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Experiences working air ambulance

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EMS stands for Earn Money Sleeping. I love my job. However, for some, it is not their cup-of-tea. It can be boring as heck, it is not a time builder, its like the Army....hurry up and wait sorta thng, you have to get up in the middle of the night to go fly, sometimes you see things you wish you hadn't, sometimes you have to put up with nurses, RTs and paramedics that annoy you and so on. On the other hand, its good to be doing something for someone, your IFR skills get really sharp, you make all the decisions and calls on weather, you go to some really off-the-wall places you normally would not go, and you get priority in and ot of airports and airspace whenever you call yourself "Lifeguard."
Here at my company, we were told off the bat that we are not there to save anybody's life...we fly people around and THAT is your job. Saving lives is the med-crew's job. If anyone ever tells you that you need to go where you are not comfortable going to "because someone is going to die if you don't" then you probably should not go because someone might die...ie you and the crew and/or the patient. Air ambulance flying is a great job for people who want to be around the family more and the pay is uaually not bad. Besides, once you have air ambulance experience, it is easy to get another job doing the same.
 
I worked for B&C Flight Management out of Houston/Scottsdale. 120 hours per month was not uncommon, Lear 25/36XR. Company encouraged disregard for Part 135 regs. If it ain't flyin' it ain't revenuin' which means lack of mx is a foregone conclusion. Rest period? Better plan on being woken up during REM sleep to brief you on the next trip or bitch about paperwork. Did I mention the lack of or questionable mx on the planes?

The FEDS finally shut ol' Roy down because he was forging his mx documents and I heard had his own FAA stamps. Seems to have had a POI in his pocket.

There are other reputable operations out there. If you can get one that actually has a sched, then go for it. It is an excellent way to gain international jet time. The down side is that you will most likely have to pay for your training. The FEDS are going to required BOTH pilots bei SIM trained SIC Type Ratings are now in effect) not to mention RVSM currency. You can also expect bottomfeeder pay in the right seat.

I did it for a while but had to quit because the company tried to kill us on more than one ocassion. But it was a good step to Hawkers.
 
All I can say is stay away, I did it for a while and hated it. Again, it all depends on the company, but the on call , long duty days, in 600 hours every single flight was international, talk about paper work, on top of 135 paper work. Pay was poor too, I was in a LR-35. But.... they did spend all of $3,400 on SIC recurrent training at SimCom, lol.
 
I love EMS!

I think that flying air ambulance for a good company is one of the best jobs in aviation. I'm working for one of the good companies now and I love it. I work the first half of the month, 12 hour shifts. Then I'm off the second half of the month. The company provides housing for when we are on call so we have pilots who live all over the place. We fly King Airs that are very well maintained.

But, just like any flying job, working for the wrong company can be a nightmare. To get a job with a good company you'll probably need at least 4000 total, 2000 multi, strong IFR skills and a good chunk of turbine time.
 

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