Now this is an interesting discussion.
fly911, I assume, by your moniker,you are an EMS pilot.I respect your passion and your attitude. But,I have to say, you are a little off track here. Can you explain to me why, for the longesst of times, the pilot in an EMS outfit is not given the condition of the patient? I am assuming your company does the same. Can you explain why the "lifesaving angels" in the back have the option to turn a flight around under the "three to go and one to say no" principle?These have been put in place for a reason.
What Gomer is trying to say is that we are in the transportation business.The words Air Ambulance or Emergency Medical Services or Mission ,all preload the pilot into a lifesaving mindset and that has proven to be dangerous.If you look at the accident statistics of any 135 operation (fixed or rotary), it is squeaky clean compared to a 135 EMS operation (fixed or rotary). A good reason for that: ever heard of the White Knight Syndrome?
Yes, we provide a valuable tool for the communities ,especially in rural America, for a crtically ill patient to fly to center for higher care. We certainly shave off time for an accident victim to make it under the golden hour.But,if your focus to accept or decline a flight is based on "saving a life",I am sorry, you are barking up the wrong tree.Leave all that BS to the folks in the back. Most haven't even left the Ambulance yet. You and I are paid to fly as professionally and safely as possible without thought to the outcome of the patient.You know as well as I do how hard it is to abort or divert when a patient is already on board. We don't need to make our lives tougher by putting ourselves under pressure from the word go. If I really wanted to save lives ,I would have joined the Coast Guard.
So why am I doing this? Because I like to fly.Plain and simple. If I were offered a job flying oil workers in the GOM tomorrow on terms I like, I would take it in a heartbeat.
Sorry for this long and preachy post.No hard feelings.
Alt3.