Originally Posted by
59lracc
Thanks again for all the replies. I reached out to the company that services my first choice of retirement locations to get more information.
Maybe after I retire from the military and have a long vacation, I might be more motivated to chase an airline pilot paycheck. Right now the life of an Ambulance pilot sounds good to me.
I was an active Reservist and at a Legacy...furloughed after 9-11. Reserves were keeping us financially covered...then an air ambulance job opened up in my town.
My experience:
1. Most air ambulance companies are small. To keep costs down they are minimally staffed.
2. This means you are on a very short leash almost all of the time. FAR abuse or bending, I believe, is common. Two days off a week. Rest of the time...”resting,” but meant can’t have a beer, or do any real social planning. While it looked on paper that the pilots were getting scheduled rest...the reality was being on-call nearly 24/7/365.
3. Pay is mediocre, benefits not very good (you wouldn’t need them as a mil retiree).
4. Many of the operators make you pay for your training, or sign a contract.
5. I was astounded to find out how poor the training...and checkride histories....were of the other guys, compared to mil or airline. At least at the company I was with (four airplanes, about 16 pilots total), the pass rate on checkrides was 50%....and I mean recurrent, not just initial! (I passed!)
When I went for my first recurrent at a major (respected) sim company, I asked a systems question. I was shocked when the instructor and the highly experienced students in the class all had different opinions on how a system worked. I only had a hundred hours in the plane...but realized it was the blind leading the blind, and I probably knew the answer better than they did.
6. I’d say 80% of my flights started between 10:00pm and midnight. They’d finish at dawn. Exhaustion was a norm.
7. Maintenace at my company was pretty good...but at many places...tight budgets.
8. There can be “get there-itis” with a critical patient or organ transplant when wx or mx is iffy. I think this leads to a high accident rate in the air ambulance field.
9. I’ve helped load patients that weighed over 300 lbs. A miracle I didn’t ruin my back.
10. I’ve transported people with drug-resistant diseases, and wondered how safe I was being in the same tube for a couple of hours.
11. Landed in places with malaria...and we had no mosquito repellant.
12. FAA oversight varies from draconian to laissez-faire....even from the same Inspector.
12. The Lear 35 was a fun airplane but has a few quirks.
13. Overall: I have a few stories where I felt like what we did was altruistic and really helped someone out. But in light of the above, and the rampant abuse of medical insurance/Medicare by hospitals, doctors, and even the air ambulance companies...
I wish I had never done it, and just put in more time at my Reserve unit.
For you: I’d say corporate, at a decent-sized flight department, at a Fortune 500 company.
Just my 2-cents (a nickel with inflation).
