Is it possible to be an airplane pilot and a helicopter pilot at the same time? Can you make a living doing both?

Jesus, this is an excellent question. My name is Scott, and I currently fly both airplanes and helicopters. I started off flying helicopters in the Army, and then when I left the military I started flying airplanes. Now on to some of your questions.
Airplanes and helicopters fly a little differently. Most people tend to believe that flying airplanes is a little easier than helicopters. Airplanes have a few different licenses then helicopters. You have four basic airplane licenses. They include airplanes with one engine, airplanes with 2 engines, airplanes with one engine that land on water, and airplanes with two engines that land on water. Most people will get the one and two engine licenses, but not necessarily the ones for the ones that land on the water. Helicopters have one license, that allows you to fly any helicopter under a certain amount of weight.
As for flying them both for a job, you don't find a lot of jobs that fly both helicopters and airplanes, but you do find some. A number of Federal Government Agencies fly both, and some private corporations fly both.

Since I'm guessing you're a smart young man, I would suggest trying to think about how you will get theses licenses. I wish I had thought about it when I was young. Now a days, they are not cheap! I got my original licenses in the military, and they are still the cheapest way to get them. Most forces require a college degree, however, the Army does not. They will let you join straight out of high school as long as you have good grades. If you plan on going to college, you can go through an ROTC program that may be able to get you to fly, or you can find out about the Marine PLC program. They will send you directly to flight school once you are done with college if you are accepted.

I have a suggestion for your based off of what I am seeing right now in the aviation world. Pick one of them in the beginning, either helicopters or airplanes, and when you get a good enough job, let the other be a hobby. I suggest starting with airplanes because they are cheaper to learn in and fly, there are a ton of decent paying jobs out there right now, and the commercial industry (Delta, American Airlines, etc.) are in need of pilots right now.
Jesus, I hope this helped you a little bit. If you have any other questions, feel free to contact me over here and I will be happy to answer all of them. Good luck in aviation! Nothing is better than your office being in the AIR!!

Scott

I flew both helicopters and airplanes for over ten years, working for an aircraft manufacturer. Being able to fly both gave me the chance to swap between them and grow my career in the direction that interested me the most. I went to school to learn to fly helicopters and then years later I added my "fixed wing ratings" really because it was the least expensive way to become qualified to fly helicopters by reference to instruments - I needed my "Instrument rating" as most companies and insurance were starting to require this skill. This new skill helped me get a job that paid more, flying bigger and more complex multi-engine helicopters, as well as later leading towards being qualified to fly bigger and more complex airplanes. Great question!

Well, what Scott says tells you a lot. Some other things you should think of because it hurt my cause. I am dual rated, and I combined the hours to get my ratings. In the helicopter you have to have a minimum of 300 hours to instruct in the R22.
I am not sure how many in the airplane. Point being is that you have to meet the requirements to be able to get a job. There are some places that teach airplanes and helicopters. Also a Bush pilot in Alaska can be dual rated and be very valuable to a company. PHI has a medical division that has fixed and rotary. So to answer your question, It is possible to be employed doing both. The hard part is meeting the hour requirments for getting those jobs. Find out more about the hour requirments for each to be able to instruct as that will be your first job.
I hope that helps you.

Yes, you can do both raiting, depend of the money and time that you have to get it. First one and the other one after.