Medflight

[The Transporter]

anybody know of any air ambulance operators they could recommend in the detroit metro area!

 

[Doozer]

I've flown a helicopter air ambulance for a little over three years, and I find it pretty rewarding.

Even at the high end of my company's pay scale, compensation isn't comparable to the major carriers; however, most of my time is in helicopters, rendering me unqualified for the "big money." Still, I'm having the time of my life. Under the current pay scale, without overtime, $75K per year is the most I'll likely make.

My base is in East Tennessee, at the base of the Smokie Mountains, in a rural area. Our program is VFR only and uses only Bell 206L's (Long Ranger). I was offered a single-pilot IFR job with the University of Tennessee last year; however, they pay less to fly a SPIFR twin than I make flying our VFR-only Long Ranger so I gracefully declined.

A typical schedule is usually seven 12-hour days on & seven days off, alternating between day and night shifts. Since our base is close to home, I get to sleep in my own bed every night (or day, depending).

Our base is atypical in that about 85% - 90% of our missions are what we call "scene flights," with the remaining 10% - 15% being hospital to hospital transports. Most of the other bases I've worked at in our company have that ratio reversed.

A scene flight is usually from the location of an accident (i.e. motor vehicle accident, industrial accident, heart attack, stroke, etc.) to the closest level 1 trauma center, while hospital transports are usually to relocate a patient from some podunk hospital to a higher level of care.

I love scene flights because of the variety and the demands on the pilot and aircraft. We're usually landing off-airport, in unprepared confined areas, like farmers' fields, parking lots, road intersections or the interstate, and taking off at or near maximum gross weight with obstacles nearby.

I don't get involved in the medical stuff at all. My job is to get the medical crew and patient from Point A to Point B safely, preferably with the aircraft undamaged. About the only thing I can do for the patient is kill him faster. The nurse and medic take care of the patient and are not involved in the aviation decision-making, with one caveat. Any one of the crew can elect not to take a flight if he's uncomfortable; we call this the "51% rule."

It's not a time-building job -- and in Tennessee it's not an entry-level job either. I've averaged about 250 hours per year for the past three years.

The seven on/seven off schedule leaves plenty of time to do what I want to do while I'm not on hitch; however, there are ample opportunities to "workover" at other bases who are not staffed with four pilots. Workovers are not mandatory, and we get paid time and a half plus travel and per diem for workovers away from home base. Other companies differ somewhat. I'm sure that some of our guys (& gals) who workover frequently make over 100K per year. I like the time off, and I use some of it to keep fixed-wing current & proficient by instructing in a couple clubs at our local grass strip.

As Avbug stated, the work is rewarding at times and poignant at other times, depending on the victim, the circumstances and the likely outcome. Still, on balance, it does feel pretty good to know that you're helping people in rural communities get faster emergency medical treatment.

 

[foshizzlepilot]

Check out an operator in Ft. Lauderdale called National Jets (I used to work for one of their now out of business competitors). They run an air ambulance operation with about six Lears. Don't personally believe its all that glorious (been there/done that) but the guys in Lauderdale fly all over central and south america, all hours of the night. The bad hours combined with the destinations sure make for some very demanding flying if thats what your looking for. You can also build at LEAST a THOUSAND HOURS a year. I prefer the drunks on their way to Vegas , but thats just me.

Fo

 

[Murdoughnut]

This is a great thread - I would definitely be interested in pursuing this for a career down the road. I'm not sure if I missed it or not, but what are the general requirements to become air ambulance FO in turboprob or something of the like? Any specific recommendations for training? Should one get a King Air type rating? Thanks!

 

[Say Again Over]

No specific requirements needed, my suggestion is to first find out who the operators are in your area, then contact the operators in person and have some questions ready, for the most part, turbo-prop operators need not have a type rating or an FO, mostly single pilot ops., turbo-jet ops are generally in a Lear or Citation, CE 414's and 421's are used a lot too.

 

[CDogg]

Like said above, mostly Lear 20's and 35/6's with some slotations in the mix. Don't bother with a KA Type, as the only ones you need a type for are the 300 series, and most air ambulance KA's that i've seen are C90's and 200's.

The company I fly for has no requirements for FO's other than a Commerical Multi, Instrument... we fly Lear 35's and 36's with 1 Citation 550.

 

[Murdoughnut]

Like said above, mostly Lear 20's and 35/6's with some slotations in the mix. Don't bother with a KA Type, as the only ones you need a type for are the 300 series, and most air ambulance KA's that i've seen are C90's and 200's.

The company I fly for has no requirements for FO's other than a Commerical Multi, Instrument... we fly Lear 35's and 36's with 1 Citation 550.

Thank you for your post (and the preceding one as well). This is something I am definitely interested in making a career out of one day. I have a good paying job as a consultant right now, so I'm just sorta building flight time and ratings as I go - but I hope to fly full-time in about two years. Sounds like an awesome job, though. Must make you feel really good to be a part of something that important. The hours sound great as well.

 

[kilroy]

Air Ambulance

Flew air ambulance for 4.5 years and I hope I never have to fly medical flights again. Hours sucked equipment was always braking and seeing sick people all the time is not very fun.

Typical flying for this operation is 1000+ hours of flying every year. I would get in a 3am from places like Rio and 12 hours later I'm on my way to Helsinki Finland for a drop in California.

I learned alot and seen alot but would never want to do it again. But on the other side it did get me the hours and experience to be competitive in todays market as a pilot.

 

[FlyMeSWA]

That sounds like a rare type of operation and doesnt reflect the majority of MedEvac operators.

 

[CaravanMan]

Typical flying for this operation is 1000+ hours of flying every year. I would get in a 3am from places like Rio and 12 hours later I'm on my way to Helsinki Finland for a drop in California.

Whoa! I'm on track for maybe 250 hrs this year, lol! What a/c did your company use?