What type of flying work do you do?
Aeromedical helicopter pilot, VFR. Don't be fooled by some of the 1000 hour minimum requirements you see. This is a job for salty old types- you don't fly much, so you don't build skills. That will bite you bad when you're called out at oh-dark thirty, for a scene call, into marginal weather, in a dark part of the world. SPIFR would really be nice.
Heck, some hospital helipad/LZ's are as scary as taking fire...
What types(s) do you fly?
AS 350 (my favorite so far)
Where? (As precise as you can be without losing anonymity.)
Southeastern U.S., mainly Georgia, but also South Carolina, North Carolina and Tennessee.
Previous jobs?
Stay at home Dad, 4 years
PHI, 13 years
"CFI", 1 year. Great work, but it gets old as the only course of the meal.
"Normal person" and home every night, 10 years.
U.S. Army, 3 years
Previous types?
IN reverse chronological order- Bell 412; Aerospat 355; Bell 206's in all flavors; Hughes 300 (much better machine than the TH-55); TH 55 as IP; UH-1 doin' Firefly in the Mekong Delta; and of course the TH 55 as WOC.
Bits and pieces- AH-1G, as "Bullet catcher"; TH-13 and Bell 47; HUghes 500; AS 330; Bell 222; Bell 214.
Military / ex-Military? (Which? What types?)
Very, very ex-military. "I tried working with the system, and it just didn't respond."
How long have you been flying?
Off and on, mostly on, since Oct '68.
How many hours?
It's a theoretical distinction after 3000 or so hours, but somewhere over 8,000.
I still love it.
I see new pilots in the early stages of the romance, and they're well trained and motivated- but there are so few of them! I see helo ems having huge growth in the next few years- where will all the pilots come from?