"Ten Years After"
SAS,
Very well said, (throughout the post) and a quite complete listing as well. I have been laboring in the US EMS market for 10+ years now and can testify heartily about the slippery slopes which exist in this section of our indusrtry, and which apparently are not obivious to those, (RotorDog) who have yet to experience the environment. I would add to the miasma before us the contributing factors of cumulative sleep depravation and the ongoing influx of primarily dual pilot seasoned crews.
Asnyone in the business will tell you, most if not all of the major EMS operators are pilot starved, and as such the majority of bases function with short staffing. This results in extended tours, often flip-flopping randomly from day shifting to night shifts.
There is no opportunity to smoothly transition the body and mind (decision-making capacity, remember?) from one extreme to the other. Period. As you grow older, the impact increases. This all has absolutely everything to do with managing a totally 'ad hoc' tactical style of helicopter operation.
It is largely an industry without strong leadership from either the vendor companies or the industry lobby groups, to say nothing of the FAA/NTSB.
If you are seeking guidance, this is absolutely the worst place in the helicopter industry to search.
There is no opportunity to learn and watch your peers manage the 'up-time' and the 'down-time'. The two pilot operations are as rare as pay increases these days. Truthfully, how did we all learn back in those halycon days of yore?
It is NOT good enough to accept a standard of 'Darwin-esque' crew development. It isn't only the good or wise pilot who survive...sometimes the wrong lessons are learned and allowed to seed instead.
Imagine that you have only a dual pilot basis of experience to draw upon? Now put yourself into the darkest hole you might imagine with some random white noise in both ears offering you either inaccurate, disinterested, or distracting information. Now, that I have your head on a swivel...you are in complete control of managing the entire process from choices made to execution of a plan....which may include calling the whole thing off as a poor idea to begin with. It is a large dosage of responsibility, most especially for those who until recently had the benefit of another mind, body and spirit in the cockpit with who to interact.
I am sure there is no single easy answer. I am not sure if any inter-governmental action will effectively incorporate all the divergent elements at play.
I try to treat each call as a separate entity. I try to learn from everyaction I take. I try not to hold too fast to my own ego and imortality. I try to do better tomorrow than I did today. I try very hard to live another day.
It's a quixotic tightrope, not to everyone's liking. I have been in this business for over 36 years. With apologies to all other opinions...this EMS format consistently asks more of all of my judgement and skillset than any other element of our industry in which I have worked.
Make good decisions.
It's still true after all these years.