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Dustin H
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- Joined
- Jan 27, 2004
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Better you ask?
Better is a subjective word my friend. I'm currently flying air ambulance in a BE20 and I'm loving it.
If I had a job offer at a stable major 121 I'd probably take that, but for now I'm happy doing what I'm doing.
I get to be home every night. I have a 4 on 4 off schedule which allows me a lot of freedom to do what ever I want. I'm only on call during my 14hr. duty time, so I know when it's safe to have a beer or play a game of golf.
You could expect pay range to be roughly in the 35k-65k range depending on what you are flying. Also I've seen schedules vary quite a bit from company to company. Don't expect to build a lot of time with most air ambulance jobs. Both companies I've been with averaged around 200 hours a year.
That's about all I can think of right now.
Oh, I'm sure there will be some posts from members who will totally bash the air ambulance profession. It's not for everyone. I, myself enjoy doing it but I don't think it's for everyone.
Better is a subjective word my friend. I'm currently flying air ambulance in a BE20 and I'm loving it.
If I had a job offer at a stable major 121 I'd probably take that, but for now I'm happy doing what I'm doing.
I get to be home every night. I have a 4 on 4 off schedule which allows me a lot of freedom to do what ever I want. I'm only on call during my 14hr. duty time, so I know when it's safe to have a beer or play a game of golf.
You could expect pay range to be roughly in the 35k-65k range depending on what you are flying. Also I've seen schedules vary quite a bit from company to company. Don't expect to build a lot of time with most air ambulance jobs. Both companies I've been with averaged around 200 hours a year.
That's about all I can think of right now.
Oh, I'm sure there will be some posts from members who will totally bash the air ambulance profession. It's not for everyone. I, myself enjoy doing it but I don't think it's for everyone.
Canadair RJ
Well-known member
- Joined
- Mar 24, 2004
- Posts
- 69
CaravanMan
Drop eet like eet's hot
- Joined
- Mar 28, 2005
- Posts
- 519
I love flying EMS. We use C-90s and it's a great airplane for what we do. It sucks on longer trips though. But my wife and I love the QOL that comes with this job. Sometimes being on a pager can be tough, be we really don't fly all that much so I find myself at home more than at work. If you have a family then it's a great job, but if you're itchy about building time, stay away. *Disclaimer: not speaking for all EMS jobs, just mine.
I've flown for and worked for several medical firms, having done metro and rural air ambulance, and worked the ground as an EMT/Firefighter too. Each place I've flown air ambulance, I've also worked as an aircraft mechanic; my last air ambulance position was director of maintenance as well as line pilot.
The upshot for me was a lot of long hours and very little time off, but I enjoyed the job, the aircraft, and the variety. I've run in and out of rural dirt airstrips or roads illuminated with flare pots (fires) to pick up patients, I've run in and out of some very interesting places. I've flown medical crews to retrieve hearts and organs and bones and skin. I once walked into an ICU unit to retrieve cross matching samples under the watchful eye of the entire extended family of the soon-to-be-deceased...all of whom knew exactly why I was there.
On the night of 09/11 I was to retrieve a heart for a man who desperately needed it, but was prevented from doing so. It was a short notice lear trip for which I got tapped, and then set aside due to the somber politics at the time. I got to see the man on the evening news crying as he was interviewed by a reporter, before he died shortly thereafter.
I've picked up a patient who took a gunshot or a chainsaw to the face, and for whom no amount of packing and dressing could stop the bleeding as we loaded them and flew them to a trauma unit. I've picked up patient at a rural local who was spraying fluids everywhere, and got pulled into the ambulance to help my own crew as the local volunteer crew bailed out...only to get covered in fluids myself. I've had to take series of antibiotics that turned my sweat orange and made the roof of my mouth burn after being exposed to patients, as well as various shots and innoculations. I've picked up suicides or attemtped suicides ranging from violently combative (and have refused some) in restraints to others who were never going to try again.
