Utah State Helicopters in Logan, Utah offers training that will take you from the start of your flying experience to an FAA-certified flight instructor, ready to begin your professional pilot career! We have a family atmosphere; all of our students and instructors know each other by name. We train in the Robinson R22 and R44, two of the most widely used training helicopters in the world. Flying the Robinson R22 and R44, our graduates meet FAA requirements to instruct at flight schools around the country flying any type of training helicopter. Our location at the Logan Airport is located at over 4400 feet with mountains up to 9000 feet surrounding the valley where we fly. This offers a variety of challenges and opportunities, from managing power at high altitudes to picking the perfect spot for an off-airport landing. This will increase your flying skills and help you become an outstanding helicopter pilot. Northern Utah also offers outstanding outdoor recreational opportunities and a small college town environment. Come see why Utah State Helicopters is the right place for you!
Our Students find great jobs, affordable tuition, and are taught one-on-one with the best instructors in the industry.
95% Job Placement
Graduates from the USU Helicopter Pilot Program are well trained and get jobs with the following companies.
Affordable Tuition and Student Aid
Estimate tuition cost, student financial aid, and scholarships.
One-on-One Instruction
Instructors who provide one-on-one training and care about your success.
95% of USU Helicopter Students that have graduated from our program have gotten job offers after graduation to fly as an instructor or in the helicopter industry
The Financial Aid Office can help make a degree financially possible for every qualified USU student. However, federal financial aid is just one part of a payment strategy that should include money saved by the family and student for attending school as well as scholarships and waivers. Grants, student loans, parent loans, VA funding through the GI Bill® and work-study funds are offered to students who qualify to help increase access to higher education.
Ratio
The student to instructor ratio is the lowest in the industry
Belonging
You will feel a sense of belonging from us from the beginning
Solo Flights
Students fly within the first 2 weeks of training. Students usually do their first solo flight within 2 to 3 months of training.
Upon graduating from Utah State, professional pilot students have an average of 200-225 flight hours. Over 90% of our students pass their FAA checkrides on the first attempt. Click on the link below to find out more about the USU Rotorcraft Program Details. The following FAA flight licenses will be earned as a culmination of your training:
View USU Rotorcraft Program Courses
Imagine yourself flying a helicopter by yourself as you pass by or over vehicles, buildings, animals, mountains and your friends and family. During this course that is what you will do. The Helicopter Private Pilot training course is the initial step for aspiring helicopter pilots, focusing on the fundamental skills needed to fly a helicopter safely for personal use, including ground school instruction on theory, regulations, and aircraft systems. This will be followed by practical flight training with a Certified Flight Instructor (CFI) to build proficiency in basic maneuvers like hovering, takeoff, landing, turns, and forward flight. Once proficient with basic maneuvers, students’ progress to solo flights to build confidence and independent flying skills. Advanced maneuvers like autorotation and emergency procedures will also be taught, which includes development of situational awareness and decision-making. This training culminates in a practical check ride to obtain a FAA Private Pilot Certificate/License.
Have you ever flown in the clouds and wondered how do the pilots fly without seeing? This is where you learn how to fly without seeing. The Helicopter Instrument Pilot training course teaches pilots how to fly a helicopter solely by reference to instruments, enabling them to operate safely in low-visibility conditions by developing proficiency in tasks like instrument departure, arrival, approaches, holding patterns, and cross-country flights under Instrument Flight Rules (IFR), all while relying solely on cockpit instrumentation and not visual references. This training typically includes extensive ground instruction on aeronautical charts and navigation systems, weather interpretation, and emergency procedures, and culminates in a practical check ride to obtain a FAA Instrument Rating on the pilot's license.
Picture yourself in your dream job flying a search and rescue to find an injured hiker up in the mountains or flying emergency medical patients to the lifesaving medical help that they need to survive. This is all in a day’s work where your office is up in the sky. There are so many helicopter careers that you could choose. This FAA certificate allows you to be hired and work as a professional commercial helicopter pilot. The Helicopter Commercial Pilot training course focuses on teaching how to fly cross-country from one location to another in diverse environments. This training typically includes advanced maneuvers, mountain flying, night flying and off-airport operations. This training culminates in a practical check ride to obtain a FAA Commercial Pilot Certificate.
