Young Helicopter Pilots.....Listen up!  

If you're a young helicopter pilot hoping to make it in the rotary world, let me give you some advice.  Go to the airlines.  Run to the airlines.  Get your ATP, or if you can find it, let the airlines pay for an ATP for you.  There is an unprecedented opportunity for you young guns to make some serious cash and have a much better quality of life (in the long run, yes, you will have to suck it up for 5 years or so...it's called work for a reason)  Looking back now, I wish I had the opportunity that anyone under the age of 45 has.  You could literally jump to the airlines at 45, do your 20 years, retire at the mandatory 65, and still have much more in the bank than you would if you keep flying helicopters.  It's hard to see the end when you're 25-35 years old but I'm telling you now...retirement worries will hit you in the face very hard at some point in your carreer.  Why not stack the deck in your favor with HUGE paychecks instead of scraping by at $80k a year?  JUMP OVER NOW!!!