I picked up a small boy who drowned, and returned his body to the Hopi reservation one night. His services had to be performed and his body taken care of by sunrise, for religious purposes. That was probably the most saddening and heartwrenching flight I've ever made. I felt him sitting in the airplane with me. No nurse, no attendant, just his small wrapped body and me, in the dark, contemplating my own children. And sharing that moment with his family in the silent night of the high desert as I turned him over to them. Heartwrenching.
I lived with the medical crews, one big house; we responded together, cooked together, shopped together, worked together. They often came in for a few days at a time, I was there for two weeks to several months at a time. I worked long irregular hours in the hangar, and flew irregular hours on very short notice all the time. I flew in all kinds of weather, and often made the callous decision based on safety of flight to not respond to a patient in need...another burden of the air ambulance PIC. When you're called to go, you're often desperately needed, and it's up to you to say no when conditions warrant. I've said no, more than a few times, and it's something you live with.
When you fly, you have a mission, and a purpose, and you're accomplishing something. That may not mean much to some, but it may be very important to you. It's crucial to me; I can only last at a job so long when I don't believe in the mission or feel necessary. Unless I find I'm necessary to the operation, I'll move on. I've done it many times before. I've never been satisfied drawing a paycheck, though I do take great satisfaction in earning one. What this means to you is a personal decision that may determine weather you stay or go.
An ambulatory patient who was riding in the airplane from a hospital to his villiage, once had a heart attack alongside me. He was seated up front, it was night, we were without medical personnel because he was merely being returned home after going in for some tests. On another occasion, a patient who I was merely transporting as a charter, without benifit or need of an attendant, turned out to be a suicide. A very big girl, she sat quietly beside me for the trip to the city. While I waited with her for the ambulance to arrive, she said she had a headache. I offered tylenol; she said she couldn't take meds. I asked why, and you guessed it...she was going in for psychological treatment for attempted suicide. Nobody told the pilot.
I had a nurse flip out once; she fell asleep next to me and woke up screaming when she opened her eyes and realized she was flying. Don't ask me why; some people's kids...
I flew an infant in an isolette in a light twin from a remote location to a metro area for medical treatment. We were accompanied by the chief nurse and the mother. The door opened up enroute, just a little. I tried sealing it with charts, which sucked up against the opening, to prevent loss of heat. THe door opened more, and sucked out my charts. I tried medical tape, which worked until the door opened more and sucked out the tape with a bang. I removed my jacket and used that, and it went too, though I was able to haul it back in by the sleeve. We had to land at an unattended strip enroute to repair the door temporarily with a leatherman tool, before continuing to the destination.
I've been handed containers of hears, kidneys, livers, legs, bones, hands, fingers...sometimes visible, sometimes not, sometimes merely bags of fatty material that used to be walking around as part of someone a few hours before...as medical crews came and went. I had a flashlight freeze to my lips and pull skin off while loading a patient in a cold mountain airfield one winter night. I spent the last few hours with a friend whom I taught to fly, who had a heart attack early one morning. I didn't know it was him until I arrived at the hospital and he spoke to me in the emergency room; I flew him to the last hospital he'd ever see that morning, and then spent the rest of the morning being screamed at by an overzelous FAA inspector who elected to ramp me with a vengence. Good days and bad...ambulance work is like that. I used an oxygen powered breathing device to forcibly ventillate an overdose patient who was being worked on, one sunday morning...he came to quickly, grabbed my head and punched me in the face, and passed out. It happened again the second time I ventillated him, and on the third I finally wised up and moved. Always different, always unique.
I picked up a young man at a ski resort mountain field once; twenty years old he'd broken his back while snow boarding. The reason his back broke was a massive tumor that had destroyed the material around his neck. It was discovered whle x-raying for the snowboarding injury. When we flew him to a metro area for further evaluation, neither he, nor his mother knew that he was terminal. That unpleasant secret was ours; he was the fourth or fifth youth that week whom I'd flown who was going somewhere to die and who was terminal. It was a depressing week. Sometimes it gets like that. Sometimes it's much better.
