago. Times are different today. Things cost a lot more, kids expect a lot more and generally do a lot less to help the family. On the surface, your proposal sounds very risky and ill advised. That's because the cost of living is significantly higher in Hawaii than Phoenix. For example and income of $60K in Phoenix is equal to an income of $81K in Hilo. However, an income of $81K seems way too low to support 5 kids.
If you look at your family income, is your husband the only wage earner? How stable is the EMS job? If your husband is the only wage earner, this add considerable risk to changing jobs if the EMS job is stable. How much money are you able to save now? Another way to look at it is what percentage of your income do you live on? If you spend everything that is earned without saving anything, you will be in trouble in the future where you live now. You would likely have more trouble moving to a higher cost of living location.
The cost of living calculator reported your food cost would increase by 50%. After visiting Hawaii, I would guess that is a low figure and your food expenses will double. The ages of your children can influence the costs. Are you 'expected' to pay for each of your children's college education? Many people in Hawaii believe that the public schools are sub-standard and send their kids to private school. Private school costs about $15K to $20K per child per year. That's about $100K per year extra expenses on the high side.
Is there more information that you've left out, such as additional family income from your income, or significant savings or investments. Are you living debt free now, or do you have credit card bills, student loans, car payments, other loans, and a mortgage?
A move to Hawaii could be a life changing event that changes your life for the worse and takes a decade to recover, if you are not prepared financially. If you do have considerable savings and perhaps another source of income that you could take with you, that might make the move more possible, although still very risky.
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