N6724G

100 to 200 hours a year? I thought he meant per month. Yeah, Idont think thats great transition job. Maybe a good job if you arent loking to go to an airline though

CitationJason

Unfortunately SkyHigh is right on. It could be a dead end if you are trying to progress yourself into an airline career (like me). A lot of operators want you to have 100 hours in the last 6 months, which you won't get. It is still a good job, but only for the right people. If you need a bunch of time, this is not the business to get into. If you are looking to maybe spend a year at it to get some 135 experience, it can be good, but for me, I won't be doing it longer than that because I have to get my total times up higher. It is very well respected time. I was able to get an interview offer from a regional and they were very pleased to see 135 turbine experience on my resume. I think it was what helped me to be marketable, even though I didn't meet their minimums. With that said, I keep going back to SkyHigh's point, and that is if you are looking to build time quickly, or upgrade quickly, you won't be happy. You have to go into it knowing exactly how it's going to be. Fortunately for me, my employer was very up front about the details of the job, and they made sure I didn't have the wrong expectations going in.

CJ

medfly

What kind of lifestyle do you have as an EMS pilot? On call all of the time? Do you need a lot of hours? Are there companys out there to look to for jobs?
Any other info would be greatly appreciated. I have 2200TT mostly BE90 time and am interested in getting back into flying career wise.

CitationJason

Medfly:

At my company we are never on call from home unless we have a shift that falls on a holiday. The way it works is we work 12 hour shifts, four days in a row, two day shifts and two night shifts. We have pagers and the hospital transport center pages us when a flight comes up. I guess it's a form of being on call, but we are already at the hangar during our shift. We have a pilots quarters area with two crew rooms, a kitchenette, and office/ living room type setup with TV, DVD, VCR, computers, etc. So it's not really like being on call since you're already there, so it's not like you can't make plans or anything, since you are already planning on being at work. If you were to work at a company like mine, then your times would qualify you for captain. A lot of EMS services use King Air series aircraft so that would probably make your qualifications even more attractive. I would reccomend trying to find an EMS operator with the CAMTS accreditation. CAMTS is the Commision on Accreditation of Medical Transport Systems. They set stringent guidelines for the hospitals and the 135 operators that help create a structure of safety and increased internal oversight. Just do a google search for Fixed Wing Air Ambulance Operators, and you'll find numerous listings. I hope this helps.

CJ

SlingAir

I fly out of Kansas City, for a Childrens Hospital. Absolutely love it. I am in the same boat as Citation, need more total time to get to the airlines. I was hired with 800TT and 200 Multi. Starting salary is really low 24K then bumped me to 30K after 6months, at 1 year I will be 36K salary with paid health and dental. We fly a King Air 200 and 90. Scheduled to be on call 20 days a month, with 11 hard days off (they will not and cannot call), when on call I can be at home. We have a 45minute callout time so I cannot be too far away. I average 20hrs a month so its not a big time builder, Citation said it right, just know what you are getting into.

-SlingAir

skualo3

Hi there, I just would like to share my experience as a Lifeguard Pilot from S. Florida, which seems somewhat different from what previously posted.
I started in March 04, as F/O on Lj 24/35. First year a flew 1100 hours. Is not a typo, I flew 11 hundred hours. I was upgraded shortly after my first year, and on the second year I have flown just over 900 hours, 600 of which as PiC. I was somewhat lucky on the upgrade, which usually takes about 2 years pending vacancies, but it is not unheard of to upgrade in 12/18 months.
I fly to Central, South and North America, High altitude airports (Quito, 9300MSL) Non radar environment, extended over water (Bermuda) and plain isolated (Canada). It has forced me/allowed me to grow professionally in a fantastic way. As my more senior colleagues told me when I was hired, I got out of it what I put onto it.
Some LJ copilot in S Florida are Radio operators/Gear attendants, I got in to learn as much as possible, and as a relatively new Captain, I try to share my knowledge with the new hires, often as young as 500 hours TT.
I am on call 24 days a month, have to be within 1 hour of the airport, occasionally, help with ground arrangement (customs, Fbo etc.)
The worse thing I had was loosing a patient, especially if they are young.
I feel that a pilot could be "labeled" Lifeguard pilot if too much time was spent doing it, but I might be wrong.
I got into because of the flying, I thought it was going to be impressive to International Cargo haulers, but so far I have not been able to attract any interest from the "heavy" operators.
With the right company, it can be a career path, with senior captains topping close to 100K, plus you are home most nights, I would rather work 2 weeks and have 2 weeks off, otherwise I could make a career out of it.
To N6724G
Angel flight is usually a private plane that is offered to somebody in need of medical treatment. It is operated as part 91, and is just out of the kindness of the art of private individuals (and Tax write off...), lifeguard flight are operated to 135 standards for pilots, planes and companies.
Hope this help,

Sk3

CitationJason

Skualo3:

You wouldn't happen to be flying for the outfit out of Punta Gorda, FL would you? If so, that is an impressive experience you have, and if you are flying for who I think you might be flying for, you have got a really great EMS job. Regardless, whoever you are flying for, you've got a solid experience builder, and I think most EMS guys are going to be very envious. Way to go! Fly Safely!

CitationJason

skualo3

No, I don`t fly for that outfit ( cannot remember their name, they fly the westwind I think), but we fly similar routes, so much so that we were in Panama the same day they had that very sad accident.
I am based in FT Laud, there are at least 4 other companies that do the same kind of flying, it takes a lot of self motivation, no ties or a very undestandin significant other, but can be a great investment.
Just back from Edmonton, Alberta, need a beer.
If anybody wants to know more feel free to contact on this tread or personally!
Sk3

Pilotpip

CJ,

Do you by chance fly for AirTrek? We had one of their aircraft at our FBO Friday morning. Citations are kind of a rare breed with the air ambulance companies that come into STL. I guess it's the smaller door. I've helped get 300+ pound patients out of lears a couple times and it's not fun.

CitationJason

No pilotip, I fly for SevenBar Flying Service in their Dallas, TX location. Skualo you're right, it is AirTrek/ Med-Jets and they do fly a Westwind in addition to lears and Citations, and some twin Cessnas. The Citation is a great platform for air medical, but that 24 inch door is an achille's heel. We are very lucky that we are under contract with a local children's hospital, so we don't usually have patients that weigh more than a few pounds. We do have a unit that has an incubater (spelling?) that weighs 250 lbs. and everybody dreads that, but beyond that we are really lucky, and I thank God every day that we don't have large people. We did however, last week have an older kid that was very large.

Talking about Med-Jets, I think a Westwind would be a great airplane for Air Medical. It is a 2 Million Dollar airplane, it has a phenomenal range, and descent speed. My company has one they use for passenger charter, and we were looking at it in the hangar the other day speculating on it's usefulness. It is low to the ground, tall cabin, wide cabin, can hold everybody, whew!

Looking forward to more great posts from good pilots, on a fun thread,
CJ