Before Becoming a Helicopter Pilot

If you want to become a helicopter pilot and make a career out of it, the first thing you should do is to enroll at a helicopter training school. In this way, you will be equipped with the right skill and both basic and advance knowledge of the aircraft you are planning to fly. After finishing the course, you are eligible to apply for a license. After acquiring the license, you can call yourself a helicopter pilot.

But as simple as it sounds, becoming a helicopter pilot is way too complicated than taking the course and acquiring a license.

To better understand this, consider the following…

Before enrolling for a helicopter-training course, make sure you have enough finances to finish it. This is a long-term commitment that involves a lot of money (ranging from $20,000 to $45,000) and therefore, must be planned properly. One shortage or missed training hours could mean bigger expenses. It is painful both on you and your pocket to realize that you are 20 hours short of finishing the course after you realize that you are out of resources to continue, so make sure that once you enter, you can finish.

Before enrolling for a helicopter-training course, you should also know if you are fit or not. It is useless to go and complete the training if you cannot acquire for a license. Read on the specifics about the medical requirement of becoming a helicopter pilot before anything else. If you feel you are fit, validate it by doing a research.

Before enrolling for a helicopter-training course, make a research on the different helicopter training schools. You can prioritize the location since cost of relocation is too much. It would be better if you choose a school that is near your place so that you don’t need to relocate. Also consider the cost of the training.

Once you have finished the training and after acquiring a Helicopter License, you can now be called a helicopter pilot. One thing to note is that there are two kinds of helicopter pilot license: Private Helicopter License and Commercial License. The training is different. Of course, the Commercial License is much thorough. Think of this: we have a professional and non-professional driving license which is relatively the same with the Private Helicopter License and Commercial License. And one thing more: if you plan to make it a living, salary is not worth that much, but with more experience and better skill, you can get paid big-time.

original link: http://rc-helicopter.articlekeep.com/articles/Before-Becoming-a-Helicopter-Pilot.html

Importance of Helicopter Rental

City streets are congested and a kilometer distance would take hours to reach. It might be better to walk than to wait for the green light to turn on only to realize that your vehicle move only several meters. But you cannot walk. It is either scourging hot outside the car or heavily pouring rains. The thing is, there is nowhere to go on land. The only way to go from point A to point B is up there, above your head.

Helicopter is the only way to go if you want to travel fast and more efficient. It cuts off hours of sitting on the car together with thousands of cars around you that share the very same fate like you do.

Now you ask: I don’t own a helicopter, what should it do?

Two words: Helicopter rental.

Helicopter rental is the only solution if you want to escape the long pile up of vehicles on the road. Helicopter rental is the only solution if you want to spend more time on doing more important things than sitting on the backseat of your car.

Helicopter rental gives you the luxury of leaving your hotel room just minutes before your meeting or convention starts. It gives you more time to rest or to take longer shower or eat dinner. Or to simply put it, helicopter rentals provide the only way to always keep you on your schedule.

But this is not the only way to utilize the help of helicopter rental.

If in can you want to get some aerial photography of one place or a survey of a particular territory which would not be possible if done by land, helicopters can be rented as an efficient mean to meet the requirements.

If you are on an urgent business travel or would catch a corporate event and would need to get there as fast as you can, helicopter rental companies will quickly take you to your destination earlier that what you have expected.

If you want to see places up above the sky for mere pleasure, helicopters can be rented.

If you have a special event to hold and would want to make it a little different, for instance wedding, helicopters can be rented as your “bridal chopper”. This would certainly give you better reasons to feel like floating on the air.

Other ways to get helicopter rental would depend on your need. So if you find yourself needing to ride a helicopter for any occasion or reason, contact your nearest helicopter rental company today.

original: http://rc-helicopter.articlekeep.com/

Private student loans

Private student loans

These are loans that are not guaranteed by a government agency and are made to students by banks or finance companies. Advocates of private student loans suggest that they combine the best elements of the different government loans into one: They generally offer higher loan limits than federal student loans, ensuring the student is not left with a budget gap. But unlike federal parent loans, they generally offer a grace period with no payments due until after graduation (this grace period ranges as high as 12 months after graduation, though most private lenders offer six months). However, some higher education advocates are private loan detractors because of the higher interest rates, multiple fees, and lack of borrower protections private loans carry that are not associated with federal loans^[1][2].