What's ambulance work like? Try it for yourself and see. The last outfit for whom I flew had a policy of always responding to every request, unless safety demanded otherwise. Every other air ambulance operator in the area would only respond if they could verify good insurance from the patient. I took great pride in the fact that while our company often saw only a 50% payment rate (lots of indigents who couldn't or didn't pay, or who didn't and were no longer around to pay), we were always there, and had a reputation upon which we could be counted to perform. I believed in our mission. I'd have trusted my life to any of our medical crew; they were good, they were dedicated, and anyone in my airplane with those people was in very, very good hands. More than a few folks owed their lives to them. A few sued them. A few said thanks. Many lived, some died (never on board; nobody dies on my airplane), some lived better. Someone else, much higher and in charge, makes those decisions; your mission in the driver's seat only allows you to assist in carrying it out.
Give it a shot. No pun intended.
The upshot for me was a lot of long hours and very little time off, but I enjoyed the job, the aircraft, and the variety. I've run in and out of rural dirt airstrips or roads illuminated with flare pots (fires) to pick up patients, I've run in and out of some very interesting places. I've flown medical crews to retrieve hearts and organs and bones and skin. I once walked into an ICU unit to retrieve cross matching samples under the watchful eye of the entire extended family of the soon-to-be-deceased...all of whom knew exactly why I was there.
On the night of 09/11 I was to retrieve a heart for a man who desperately needed it, but was prevented from doing so. It was a short notice lear trip for which I got tapped, and then set aside due to the somber politics at the time. I got to see the man on the evening news crying as he was interviewed by a reporter, before he died shortly thereafter.
I've picked up a patient who took a gunshot or a chainsaw to the face, and for whom no amount of packing and dressing could stop the bleeding as we loaded them and flew them to a trauma unit. I've picked up patient at a rural local who was spraying fluids everywhere, and got pulled into the ambulance to help my own crew as the local volunteer crew bailed out...only to get covered in fluids myself. I've had to take series of antibiotics that turned my sweat orange and made the roof of my mouth burn after being exposed to patients, as well as various shots and innoculations. I've picked up suicides or attemtped suicides ranging from violently combative (and have refused some) in restraints to others who were never going to try again.
I picked up a small boy who drowned, and returned his body to the Hopi reservation one night. His services had to be performed and his body taken care of by sunrise, for religious purposes. That was probably the most saddening and heartwrenching flight I've ever made. I felt him sitting in the airplane with me. No nurse, no attendant, just his small wrapped body and me, in the dark, contemplating my own children. And sharing that moment with his family in the silent night of the high desert as I turned him over to them. Heartwrenching.
I lived with the medical crews, one big house; we responded together, cooked together, shopped together, worked together. They often came in for a few days at a time, I was there for two weeks to several months at a time. I worked long irregular hours in the hangar, and flew irregular hours on very short notice all the time. I flew in all kinds of weather, and often made the callous decision based on safety of flight to not respond to a patient in need...another burden of the air ambulance PIC. When you're called to go, you're often desperately needed, and it's up to you to say no when conditions warrant. I've said no, more than a few times, and it's something you live with.
When you fly, you have a mission, and a purpose, and you're accomplishing something. That may not mean much to some, but it may be very important to you. It's crucial to me; I can only last at a job so long when I don't believe in the mission or feel necessary. Unless I find I'm necessary to the operation, I'll move on. I've done it many times before. I've never been satisfied drawing a paycheck, though I do take great satisfaction in earning one. What this means to you is a personal decision that may determine weather you stay or go.
An ambulatory patient who was riding in the airplane from a hospital to his villiage, once had a heart attack alongside me. He was seated up front, it was night, we were without medical personnel because he was merely being returned home after going in for some tests. On another occasion, a patient who I was merely transporting as a charter, without benifit or need of an attendant, turned out to be a suicide. A very big girl, she sat quietly beside me for the trip to the city. While I waited with her for the ambulance to arrive, she said she had a headache. I offered tylenol; she said she couldn't take meds. I asked why, and you guessed it...she was going in for psychological treatment for attempted suicide. Nobody told the pilot.
