Craig,

I'm dual rated and own both a turbine helicopter and a plane. I did
helicopter first, and am firmly convinced it was the right thing to do.

Airplanes and helicopters only have 3 things in common from a learning
perspective: rules n regs, radios, and cruise flight. The rest of the stuff
is different enough that extrapolating one to the other can lead to
problems. Even some the regs are different enough to give you a headache in
an exam.

I had logged a lot of time in rotorcraft before I did the transition to
fixed wing. It was a breeze and only took a week. I can't imagine the
inverse being true. The most difficult part for me was switching hands and
flying with the stick in my left hand and power on the right. Still today I
love flying military and aerobatic planes because I have a lot more finesse
with my right hand on the stick.

The biggest time eaters in rotorcraft training are IGE hovering,
autorotations, and approach to hover, and very little translates from
airplanes to choppers with these. I've talked to a few people who are dual
rated and have never run across anyone who did fixed-rotorcraft in the
minimum time prescribed by the FAA, so the money savings thing is a probably
a practical myth.

The best way to save money is to NOT do any training until you've saved
enough to do all of the fight time in a concentrated block of time. Pass
your written exam first while youre saving up the money. Having the exam out
of the way will relieve you of a lot of pressure so you can focus on the
expensive flght time. If you only take one or two lessons a week it will
probably take you at least 30% more flight hours to complete.

Bart



"Craig Campbell" wrote in message
...
I am about to start my private pilot helicopter course. I have been told
that learning fixed wing first makes it much easier.
I am not sure what to do as my heart was set on rotary but I want to do it
right first time.

Can anyone please give me feedback on this?
Thanks
Craig Campbell