Helicopter training for Lincoln and Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire has more aviation history per square mile than almost anywhere in Britain. Arcus Helicopters trains pilots at Nottingham Airport, a straight run south-west down the A46 from Lincoln.
Getting here
The A46 links Lincoln to Newark and on towards Nottingham, and most students from the city allow about an hour to reach the airfield at Tollerton. It is a longer run than our Derby and Leicester students make, so we tend to plan slightly longer sessions for Lincolnshire pilots to make the journey worthwhile.
Lincolnshire is well served for fixed-wing flying and for aviation heritage, but helicopter training is a different discipline with a different set of schools. Pilots from the county come to Arcus for rotary instruction and for a fleet they can grow into.
The R22, R44, R66 and Bell 206 JetRanger, so a type rating does not mean travelling somewhere new.
We plan sessions around the journey rather than pretending a forty-minute slot makes sense from Lincoln.
Skill tests and proficiency checks are more straightforward to arrange where availability and authorisations allow.
Where to start
If you are converting from fixed-wing, or coming back to flying after time away, that is worth a conversation before you book anything. The route differs quite a lot depending on what you already hold.
The full route, from first lesson to skill test.
Read more →Year-round night training, unrestricted by airport operating hours.
Read more →Try the controls before committing to anything.
Read more →Requirements, costs, timescales and career realities.
Read more →Frequently asked questions
Some credit can apply depending on your licence and experience, but helicopters handle very differently and most of the course is genuinely new. We will look at your logbook and licence and tell you honestly what carries across.
Plenty of our students travel that far. The trick is fewer, longer sessions rather than short ones, and booking a consistent slot so the journey becomes routine. We will plan it with you.
Yes, and Nottingham Airport is a good place for it because there are no restricted operating hours, so we can run night training through the year rather than only in midwinter. Training still depends on darkness, weather and availability.
You need an appropriate helicopter licence, at least 100 hours in helicopters after licence issue, 60 hours as pilot in command, 20 hours of cross-country flight and at least a Class 2 medical or the applicable colour-sight requirement. We check your logbook with you first.
Travelling from Lincoln?
If you are coming from Lincolnshire, tell us when you are free and we will build the session around the drive rather than squeezing you into a standard slot.