I had a nurse flip out once; she fell asleep next to me and woke up screaming when she opened her eyes and realized she was flying. Don't ask me why; some people's kids...
I flew an infant in an isolette in a light twin from a remote location to a metro area for medical treatment. We were accompanied by the chief nurse and the mother. The door opened up enroute, just a little. I tried sealing it with charts, which sucked up against the opening, to prevent loss of heat. THe door opened more, and sucked out my charts. I tried medical tape, which worked until the door opened more and sucked out the tape with a bang. I removed my jacket and used that, and it went too, though I was able to haul it back in by the sleeve. We had to land at an unattended strip enroute to repair the door temporarily with a leatherman tool, before continuing to the destination.
I've been handed containers of hears, kidneys, livers, legs, bones, hands, fingers...sometimes visible, sometimes not, sometimes merely bags of fatty material that used to be walking around as part of someone a few hours before...as medical crews came and went. I had a flashlight freeze to my lips and pull skin off while loading a patient in a cold mountain airfield one winter night. I spent the last few hours with a friend whom I taught to fly, who had a heart attack early one morning. I didn't know it was him until I arrived at the hospital and he spoke to me in the emergency room; I flew him to the last hospital he'd ever see that morning, and then spent the rest of the morning being screamed at by an overzelous FAA inspector who elected to ramp me with a vengence. Good days and bad...ambulance work is like that. I used an oxygen powered breathing device to forcibly ventillate an overdose patient who was being worked on, one sunday morning...he came to quickly, grabbed my head and punched me in the face, and passed out. It happened again the second time I ventillated him, and on the third I finally wised up and moved. Always different, always unique.
I picked up a young man at a ski resort mountain field once; twenty years old he'd broken his back while snow boarding. The reason his back broke was a massive tumor that had destroyed the material around his neck. It was discovered whle x-raying for the snowboarding injury. When we flew him to a metro area for further evaluation, neither he, nor his mother knew that he was terminal. That unpleasant secret was ours; he was the fourth or fifth youth that week whom I'd flown who was going somewhere to die and who was terminal. It was a depressing week. Sometimes it gets like that. Sometimes it's much better.
What's ambulance work like? Try it for yourself and see. The last outfit for whom I flew had a policy of always responding to every request, unless safety demanded otherwise. Every other air ambulance operator in the area would only respond if they could verify good insurance from the patient. I took great pride in the fact that while our company often saw only a 50% payment rate (lots of indigents who couldn't or didn't pay, or who didn't and were no longer around to pay), we were always there, and had a reputation upon which we could be counted to perform. I believed in our mission. I'd have trusted my life to any of our medical crew; they were good, they were dedicated, and anyone in my airplane with those people was in very, very good hands. More than a few folks owed their lives to them. A few sued them. A few said thanks. Many lived, some died (never on board; nobody dies on my airplane), some lived better. Someone else, much higher and in charge, makes those decisions; your mission in the driver's seat only allows you to assist in carrying it out.
Give it a shot. No pun intended.
altscap
Well-known member
- Joined
- Nov 2, 2004
- Posts
- 91
That's the best reading I've ever seen on these boards!!!
It'll certainly keep me from whining about my 14 hour duty days. I wish airline work was as rewarding, but I'm not sure I could deal with the emotional turmoil you go through.
My dad had a heart attack a few years ago and was flown from Canada to Wash. state by an air evac crew. I'll always be greatful to them for getting him back home. He's doing great these days and I'm glad to still have him around.
Thanks for shining a light on the air ambulance side of things.
It'll certainly keep me from whining about my 14 hour duty days. I wish airline work was as rewarding, but I'm not sure I could deal with the emotional turmoil you go through.
My dad had a heart attack a few years ago and was flown from Canada to Wash. state by an air evac crew. I'll always be greatful to them for getting him back home. He's doing great these days and I'm glad to still have him around.
