Originally Posted by
59lracc
With the major airlines hiring so many qualified pilots, are conditions improving in second tier jobs like Air Ambulance Pilots? I will retiring with a military pension soon and so I can afford to put quality of life ahead of pay. I have the resume for a major, but I don’t see wanting to work the airlines long enough to see the big paycheck so spending 5-10 years at the bottom of a seniority list isn’t appealing.
The aspects of air Ambulance that appeal to me are:
1. Can live in a small town in a nice area without commuting.
2. Won’t spend much time away from home in hotels.
3. In some cases, can be on standby from home.
4. Fly a lot less than airlines, (I don’t need to build hours).
Can anyone with first hand knowledge confirm that my expectations are realistic?
Thank you!
I hope you find what you’re looking for. After I left the military, I went to fly for an air ambulance company in Georgia. I then moved on to a regional to gain 121 experience and then to a legacy. From personal experience, I can say that flying for the air ambulance operation was the worst of all three. I won’t spell everything out since most posts already covered it, but there is one thing that hasn’t been said: when flying for an airline, there are thousands of other pilots who can do my job. When flying for a Part 135/91 operation, there was almost no one available to cover me when I needed time off. Maybe the operation you’re looking at is far better than the one I worked for? But I know one thing, I’ll never go back to Part 135/91 flying again after my experiences there. Good luck to you.