Imagine that you have a brand-new student that has never flown a helicopter. You teach them all they need to know and watch as they solo for the first time ever. That is such a rewarding experience that you could be involved in. The Helicopter CFI (Certified Flight Instructor) Pilot training course focuses on teaching aspiring pilots how to effectively instruct helicopter flight maneuvers and ground theory, enabling them to become certified flight instructors for helicopters. This includes lessons on instructional techniques, student evaluation, risk management, lesson planning, and how to identify and address common student errors, all while demonstrating proficient flying skills in the left seat of the helicopter to teach students properly. This training is typically undertaken after obtaining a commercial helicopter pilot license and is considered a vital step in advancing a helicopter pilot's career by allowing them to teach others and build additional flight hours. This training culminates in a practical check ride to obtain a Certified Flight Instructor Certificate.
The Helicopter Certified Flight Instructor Instrument (CFII) Pilot training course teaches pilots how to instruct other helicopter pilots on instrument flying, enabling them to teach students how to navigate using only their instruments in challenging weather conditions, requiring a deep understanding of IFR procedures and the ability to effectively communicate these concepts to students while prioritizing safety. This typically involves both ground instruction on theoretical aspects and in-flight training to practice maneuvers and scenarios under instrument conditions, building upon the foundational skills learned in a standard flight instructor course. This training culminates in a practical check ride to obtain a Certified Flight Instructor Instrument Certificate.
This course allows you to learn about turbine engines and turbine aircraft and fly a turbine helicopter. Turbine engines are more powerful and more expensive. Eventually you will get to fly turbine engine helicopters from employers in all sorts of industries (Emergency Medical Services, Firefighting, Tourism, Corporate, etc.). Typically, after you reach 1000 hours, helicopter companies will want to hire you and then they will train you how to fly their turbine aircraft. This optional course allows you to learn and fly a turbine powered helicopter before you are eligible to get hired by companies that fly turbine helicopters.
As a student pilot, you will encounter hot summer conditions (high density altitude) that challenge even the most experienced helicopter pilots. You will also get to train in the winter, which includes snow and other challenging conditions that will make you an excellent helicopter pilot. These conditions prepare you for real-world flying conditions.
Many of USU’s Helicopter Students are veterans or dependents of veterans. USU is approved for VA funding. Veterans have excellent funding options through the Post-9/11 GI Bill®. The GI Bill can cover up to the full cost of your flight fees and tuition if you qualify. Most of our veteran students qualify for full funding. Additionally, you may qualify for Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH) while you attend our program. Utah State University Aviation is one of the few flight schools to accept full Post 9/11 GI Bill® benefits. USU has a great Veterans Resource Office. For more information on how to use your GI Bill benefits at Utah State University go to the USU VRO website.
SkillBridge is a Defense Department (DOD) program for transitioning Service members. Utah State University is an approved Skillbridge provider. Please contact Andreas Wesemann at andreas.wesemann@usu.edu or Tyler Knudsen at tyler.knudsen@usu.edu to discuss potential Skillbridge opportunities.
Utah State University Helicopters has a Heli Club run by Helicopter students, which includes:
USU offers more academic training than the average Private Flight School. This means that you will have more knowledge than those only going to a private helicopter flight school on topics that include: Helicopter Systems, Helicopter Maneuvers, Mountain Flying, Whiteout/Brownout Operations, Helicopter History, Commercial, Aviation Weather, Leadership, Managing Organizations and People, Crew Resource Management, Human Factors in Aviation Safety, Aviation Law, National Airspace and many other topics.
Having a Utah State Rotorcraft Bachelor’s Degree sets you apart from most of the other helicopter pilots in the industry that don’t have a degree. It could help you get the job over someone who has the same number of flight hours. It will also help you later in your career if you want to become a Chief Pilot, Company Check Airman, or Company Instructor Pilot or any leadership or management role especially if you have medical issues later in life and can no longer fly.
We have taken the best helicopter training from the military and civilian training programs to create the best training in the U.S. We are the only initial helicopter flight training school offering a Helicopter Mountain Academic and Flight Training Certificate! After you complete your FAA Helicopter Commercial checkride, you will also receive your Helicopter Mountain Academic and Flight Training Certificate.