[edit] Private student loan types

Private loans generally come in two types: school-channel and direct-to-consumer.

School-channel loans offer borrowers lower interest rates but generally take longer to process. School-channel loans are 'certified' by the school, which means the school signs off on the borrowing amount, and the funds for school-channel loans are disbursed directly to the school.

Direct-to-consumer private loans are not certified by the school; schools don't interact with a direct-to-consumer private loan at all. The student simply supplies enrollment verification to the lender, and the loan proceeds are disbursed directly to the student. While direct-to-consumer loans generally carry higher interest rates than school-channel loans, they do allow families to get access to funds very quickly — in some cases, in a matter of days. Some argue that this convenience is offset by the risk of student over-borrowing and/or use of funds for inappropriate purposes, since there is no third-party certification that the amount of the loan is appropriate for the education finance needs of the student in question.

Direct-to-consumer private loans are the fastest growing segment of education finance and under legislative scrutiny due to the lack of school certification. Loan providers range from large education finance companies to specialty companies that focus exclusively on this niche. Such loans will often be distinguished by the indication that "no FAFSA is required" or "Funds disbursed directly to you."

[edit] Private student loan rates and interest

Private student loans typically have variable interest rates while federal student loans have fixed rates. Consumers should be aware that some private loans require substantial up-front origination fees. These fees raise the real cost to the borrower and reduce the amount of money available for educational purposes.

Most private loan programs are tied to one or more financial indexes, such as the Wall Street Journal Prime rate or the BBA LIBOR rate, plus an overhead charge. Because private loans are based on the credit history of the applicant, the overhead charge will vary. Students and families with excellent credit will generally receive lower rates and smaller loan origination fees than those with less than perfect credit. Money paid toward interest is now tax deductible. However, lenders rarely give complete details of the terms of the private student loan until after the student submits an application, in part because this helps prevent comparisons based on cost. For example, many lenders will only advertise the lowest interest rate they charge (for good credit borrowers). Borrowers with bad credit can expect interest rates that are as much as 6% higher, loan fees that are as much as 9% higher, and loan limits that are two-thirds lower than the advertised figures^[3].

[edit] Private student loan fees

Private loans often carry an origination fee. Origination fees are a one-time charge based on the amount of the loan. They can be taken out of the total loan amount or added on top of the total loan amount, often at the borrower's preference. Some lenders offer low-interest, 0-fee loans. Each percentage point on the front-end fee gets paid once, while each percentage point on the interest rate is calculated and paid throughout the life of the loan. Some have suggested that this makes the interest rate more critical than the origination fee.

In fact, there is an easy solution to the fee-vs.-rate question: All lenders are legally required to provide you a statement of the "APR (Annual Percentage Rate)" for the loan before you sign a promissory note and commit to it. Unlike the "base" rate, this rate includes any fees charged and can be thought of as the "effective" interest rate including actual interest, fees, etc. When comparing loans, it may be easier to compare APR rather than "rate" to ensure an apples-to-apples comparison. APR is the best yardstick to compare loans that have the same repayment term; however, if the repayment terms are different, APR becomes a less-perfect comparison tool. With different term loans, consumers often look to 'total financing costs' to understand their financing options.

Eligible loan programs generally issue loans based on the credit history of the applicant and any applicable cosigner/co-endorser/coborrower. This is in contrast to federal loan programs that deal primarily with need-based criteria, as defined by the EFC and the FAFSA. For many students, this is a great advantage to private loan programs, as their families may have too much income or too many assets to qualify for federal aid but insufficient assets and income to pay for school without assistance.

Additionally, many international students in the United States can obtain private loans (they are ineligible for federal loans in many cases) with a cosigner who is a United States citizen or permanent resident. However, some graduate programs (notably top MBA programs) have a tie-up with private loan providers and in those cases no co-signor is needed even for international students.

