Why are police and HEMS paid so badly? Isn’t it time for them to be recognised monetarily
for the role they carry out? I have friends who do these jobs and they are Captains who fly high stakes
missions, in very poor weather, require an IR, fly at night on NVIS, have unsociable hrs, land in hazardous
unprepared sites and deal with sometimes very unpalatable subject matter.....? Single pilot as well.
Although they do have part assistance from a crew member they carry the aviation responsibility squarely
on their shoulders......all for the lowest salaries in the industry. Is this acceptable anymore?
No, but there are plenty of people with multi-thousand hours of IR experience who can't even get a sniff of a HEMS interview as:
a) there are not ex-mil,
I was always of the opinion possibly unfounded that the these guys supplemented their meagre stipe with an ex-mil pension? Could be wrong.
Plus - what else are they going to do with their particular skill set?
P.S. VIP - ATPL (non IR) Light Twin EC Type - B1.3 on type - EUR 140K fully found - equal time - global ops.