Thanks for shining a light on the air ambulance side of things.
FL420
Blues vs. Birds-Tailhook
- Joined
- Oct 11, 2005
- Posts
- 626
avbug,
Although I only flew air ambulance for a little over a year, I can identify with many of your experiences and feel much the same way about them as you do. It was one of the most emotionally difficult yet most satisfying jobs I have ever had flying an airplane. I always resented flying a load of rich drunks to Vegas after that.
Although I only flew air ambulance for a little over a year, I can identify with many of your experiences and feel much the same way about them as you do. It was one of the most emotionally difficult yet most satisfying jobs I have ever had flying an airplane. I always resented flying a load of rich drunks to Vegas after that.
Say Again Over
With you
- Joined
- Nov 4, 2005
- Posts
- 1,162
Good life style, my comments would be that it is probably more suitable for higher time pilots (IMO), of course there is alway some type of pressure on a pilot no matter where you are working, the medical staff will on occasion want you to do something that's not too smart, one has to be careful of the "white knight syndrome" and just evaluate each flight as on it's safety merits, not the medical dilemma of the day. Also, air ambulance operations in turbo-prop and piston aircraft are not good for time builders.
Nolife
Tired Member
- Joined
- Jan 23, 2003
- Posts
- 547
This is my first air ambulance job. I'm coming from freight and I love it. The pay is good, qol is the best I've had so far, and the job satisfaction is is a 1000 times better than getting someones overnight porn to them ontime.
The toughest thing for me is transporting infants. I have one at home and seeing them in the isolet and knowing they're bad off is tough although at the end of the day you know you're helping and hopefully making a difference. Again, to me the job is more significant than flying cancelled checks.
Like the above guys have said, this is not a time building position but it's generally well paid and rewarding.
Good luck.
The toughest thing for me is transporting infants. I have one at home and seeing them in the isolet and knowing they're bad off is tough although at the end of the day you know you're helping and hopefully making a difference. Again, to me the job is more significant than flying cancelled checks.
Like the above guys have said, this is not a time building position but it's generally well paid and rewarding.
Good luck.
CaravanMan
Drop eet like eet's hot
- Joined
- Mar 28, 2005
- Posts
- 519
The Great One
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jan 21, 2006
- Posts
- 50
exhaustgas
Member
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- Feb 14, 2004
- Posts
- 22
The Great One
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jan 21, 2006
- Posts
- 50
Also, be prepared to get sick a lot the first year or two... being exposed to all sorts of diseases etc can take a toll on your immune system until it builds itself up. The company I work for doesn't have enough pilots right now, infact there are twice as many airplanes as FO's right now... so QOL isn't the best right now, but it is rewarding knowing you're helping someone in need and not dropping off boxes.
Say Again Over
With you
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- Nov 4, 2005
- Posts
- 1,162
exhaustgas
Member
- Joined
- Feb 14, 2004
- Posts
- 22
Thanks for the heads up. If anyone else has any other suggestions for the CT/HPN/MA area that would be great for light jets/TProps etc. I agree, I've been in EMS for 6 months now on the street in a very busy inner city environment, and your immune system does take a bit of adaptation at first. Thanks for the heads up! If anyone knows of any contacts up there in BOS area and if they are hiring that would be great! Thanks
The Transporter
Active member
- Joined
- Apr 4, 2005
- Posts
- 35
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.
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.
Last edited:
foshizzlepilot
Member
- Joined
- Mar 21, 2006
- Posts
- 16
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
, but thats just me.Fo
Murdoughnut
Well-known member
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- Feb 15, 2006
- Posts
- 296
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
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- Nov 4, 2005
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- 1,162
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.
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.
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
Well-known member
- Joined
- Feb 15, 2006
- Posts
- 296
CDogg said:
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
http://www.filecabi.net/v
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- Jul 10, 2004
- Posts
- 439
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.
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.
CaravanMan
Drop eet like eet's hot
- Joined
- Mar 28, 2005
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