Can anyone enlighten me about how easy / difficult it is for an ex-military RW pilot to get into the Air Ambulance world? I've got a couple of years left to go before I'm outside and it's an area that certainly interests me.
Do most people work part-time, voluntarily (if they've got airline jobs for example) or is it a full time role?
I can only give you advice on the Canadian Air Ambulance System. Basically most Pilots work full-time for the Ambulance. They generally require a CPL/IFR but an ATPL is preferred, even for a Co-Jo.
One of the biggest employers of EMS Pilots in Canada is CHC Eastern, now a completely management owned subsidiary of CHC.
If your looking at the Canadian market, then I would suggest you contact Rob Blakely at CH Eastern, in Toronto.
Generally the ex-military helicopter pilot is much preferred by the major operators for this type of work. The level of quality experience necessary coupled with flexibility for ad-hoc landings at un-recced sites isn't usually found from purely civil trained people.
Bond are the major operator with PAS (MAS in Air Amb)second. The former operate BO105 changing to EC135 and the latter are changing from AS355 & BO105 to MD902.
To the guy that says civil guys lack the experience in off AP landings: what planet are you from? We might lack the training because we don't have a sugardaddy (unle sam) paying for it but I beg to differ on the actual experience.
Hoge, Not written in concrete but generally along the lines of:- CPL(H)/ATPL(H) 2000hrs total 1500 in command 500 twin 100 Night 50 In Command @ Night Type rating a bonus.
Sorry to come into this thread, but while Air Ambulance crews are listening...
I am a medical student in Scotland and a keen PPL(A) pilot. I was wondering if there was any way to get some kind of work experience of either the medical or flying sides of the Scottish Air Ambulance Service?
If anyone could help me out I would really appreciate it. Please e-mail me at the address above!
Forty Odd is almost correct except that Sue Barns has left PAS a couple of weeks ago. John Ball is the man to send it to, as the Director Operations he has a handle on everything the company does. Thank goodness!!
Igor, to clarify, the ATPL(H) is REQUIRED for captains in the Ontario EMS, and ATP or CPL + HATRA for co's.
Co-pilots turn over regularly, as the pay can be pretty rough for them.
Captains are generally in demand in places where no-one wants to work.
As far as the ex-mil thing, the EMS/IFR business more closely approximates military ops. Also, most military crews are exposed to crewed helo's earlier and have less single-pilot habits to break, and generally more IFR time than civil pilots with equivalent total time.
**note: I said generally**
And about the sale of CHC's onshore ops, we'll see when they clarify what exactly they are trying to do with us, limbo sucks.
Night-Pilot: if you have an ATPL(H) with lots of twin turbine hours and are financially solvent (preferably with a second income),happy to spend 10 hrs a day achieving an average of 1.30 hrs flying per day doing a worthwhile job with some of the best people on this planet (the Paramedics) then I commend this work to you. However, you will be on your own as a third party in a Public Transport operation which is severely regulated by the CAA and not understood by the most senior of ambulance people. Diplomacy and flexibility is everything but, at the end of the day, it is your licence that is on the line. Bond, PAS, MacAlpines and Aeromega are the people to try.
You're absolutely right. I was speaking in general terms for CoJo's. I worked EMS in the early 90's in T-Bay and The Island.
I agree with your assessment of ex-military being suited to the Ambulance operation, but I would suggest that a strong backround in bush operations makes the transition to EMS equally as easy, i.e. tight scene calls, confined areas etc.
Cheers, OffshoreIgor
PS What Base are you on? It's probably not as warm as Manila!
Air Ambulance work
