Promote your company to the global vertical aviation industry through the VAI Member Spotlight, a free benefit for VAI member companies. Want to be featured? If you’re not already enjoying the many benefits our members receive, join VAI today! VAI Member Spotlight: Mauna Loa Helicopters, Hawaii, USA Flight school provides pilot training and commercial helicopter operations using the Robinson R66, R44, and R22. By Jen Boyer Since 1992, Mauna Loa Helicopters has been on a quest to provide a high-quality training environment for pilots in the paradise setting of the Hawaiian Islands. What started as a small school has grown into a professional, accredited FAA Part 141 flight training academy with locations at Daniel K. Inouye International Airport (PHNL) in Honolulu and Ellison Onizuka Kona International Airport at Keahole (PHKO) on the Big Island of Hawaii. Today, the company operates Robinson R22, R44, and R66 helicopters for flight training and commercial helicopter operations in addition to Cessna 172N, Piper Arrow, and Piper Seneca II multi-engine aircraft for fixed-wing training. Professional Focus Mauna Loa Helicopters offers a full professional pilot program that provides the ratings and certifications required to qualify as a commercial helicopter pilot. The school offers its training in a structured Part 141 approach with full-time and part-time student enrollment options. Students enrolled in the program earn their private and commercial certificates, instrument ratings, and CFI/CFII certificates. They can also earn ratings separately outside of the full professional pilot program, as the flight school also offers airline transport pilot ratings as well as external-load and high-density altitude training. In 2009, Mauna Loa Helicopters was accredited by the Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges, a credential that guarantees student benefits and safeguards, including access to additional financial aid options. According to Mauna Loa Helicopters, the academy was the first independent US helicopter school to offer federal government financial aid. Dependent students who qualify for the Parent PLUS loan program can borrow up to the full tuition cost for the flight school’s professional pilot program. Students at Mauna Loa Helicopters can also apply for loans through Sallie Mae. The flight school’s FAA Part 141 status offers students an edge with reduced flight-time requirements. Mauna Loa Helicopters is also approved by the US Department of Veterans Affairs, which allows veterans to use GI Bill funding for flight training. In addition, the US Department of Homeland Security has authorized the company to issue I-20 forms to international students to obtain M-1 and F-1 visas to train in the United States. Mauna Loa Helicopters also offers a process for obtaining affordable student housing in Kona. Unique Training Environment The company considers its island location to be ideal training grounds for helicopter pilots. Hawaii experiences more flyable days per year than nearly any other location in the United States, the flight school notes. Hawaii also offers varied terrain, weather, and airspace environments, including Honolulu’s Class B airspace, the state’s varied shorelines, trade winds, and the Mauna Kea mountain, which reaches up to 13,800 ft. above sea level. All these elements translate into a more complete flight school environment, according to Mauna Loa Helicopters. The training provider also helps graduates of its programs find careers in the industry. The flight school hires top graduates as instructors, then promotes them to tour pilots and assistant chief pilots as they build experience. Mauna Loa Helicopters also works with multiple commercial tour operators in Hawaii and around the world to help its graduates secure jobs as professional pilots. Jen Boyer is a journalist and marketing communicator specializing in aviation. She holds commercial, instrument, flight instructor, and instrument instructor ratings in helicopters and a private rating in airplanes.