The terms for private loans vary from lender to lender. A common suggestion is to shop around on ALL terms, not just respond to "rates as low as..." tactics that are sometimes little more than bait-and-switch. However, shopping around could damage your credit score^[4]. Examples of other borrower terms and benefits that vary by lender are deferments (amount of time after leaving school before payments start) and forebearences (a period when payments are temporarily stopped due to financial or other hardship). These policies are solely based on the contract between lender and borrower and not set by Department of Education policies.

Federally subsidized consolidations are not available for private student loans, though several lenders offer private consolidation programs. Borrowers of privately subsidized student loans may face the same restrictions to bankruptcy discharge as for government based loans: New legislation makes clear that these loans are, like federal student loans, not dischargeable under bankruptcy. Even before the legislation was passed, however, private student loans that were guaranteed 'in whole or in part' by a nonprofit entity are non-dischargeable in bankruptcy (and most private loans, regardless of the lender, were indeed guaranteed by a nonprofit).

Interest rates and payments

Consolidation loans have longer terms than other loans. Debtors can choose terms of 10–30 years. Although the monthly repayments are lower, the total amount paid over the term of the loan is higher than would be paid with other loans. The fixed interest rate is calculated as the weighted average of the interest rates of the loans being consolidated, assigning relative weights according to the amounts borrowed, rounded up to the nearest 0.125%, and capped at 8.25%. Some features of the original consolidated loans, such as postgraduation grace periods and special forgiveness circumstances, are not carried over into the consolidation loan, and consolidation loans are not universally suitable for all debtors.

Student loans in the United States

Federal loans to students

Federal student loans in the United States are authorized under Title IV of the Higher Education Act as amended.

These loans are available to college and university students via funds disbursed directly to the school and are used to supplement personal and family resources, scholarships, grants, and work-study. They may be subsidized by the U.S. Government or may be unsubsidized depending on the student's financial need.

Both subsidized and unsubsidized loans are guaranteed by the U.S. Department of Education either directly or through guaranty agencies. Nearly all students are eligible to receive federal loans (regardless of credit score or other financial issues). Both types offer a grace period of six months, which means that no payments are due until six months after graduation or after the borrower becomes a less-than-half-time student without graduating. Both types have a fairly modest annual limit. The dependent undergraduate limit effective for loans disbursed on or after July 1, 2008 is as follows (combined subsidized and unsubsidized limits): $5,500 per year for freshman undergraduate students, $6,500 for sophomore undergraduates, and $7,500 per year for junior and senior undergraduate students, as well as students enrolled in teacher certification or preparatory coursework for graduate programs. For independent undergraduates, the limits (combined subsidized and unsubsidized) effective for loans disbursed on or after July 1, 2008 are higher: $9,500 per year for freshman undergraduate students, $10,500 for sophomore undergraduates, and $12,500 per year for junior and senior undergraduate students, as well as students enrolled in teacher certification or preparatory coursework for graduate programs. Subsidized federal student loans are only offered to students with a demonstrated financial need. Financial need may vary from school to school. For these loans, the federal government makes interest payments while the student is in college. For example, those who borrow $10,000 during college will owe $10,000 upon graduation.

Unsubsidized federal student loans are also guaranteed by the U.S. Government, but the government does not pay interest for the student, rather the interest accrues during college. Nearly all student are eligible for these loans regardless of demonstrated need. Those who borrow $10,000 during college will owe $10,000 plus interest upon graduation. For example, those who have borrowed $10,000 and had $2,000 accrue in interest will owe $12,000. Interest will begin accruing on the $12,000. The accrued interest will be "capitalized" into the loan amount, and the borrower will begin making payments on the accumulated total. Students can choose to pay the interest while still in college; however, few students choose to exercise this option.

Federal student loans for graduate students have higher limits: $8,500 for subsidized Stafford and $12,500 (limits may differ for certain courses of study) for unsubsidized Stafford. Many students also take advantage of the Federal Perkins Loan. For graduate students the limit for Perkins is $6,000 per year.