Several students and I are just finishing our private training with
Claudio at HeliTahoe. I can't praise him enough for the excellent job
he does. Training first-rate and safe pilots is Claudio's first love
and highest priority, even though he has thousands of hours and could
choose other commercial pursuits. Claudio sets very high ethical
standards--he is almost obsessive about using time efficiently (he is
very proud that his students pass check rides with lower hours than the
national averages), and has shunned any business model that depends on
large up-front commitments that trap students. Claudio is demanding but
patient, and very safety oriented (he is also the FAA safety
representative for KTVL where he operates). The South Lake Tahoe
R44-based training location provides mountain flying awareness and
experience (every hour is considered mountain flying time).

Your dream appears to be coming true. I understand Claudio is expanding
to serve Reno and Carson City, and taking signups for R22-based
training out of the Carson City airport. So Claudio will have both R44
mountain training and R22 lower elevation (and more economical)
training locations.

MountainFlyer

Rotorookie

I recently read the comments by Mountain Flyer and I have to tell you that
I absolutely agree!
Claudio Bellotto is one of the best flight instructors I have ever had--and I
am commercially rated in both fixed-wing and my love, helicopters!
Some of the things I really liked about Claudio are his charming personality
and sense of humor. He loves to teach and this is so obvious in the way he
treats the student. He encourages the student each and every step of the
way. One of my favorite things is that on one of our flights, he noticed I was
a bit tired. He turned me right around and we went back. I have had other
instructors who spent an entire hour making me repeat the maneuver for
repeatedly even though I was not getting it that day.
If nothing else, go and meet him as well as the airport. I am confident that
you will be happy that you did~!
Please feel free to contact me should you have any questions.

Yes, Claudio is the reputable CFI I was referring to.

Claudio is responsible for bailing me out of a seemingly impossible situation.

I was a student of High Sierra Helicopters and was left out in the cold only days away from my Private Checkride when the school ceased operation. I thought that sticking with the Schweizers was a probably a good idea so I went with a major school in the SF east bay. After 14 hours of flight time I realized that they were milking me, I didn’t know when it was going to end, I had already spent well over 30K and still didn’t have a PPL, I was considering quitting. I went to South Lake Tahoe to talk to Claudio, he was pretty disturbed at what I had been through. He offered to take me up in the R44 and evaluate my knowledge and ability. He thought that in about 5 hours of adapting to the R44, I would be ready for the checkride and he was right! Fortunately, I did not damage his formidable reputation of 100% pass rate first time around. If only I had gone straight to Helitahoe after High Sierra folded I would have saved thousands.

Claudio is honest and straightforward. He does not sugarcoat yet has a great sense of humor which puts students at ease in the cockpit. After only one hour of ground training you will realize that Claudio loves to teach and absolutely will not rest until the student has a full and thorough understanding of the subject at hand. (If you try to leave before you have a comprehensive understanding of the subject he may just chain you to the desk!)
I also have had some very short flights with Claudio, one went for only 20 minutes at which time he said “you are too tired let’s go in”, in my opinion, it’s this kind of personal attention and selflessness that makes him a great instructor. (I had 8 instructors before I took the Private checkride, you can decide if that qualifies me to make that statement).

If you are serious about flying or are trying to complete a rating, give Helitahoe a call.

As mentioned previously, he is taking sign-ups for an R22 school in Carson City NV which will be extremely convenient for those in Reno, Truckee and the Tahoe area.

Feel free to PM me with questions.

Roger