Your next job is what you are training for. More flight schools in the U.S. offer flight training in the R22 and R44, which means if you have training in both aircraft, you will be more marketable after you get your FAA ratings. USU offers training in the R22 and R44, which gives you the best options for getting a job right after you graduate and earn your FAA Certified Flight Instructor (CFI) certificates. Some flight schools only offer training in a R44 or bigger aircraft, which makes it harder to find a flight instruction job right after graduation. This limits your options for your initial job opportunities right after flight school.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment of pilots is projected to grow 6 percent from 2021 to 2031 and will be in high demand in a growing industry. Current jobs include:
Money
According to salary.com as of January 2025, the average annual salary for a helicopter pilot is $102,665 with a range from a low of $72,890 to a high of $158,641, with most professionals earning between $87,080 and $131,965.
Come and take the controls of a helicopter for your first flight to see if you have what it takes to be a helicopter pilot. This includes a short ground lesson about the helicopter that you will fly and 30 minutes of flight where you will actually get to fly. The time you will fly may be logged toward your rating. Starting at around $200.
Register online on the USU Registration Page
We run off of a semester base schedule/calendar. You can start three times a year at the start of the semester system. Each semester starts in early January (Spring Semester), early May (Summer Semester) and late August (Fall Semester).
New - Starting in Summer 2026 - We will start a 9-week Private Pilot Helicopter Ground Course AV2335 and Flight Course AV2355 in early June for those that graduated high school or just want to do a shorter timeline to start on your Private ratings. The Private Ground Course will go for 2 hours each day Monday - Friday and will culminate with getting your FAA Private Written Exam completed. You will also solo in the R22 or R44 Helicopter during the 9-week course. The course will be completed in early August. Then you can complete your FAA Private Flight Rating the following semester.
During your Private, Commercial and CFI you will be flying in a Robinson R22 (as long as your weight is below 210 lbs) Fun Fact- The R22 is the most common training helicopter in the world!
During your Instrument and CFII you will be flying in a Robinson R44.
Yes. We do guarantee that you will receive an interview if there is a job opening for a Helicopter Certified Flight Instructor (CFI) position after completing your training. We can’t guarantee you a job, but if we have an opening we always try to hire within.
No. For most people it actually makes learning to fly a helicopter more difficult.
Ultimately, this is a matter of personal preference, and some people do both! Flying a helicopter is much more “hands-on” than an airplane, and you’ll spend more time close to the ground with wonderful views.
You could start flying helicopters at 15, but you cannot solo the helicopter until you are 16.
USU does require you to be 17 to start our Helicopter Training Program.
No. You are only required to have correctable vision, meaning if you have to wear glasses or contacts to drive a car you will most likely need those to fly a helicopter.
So many reasons! But a few of the big ones are;
Usually, you will need 1300-1500 hours before you can start looking into EMS.
Yes, because we utilize the R22 and we are at a high altitude the weight restriction is 210 pounds. If you are over that weight, you can utilize the R44 but, there is a greater cost associated.
Yes! We want you to have experience flying in all safe weather.
Our program is a 4-year Bachelor of Science (BS) Degree as a Professional Helicopter Pilot.
No, helicopters can perform what is call an Autorotation. This allows the helicopter to safely land on the ground without an engine. You will practice these throughout your training.
Yes. There are so many different careers that helicopter pilots can do. All of those careers are in need of helicopter pilots.
Flying in general requires consistent effort and time to learn to control the aircraft. Students also need to spend time studying about the aircraft and the FAA regulations so when they do get up in the air they know what to do. Anyone can learn as long as they are willing to put in the time required.
Yes! As long as you can obtain a FAA Flight Medical Certificate you are able to fly. Helicopter Pilots don’t have an age limit like airline pilots do.
Two 737 flight simulators mean students in USU's professional pilot program are practicing their skills in all kinds of weather and navigating takeoffs and landings at any major airport, all without leaving the Logan campus. Air traffic control students a...
Physics scholar and aspiring Air Force pilot Elijah Kroeber pursues academic endeavors ranging from drone piloting and mosquito abatement to atmospheric science, machine learning, leadership and French.
