Looking for some honest feedback on this as, to my knowledge, this has not been done before (maybe for a very good reason). I am an experienced emergency physician in my mid 50's, 400 hours TT/ 80 ME/ all piston (no turbine), and completing my CSEL and CMEL in the next few months. I have been looking at a way to leave clinical medicine and have considered trying to market my physician experience with soon-to-be commercial privileges (albeit, low time) to work as a SIC for a corporation/ flight department with the extra benefit of being a board certified emergency physician. The benefit could be simply being available for consultation to providing executive healthcare evaluations. I am also interested in going through the process to become an FAA AME and could provide those services for the flight department. I think the niche is there but very small and maybe not worth even considering. It might be better suited for the rare high net worth individual out there, but either way it's a long shot. Aside from being a long shot, what am I not seeing?

 

Corporate flight departments don't last. Even the established, well-funded departments like Ford downsized or collapsed. They're leading-edge economic indicators, and the first thing to get cut, paused, downsized, or back-burnered when someone on wall-street sneezes or hiccups. Accordingly, the appetite for a given department generally isn't sufficient to bring a personal physician on staff for the flight department, nor are coprorate departments large enough to warrant. It may not be in the FAA's best interest to have you as a medical examiner if the scope of service is limited to a single corporate department.

Certainly it's possible to be a physician and fly, but to combine the two may be a narrow path. I've known a few physicians who worked at remote clinics and used their aircraft, or a rented aircraft, to travel back and forth, vs. using a charter service to get them there. Doctor in a Bonanza has a bad reputation, for good reason, however. Get-there-itis continues to have significant health-hazards, compounded by low-time aviators enticed by automation, gee-whize gizmotics, and airframe parachutes. Combined with professionals who often think they know best, the combined product is not always conductive to good judgement.

Dick Karl, who writes for Flying magazine, is a physician-turned-corporate pilot. One must follow one's dreams, even if it's a bit like a successful lawyer-turned-ski-patrol.

The closest combination medical-pilot environment I can think of is emergency air ambulance, which doesn't pay particularly well, and also requires a clear separation of medical skills and piloting skills. Your focus must, by necessity, be on safety-of-flight, and decisions made with the safety of fight in mind, not influenced by the needs of the patient. Being a pilot and a doctor are not mutually exclusive, but should not be practiced at the same time.

 

We have a pilot that is an AME at the major I work for. Former navy flight surgeon. He’s got a little office in an fbo and people fly in for the $100 hamburger and a medical. (Medical first before sodium intake!)

There is demand geographically for AME’s. Large bonus if you are near large hub and/or ATC facility.

 

I highly agree with this. I met many pilots flying for a typical 135 operation who loved to tell me about their previous awesome job. They barely flew and got paid a ton of money. But then, the owner dies or retires and the kids realize they would rather sell the $20 million jet and ditch the staff salaries associated with the plane. They could all buy a mansion and travel first-class for the rest of their lives. Or the owner upgrades the jet and would rather hire a new crew with a type rating than pay for new type ratings for their current crew. When it comes to part 91 jobs, 99% of all roads lead towards a part 135 company in Flordia.

 

I would actually take this one step farther in order to emphasize the importance of just flying the damn airplane: The flight crew of the air ambulance should be absolutely and totally ignorant of the patient's condition in order to insulate their judgment and decision making during the course of the flight.

It shouldn't matter to the pilots if the patient has a hang nail or is flat lining.

 

Whatever secondary skill you offer other than being SIC "meat in the seat" you'll basically give to your employer for free. If you're good at IT, you can come in on your day off and set up the bosses Roku. If you're good at working on cars, you can tune up your bosses old car collection. Etc.

No one will give you a penny extra for it.

I'd rather just be a well paid doctor but if you want to give that skill to some rich guy, go for it I guess.

 

I flew for a major for 30+ years and knew many doctors, dentists, lawyers, accountants, etc. who gave up their professions, albeit temporarily in some cases, to pursue a flying career. If you heart is set on flying for a career then take the plunge and go all in! Become a CFI, build time, get your ATP, and get hired by a regional. Once you're actively flying for a regional set your sights on the majors. I could almost guarantee that having an MD on your resume would accelerate your journey into a major! And then once there, you could do a little medicine on the side

Good luck!

 

No

sorry, it’s not worth anything. Especially in comparison to even minimal locums/urgent care/“mens health”/med spa work.

keep a hand in something clinical a few days a month and I would work on building a CFI practice while networking for seat meat gigs

 

Very eloquently answered JB.

 

I respect the opinions of dome, but image of "corporate" flying and the reality are very different. Saying the private jet jobs come and go is just like saying "I don't want to be an airline because I'll get furloughed". Yes, join the instant millionaire lawyer who hit it big and buys a Citation, no expectation of being there in five years. Get on with some HNWI or major corporation, probably decent career and lots of opportunities, if things go South--no seniority, no going to the bottom as a new hire. I know guys who boosted their retirements very nicely with corporate buyouts. I retired with a better paying retirement than Uncle Sam offered.

That said, your experience won't get you on a Gulfstream which where those jobs are. Better to spend your most productive years not being an SIC in small jet.