Originally Posted by
snakepit
Very insightful 😝, but maybe you should consider that the ‘dead weight’ might just avoid dead crew! An extra “parademic” or doc is useless if the aircraft crashes on the way to the incident, on the way to the hospital or on the way back to base. Don’t wish away extra aircrew, as teams are continually asked or expected to do more than a single pilot can reasonable be expected to cope with. That route leads to the USA model 🤪
Or just stick to VFR day only HEMS with single pilot. You cannot have it both ways…
Depends. The UK has single pilot doing NVIS IFR HEMS quite happily with the right aircraft, training and operational support (min 2000 hrs of the right sort of flying - often ex military but not always. In the US they try to do HEMS in marginal VFR with limited IFR skillsets with severe commercial pressure. Different operating environment.