Originally Posted by
Nineteen84
Hoping some UK HEMS pilots can help with these questions...
How often do you get called out on the night shift?
Do the night shifts wear you down over time?
Does the novelty factor of flying HEMS wear off over time like any other job?
When it's quieter such as winter (so I've been told), does the waiting around bother you over time?
The number of times you get called out is highly variable. Probably the only thing you can say is it's usually less than the day/early shift. Usually.
I don't think the nights wear you down by default but it's dependent on what sort of shift you're talking about. If it's a true 12 hour night shift starting at around 1900 and going through to 0700 and you are expected to maintain relatively low response times, it can get quite fatiguing (the 0200-0600 but being the worst). You have to be careful to use sleep science to avoid sleep intertia (which is when you sleep for about 60 to 240 minutes, and wake up like a spaced out zombie). Having very good rest facilities is crucial so you can nap easily (Aircon, black out blinds, good beds). However if its actually a lates shift (eg starting at 1700 and going through to 0200 plus possible extensions) you can comfortably do that without too much fatigue. You also have the opportunity to get domestic stuff done in the day which is not necessarily possible if you have to sleep for a true 12 hour night shift.
So basically not all night shifts are the same. If you are going for interview you either need to find out before hand or ask the question about in the interview about what times the rostered day is, what is expected of you sleep wise (and what facilities there are) and what exactly what the roster is. The norm for any night/late roster is 4 on / 4 off (eg 4 days / 4 off / 4 nights / 4 off or 2 days / 2 nights / 4 off) but the flexibility of the FTL system actually means they are not the only way to do it. The huge elephant in the room with the 4 / 4 pattern is that it completely mucks up a lot of weekends (sometimes the whole weekend sometimes just one of the days). If you have family or a partner who doesn't work a shift pattern it can be quite disruptive. It's highly predictable but there are better ways of doing it (eg at least one UK Air Ambulance has a mix of 4 and 5 on/off which gives a regular 2 weekends on / 2 weekends off pattern). Also worth noting in any pattern that it's not really a full 4 off after night shifts (particularly the 12 hour ones) as the first day can be effectively written off as you might be trying to kick your body clock back into wack.
And as for your points about novelty factor and waiting around. As Thud already said - never gets boring, no 2 missions are the same and there's never boredom waiting around - just a lack of imagination on the part of the individual to use the time effectively. Best flying job.